The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Emily Matthews.

 

The Invocation was given by Raul Pulido who said someone just won the lottery with a $1.6 billion pot. Raul cited Aristotle, who wrote that it is easy to throw money away, but how to give it and whom to give it to is very difficult. He told us how all of this brought the generosity of Rotary into focus and perspective for him. He spoke of how moved he is by not only Rotarians’ generosity with fundraising, but also the time and effort Rotarians put in to the dispersal of the funds.

 

The Sunshine Report was given by Jim Shypertt who noted that Mike Horwitz is sick with grief over the loss of Melinda, but that he plans on coming back to lunches beginning next week.

 

 

Visiting Rotarian, Michelle Privatera, was welcomed.

Guest of the Club, Grace Redmond, was welcomed by Emily. Grace is an Author and is interested in membership.

Additional Guests of the Club were introduced by Christine Krolik:

Doug Davis, New Hillsborough City Manager

Lauren Mayer, Pianist accompanying today’s Program

David Bryant, Singer and Performer for today’s Program

 

Susan Baker reminded us about “Burlingame on the Avenue”, August 19th and 20th. Rotarians will be selling beer and wine—all tips go directly to our Club. Chris Ramirez had a sign-up sheet in back. Please contact Chris or Susan Baker if you’d like to participate.

 

Chris Ramirez reminded us that the annual golf tournament will be on Monday, August 28th. Volunteers, sponsors, and wine donations (>$50/bottle) are needed. Johnny, from Sapore, donated two bottles. Please contact Chris or Marilyn for more information.

 

Mark Lucchesi provided an astrology refresher for our August birthday Rotarians.

Leos are confident, comfortable being the center of attention, drama adoring, ambitious, loyal, protective of their nearest and dearest, generous, luxury loving, sunny and big hearted. Leos celebrating this both are Nancy Bush (3), Raul Pulido (4), Sean Williams (5), Emily Matthews (22) and Mark Johnson (22) – who share the same birth date.

 

 

Virgos are logical, practical, and systematic in their approach to life. The Virgo is a perfectionist at heart and is not afraid to improve skills through diligent and consistent practice. Virgos celebrating birthdays in August are Tom Chakos (24), Bryan Nieder (25) and Frances Boscacci (29).

 

Rotary August Anniversaries are Christine Krolik (3 yrs), Phil Siegle (4 yrs), Doug Person (6 yrs), Emily Matthews (14 yrs), Dennis Zell (21 yrs) and John Crosby (39 yrs).

 

Rotarians with August Wedding Anniversaries are Linna Golodriga and Alex (48 yrs), Jerry Winges and Charlene (50 yrs) and Jay Miller and Elise (52 yrs).

 

Prior to the program, Cary brought Jerry Winges, Lage Anderson, and Emily Matthews on stage for a session of corny music jokes. Audience members were reminded that they could be exempted from fines if they joined Cary’s president’s club. He also noted that all fines were matched by him.

 

 

The Tribute to Stephen Sondheim featured incredibly talented local performers Christine Krolik, David Bryant, Lauren Mayer, and our very own President Cary Koh.

 

David and Christine shared some background about Stephen Sondheim - considered by many to be the most important composer of the last half of the 20^th century. Sondheim was mentored from a young age by Oscar Hammerstein, who advised him to find his own voice and prompted Sondheim to write about subjects that uniquely caught his interest. The list of his major works is staggering and includes West Side Story, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into The Woods. David shared that he was professionally acquainted with Stephen, who was kind and generous to others, that he mentored young composers as he was mentored by Hammerstein, and that he had a great sense of fun. Sondheim even had arcade games on the 4^th floor of his townhouse that were available for guests to play with at parties.

 

David kicked off the tribute program belting out a rendition of Sunday in the Park with George

with Lauren and Cary accompanying on piano and violon, respectively.

 

This was followed by Sweeney Todd. David and Christine, in costume, started a banter about making pies out of dead people. They slipped into chatty song that had Christine’s character offering David’s character pies made from a poet, priest, lawyer, royal marine, grocer, shepherd, politician, friar, and an actor—extolling the flavors of each. OH MY!

 

Christine then sang a heart-wrenching rendition of Nothing Is Going to Hurt You, which she said later was with her son in mind.

 

David sang another emotional song, Some Day Somewhere, which he told us brought to mind his recently passed mother.

 

During the Q&A session, both Christine and David said that they used connections like these to get into character for songs and bring life to them.

 

During the Q&A session we also learned from David that Bernadette Peters was the best leading lady EVER. They co-starred together in Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway and that his favorite role was opening Les Misérables on Broadway as Marius.

 

Interesting fact… When teaching students how to prep for a musical performance, David encourages them to read the score like a poem.

 

Fun fact… Jeff Krolik’s Mom starred in a soap opera for 50 years. She taped scripts inside her kitchen cabinets when memorizing her lines.

 

Thank you Christine, David, Lauren and Cary for sharing such a wonderful program with our Club!