Our Work

Robyn Norwood and the Los Angeles Kings - hockey in L.A. in May?

Our Robyn Norwood has this piece in USA Today about the Los Angeles Kings, the hottest team on ice, and its playoff run reminding local hockey fans of the Wayne Gretzky glory days. From her story:

Still, it is nothing like 1993, when Wayne Gretzky was the glamorous focal point of the only Kings team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. What was more, the Lakers and Clippers were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs that year by May 9 — and the Kings and their drama-filled run had the city to themselves for a full month before the Montreal Canadiens won the Finals in five games.

"We still have a ways to go, but what is happening in the L.A. marketplace reminds me of our amazing run back in 1993, but in an even bigger way," says Luc Robitaille, the Kings' president of business operations and a star on the 1993 team.

Barry Melrose, who coached that team, believes the Kings are the best team remaining in these playoffs, which can't often be said of an eighth seed.

"I love the way they're playing," Melrose says. "They're playing fast, playing aggressive, playing with tons of passion. And very entertaining. It doesn't have to be an un-entertaining game to win. And L.A. is a very fun team to watch now."

Lynne Heffley has been one busy journalist

Our Lynne Heffley has three - count them, three - recent theater-related stories. Believe us, it's a good thing when freelancers are this busy. Two of the pieces are for the Center Theater Group, one on its new production of "Follies," and the other on costume designer Gregg Barnes.

Heffley also reviewed "Tennessee in Summer," which ran in some of the Los Angeles Times's community editions. From her review:

The summer heat permeates a New York hotel room, circa 1972. A slim and sexy blond, clad only in a lacy white slip, lifts a languid hand to fan herself as she needles and nags the room's other occupant: playwright Tennessee Williams.

In Joe Besecker's poignant and steamy drama, “Tennessee in Summer,” at the Sidewalk Studio Theatre in Burbank, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” answers the young woman's gibes in kind as he sits at his typewriter, struggling to finish a new play.

Crumpled pages littering the floor around his desk and the liquor and pills on a nearby cabinet attest to Williams' frustration and angst.

“The critics have already written your obituary,” the woman taunts him, aware that Williams is obsessed with thoughts that his success is behind him. The critics, he howls back, turned against him when he publicly acknowledged his homosexuality.

Lynne Heffley on the musical Kahanes

Our Lynne Heffley has this nice piece in the Los Angeles Times on conductor/musician Jeffrey Kahane and his son, the highly regarded young composer, Gabriel Kahane. From her story: 

If conductor Jeffrey Kahane led the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra with even more vim and vigor than usual during last weekend's concert at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, he had good reason.

The program of new and familiar music on Saturday, April 21 offered not only a celebratory wind up to the deeply respected Kahane's 15th anniversary season as LACO's music director — with the group's original founder, Sir Neville Marriner, in attendance — it marked the first time that he had conducted an orchestral work by his son, Gabriel Kahane, a critically acclaimed, rising young composer, singer-songwriter and musician.

“Crane Palimpsest,” the Brooklyn-based younger Kahane's first work for full orchestra, was the evocative centerpiece of the concert. An American Composers Orchestra co-commission that premiered at Carnegie Hall in March, it was inspired by the preamble to “The Bridge,” American poet Hart Crane's epic ode to the Brooklyn Bridge and New York.

Essentially a song cycle, “Crane Palimpsest” interweaves the opening section of Crane's “To Brooklyn Bridge” with songs written and sung by its 30-year-old composer, a compelling vocalist who also performed on piano and guitar during the piece in a seamless back-and-forth shift between instruments.

The caring and respect between father and son was clear throughout the well-received performance, which ended with the pair exchanging a warm embrace. As an encore, the younger Kahane played and sang the haunting title song of his new pop album, “Where Are the Arms,” that, like his other creative endeavors, has earned critical praise.

Chris Kraul on Chinese-made cars

Our Chris Kraul, who is based in Bogata, Colombia, has this piece in Automotive News on how Chinese car-makers are making inroads into South American markets. Kraul writes:

Analysts generally see Latin America as a proving ground for Chinese automakers' eventual invasion of the U.S. car market, an event that still is unscheduled but likely will follow what (Brian) Irwin (of A.T. Kearney Americas) calls the "Korean model" -- a reference to how Hyundai entered Canada and other countries to gain market experience before it dared set foot in U.S. showrooms, (Jian) Sun said.

Chinese makes' U.S. entry plans have been scaled back from previous, more aggressive plans that a few years ago included talk of a new Chery car plant in the Midwest and goals of grabbing a 5 percent to 10 percent market share in short order.

Rosemary McClure on traveling to Palm Springs

Our Rosemary McClure, an award-winning travel writer, has this in-depth look for the Los Angeles Times at vacationing in Palm Springs, California, the desert get-away site. From her piece:

The Rat Pack lives again — or at least Palm Springs, once the party pad of Sinatra and the boys, does.

The Coachella Valley city, which had devolved into a down-at-the-heels caricature of a Hollywood playground, has reinvented itself: Its retro-chic look, striking scenery and hip hotels and restaurants are drawing a new generation of visitors.

