The Mauli Ola Foundation Golf Tournament - “Let’s Get the Kids with CF Surfing”

Mauli Ola Foundation Presents: A day on the links at Monarch Beach Golf Course in beautiful Dana Point, CA, September 3rd (Wednesday), Event Time: 1:00 PM (check in time 12:00 PM).
Thank you for participating in the Mauli Ola Golf Tournament. Our goal is to raise funds to take kids surfing who have cystic fibrosis. The ocean water and air facilitate clearance of mucus from the lungs so people with cystic fibrosis do not need to go to the hospital as much, medication and treatments are reduced and medical costs go down.
Information about the event will be provided on the link below (adobe PDF reader required). If you have any questions about the event, please call 714-369-5464 or email info@mauli-ola.org , Single Entry $250,      Foursome Entry $900, Event Sponsorship $250. 

The Mauli Ola Foundation (MOF) was organized to promote education, awareness of genetic diseases and to increase research for genetic disorders. The MOF raises funds to support programs for kids and adults with life-threatening illnesses and disabilities through social events such as music concerts, sports tournaments, galas, and other great events. We want to provide a direct and immediate option for children with genetic disorders an enjoyable and healthy way of life through natural treatments.

Surf Experience Days For The Kids: Surf Experience Days were created to get kids who have cystic fibrosis out into the ocean water (which is high in saline) and experience what natural therapies can do for their lungs. The exercise and fun they get from these events is truly fantastic. What is even more amazing, kids who have cystic fibrosis respond very well to the salt water environment. The saline in the air and water breaks down the congestion that is in their lungs. This congestion is what causes them to go to hospitals constantly and leads them to have to take lots of medication on daily basis. With salt water treatments, their hospital visits are cut down in half, leading to a healthier and more fulfilling life with fun activities. For more information visit http://www.mauliola.org  

A Chorus Line, August 19th - 31st in Costa Mesa

   On a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. The field’s been narrowed down to just 17 dancers. For these men and women, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It’s what they’ve worked for — with every drop of sweat, every hour of training, every day of their lives. It’s the one opportunity to do what they’ve always dreamed of. Not to be the star, but to get the job … to have the chance to dance and come through.
But before the final cut is made, the director Zach asks each of them to talk about themselves. He starts by asking their name, age, hometown and reason for being a dancer. But Zach wants more than just their resumes. He wants to know about their families, friends, lovers, ambitions and careers. One by one, they come forward.. This is A CHORUS LINE, the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all on the line. This singular sensation, the winner of nine Tony Awards, including “Best Musical” and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is coming to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa for two weeks only, August 19 – 31.  For more news and tickets visit their site at: http://www.achorusline.com

Some are shy or reluctant, while others are more than happy to reveal their innermost thoughts. From funny to heartbreaking, these 17 dancers share with us the stories of their lives. They put themselves on the line to get a job on the line. And when they’re done, so is the audition. And the final chorus line of 8 dancers is chosen.

Here’s One of the Most Powerful (and most ignored) Marketing Strategies You Will Ever Find - Part 1

By Ben Hart…  Your offer is the most important element of your marketing campaign.  A great offer will succeed even if you write a very poor letter.  But the greatest sales letter in the world cannot sell a lousy offer.  This is just another way of saying “Our customers are not idiots. They do their math. They weigh the cost against the benefits they’ll get if they buy.”

Now start paying very close attention.  And read every word of this article as if your life depends on you understanding it. Read to the very end, or you’ll miss the big point.  You’ll find a ton of solid gold marketing secrets in here that can make you a pile of money if you act on them.  Okay, now back to main theme of this article.  So . . . what exactly is an offer?

An offer answers the “How much does it cost, and what am I buying for my money?” question.  It’s the “getting down to brass tacks” part of selling.  It’s the part where you are trying to persuade your prospect to pay, to part with cash. This is the part of the transaction where both buyer and seller get their calculators out, put their green eye-shades on, put pencil to paper and decide if the transaction makes economic sense.

If someone offered you a Mercedes for $10, you would take it.  No sales presentation needed.  That’s an offer. But you’ll go broke if you make offers like that.  The trick for a business is to construct irresistible offers that don’t cause you to go broke.  The way you do this is to deliver a product that has enormous perceived value to the customer, but that does not cost you a lot to produce.

That’s a big reason “information products” are so good.  Information products are very cheap to produce, and can have enormous perceived value to the buyer.  How much would you pay for a weekly one-page newsletter from Bill Gates on how to build a profitable business?  How much would you pay for a one-page monthly newsletter from Warren Buffet on what stocks to invest in and why?

Probably a lot, even though a one-page newsletter does not cost much to produce.  Overcoming The Toughest Hurdle In Selling - Now, the toughest part of any sale is to persuade your prospective buyer to part with cash.