And, of course, there's always the weather, a tourist attraction on its own (in winter, anyway).

The city prides itself on having 350 days of sunshine a year, a siren song that plays loudly and clearly in Canada and other frosty North America realms in the depths of winter. That's why snowbirds swarm here during the pricey high season (January through April). Besides spending wads of cash, they double the city's size to about 100,000.

Scott Martelle on a National Book Award winner

Our Scott Martelle has this short interview piece in Orange Coast magazine on Thanhha Lai, a one-time journalist who won a National Book Award with her first novel. From his story: 

Lai studied journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, and spent 18 months in Orange County before eventually earning a master’s in fine arts from New York University. Now married with a 5-year-old daughter, she lives in New York City and is on leave this year from teaching at the Parsons design school. She focused her writing passion on her arrival in Alabama as a 10-year-old who spoke no English. “I was standing in this playground, not knowing what the kids were saying to me,” Lai says. “For the first time the words were taken from me. I was beyond frustration, and there was nothing I could do. Those feelings never go away.”

Her novel deals with her alienation and fear, family love and obligation, all propelled by the loss of her father, who served in the South Vietnamese navy and remains missing in action. As the south fell to the Communist north in 1975, Lai says her mother faced an impossible choice for herself and her nine children: “It was heartbreaking. Wait for her husband and risk nine lives ... or just go and believe, if he were alive, he would find his way to us. In the end, her children won.”

A cause for our times: Repeal gravity now!

Our Jim Gerstenzang, with his writing partner at Safe Climate Campaign, Dan Becker, joined up on this satirical bit:

Memo to: Fellow Members of Congress

From: Darrell Issa, Republican of California

Re: Support for legislation to abolish an antiquated law.

I urge you to join us in sponsoring the Hall-Latta-Flake-Issa-Upton-Noem-Goodlatte Act.

For too long, science has been trotted out to justify environmental protection, when it is actually being used to mask tax-and-spend policies that sink our economy. With that in mind, I ask you to support the next logical step in our Republican Caucus' crusade to abolish job-killing "environmental" laws and excessive regulations. Please join us in cosponsoring H.R. 32174, a bill to repeal the Law of Gravity.

Robyn Norwood on energy drinks and the health of young athletes

Our Robyn Norwood made the cover of USAToday the other day with this revelatory piece about energy drinks and their impact on the health of children and adolescents, partocularly those engaged in sports. From her story:

From youth playing fields to major league clubhouses, caffeinated energy drinks such as Red Bull and its scores of cousins have become a familiar presence in sports.

"The bottom line is, it's a long season. You're going to do what you have to do, whether you feel like you have to jump into a cryogenic freezing tank or a hyperbaric chamber or drink a Red Bull," said Texas Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson, a World Series starter who says he has never used alcohol or drugs but consumes energy drinks socially and to prepare himself to pitch. "I see nothing wrong with drinking Red Bull."

Some athletes and industry officials compare the beverages to a cup of coffee.

But doctors and other experts increasingly warn of misunderstandings about energy drinks' contents, lax labeling requirements and the risks of high doses of caffeine — particularly to young athletes.In June, a clinical report in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, warned that "stimulant-containing energy drinks have no place in the diets of children or adolescents."

Rick Schmitt and the pistol-packing public

Our Rick Schmitt has a telling look through the Center for Public Integrity at laws that have made it easier for people to carry guns in public. From his story:

In Ohio, it is now OK to possess a hidden, loaded handgun in cars and bars, public parks and parking lots. Gun owners have broad discretion in using deadly force against burglars and car thieves. A 12-hour gun training course is still needed to get a concealed-carry permit, one of the stiffest requirements in the country. But in 2008, a written test to renew a concealed-carry license was abolished as over-regulation.

Today, seven years after the Buckeye State first allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons, more than a quarter-million Ohioans have concealed carry permits. People debate the impact, although the fact that the identity of the permit holders is off limits to the general public makes that tough. A law giving reporters access to the information was scaled back after gun rights’ groups complained that the press had abused the privilege.

The sweeping changes are part of a little-known but dramatic expansion of user-friendly gun laws across the country. Rough estimates put the number of concealed carry permit holders at between 4 and 7 million nationwide.

Kathy Price-Robinson looks into energy audits - good time of year for it

Our Kathy Price-Robinson, who is based in New Orleans, traveled recently to Montana to sit in on an energy-audit class, and wrote about the experience for the website GreenBuildingAdvisor.com. From her story:

When I arrive for the five-day energy-auditing course at the Pure Energy Center in eastern Montana, I see instructor A. Tamasin Sterner outside the main house, clapping her hands and doing a little dance.

If you know Tamasin, a veteran energy auditor who famously counseled President Obama on the need for weatherization programs, you expect this show of exuberance.

And even if you haven’t met her, you can imagine Tamasin’s exhilaration. After attending spiritual retreats on this 212-acre wooded ranch for more than 20 years, Tamasin recently bought the property, which has cabins and lodging for about 30 retreatants, from her spiritual teacher. Her goal: to further develop it into a retreat, event and training center. This is the first women-only auditing course at the site.