Your prospect must be absolutely convinced about the value of the product before any money will exchange hands.  That’s why people much prefer to pay later.  No one ever wants to pay now.  Of course, people prefer not to pay at all, but they also know that’s not the way the world works.  With this principle in mind, let me outline for you one of the most powerful offers I have run across in my 20+ years in direct marketing.

There are four basic reasons people do not get their pen out and write a check to you in answer to your offer:  

1) They have no interest in what you are offering.

2) They don’t want to pay what you are charging, or can’t afford to pay. 

3) Your offer did not get your reader’s attention, so they never considered your offer.

4) Your reader does not believe your claims.

 The fourth reason is usually the biggest stopper for getting the sale.   I say this because, as an Inner Circle member, you are now an expert target marketer.  So this means you are only marketing to people you know have an interest in what you are selling and can afford to pay for what you are selling. 

You have also packaged your mailing in such a way that it stands out in the mailbox, gets attention, and can’t be missed.   So your letter does not look like any of that other junk mail that shows up in your mailbox every day.  So, now the only remaining question is, “Will my reader trust what I say to be true?”  The biggest challenge we face as marketers is persuading our target audience that we are not lying, that we are not exaggerating our claims.

Corporate Brokers, Inc - the ultimate solution for the launch, operation and growth of your business

 Welcome to Corporate Brokers, Inc. We bring you the ultimate solution for the launch, operation and growth of your business. We are Specialists in the Business Development field.

How To Keep Your Customers From Using The Competition

Now, we’ll turn our attention to what you can do to foster customer retention.  Later in the game the customer relations process evolves into follow-up and follow-through. How would you react if… you got a call from your car dealer service manager a week after having some repairs done just to make sure everything is okay? You got a call from your doctor the evening after treatment just to check up on you. You got a questionnaire in the mail from a restaurant you dined at soliciting your comments and suggestions. Some business people tell me that’s looking for trouble. I disagree. I think it’s looking for rapport, loyalty, satisfaction and repeat business. If follow-up turns up a lot of dissatisfaction you need to make some changes. The dissatisfaction is there whether you discover it or not.

How would you react if you got a thank you note a few days after buying a new suit from a clothing store, you got a birthday card from your insurance agent, you got a free dinner gift certificate as a thank you from a hotel chain, you got a personalized luggage tag in the mail as a gift from your travel agent?

Recognition and appreciation can be very powerful and very inexpensive as a marketing strategy. It is true that comprehensive follow-up and follow-through may reveal some inadequacies in your business operation and that’s good if you use those discoveries as impetus for improvement.

Of course every business, no matter how well managed, will have to deal with dissatisfied even angry customers from time to time. Sometimes the customer is justified in his complaints other times he is not, but the handling of the dissatisfied customer can have far reaching impact on a business.

In your next Success Marketing Strategy, I want to talk with you about techniques that you should consider when dealing with the dissatisfied customer. Be on the lookout for my next email in just a couple of days.

 Written by Dan Kennedy - Dedicated To Multiplying Your Income. www.dankennedy.com

Orange International Street Fair - 2008 Theme: Around The World In 3 Days!

August 29th - 31st,  Whether it’s Philly Cheese Steaks, Italian Sausages or Greek Loukoumades, the Street Fair never fails to tantalize the taste buds of the half million Fair goers every year.  The theme for the 2008 Orange International Street FairSM is “Around the World In 3 Days!”SM. The Orange International Street FairSM has served millions and remains a mainstay in Orange for over 35 years.

Every Labor Day weekend for the past three decades, the Orange International Street Fair in downtown Orange has been the place where friends, families and neighbors get together to experience a wide variety of food, music and dance from cultures and ethnicities throughout the world. Whether it’s Philly Cheese Steaks, Italian Sausages or Greek Loukoumades, the Street Fair never fails to tantalize the taste buds of the half million Fair goers every year. The theme for the 2008 Orange International Street Fair is “Around the World In 3 Days!”. The Orange International Street Fair has served millions and remains a mainstay in Orange for over 35 years. The event is free, but remember to plan ahead because parking will be a bear!

All American Stage Entertainment Schedule - Friday, August 29, 2008: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - The Blurbs, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm - The Wild Adults.  Saturday, August 30, 2008: 11:00 am - 12:00 am - Wimberley Bluegrass Band, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm - Possibly Seven, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Element Zero, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Vanity Killz, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Roadhouse, Sunday, August 31, 2008: 12:00 am - 1:00 pm - Tupelo Blue, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm - The Fallen Stars, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Blue Dice, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Flashpoint, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm - The All American Goodtime Band.

Mexican Stage Entertainment Schedule - Friday, August 29, 2008: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm -  Latin Lowdown, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Latin Lowdown,  Saturday, August 30, 2008: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm - The All Nighters, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - The All Nighters, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm - The All Nighters, Sunday, August 31, 2008: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Latin Lowdown, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm -Latin Lowdown and 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm - Latin Lowdown.

Children’s Street  - This year we will include the following activities: Children’s Stage, Face Painting, Spray on Tattoos, Rock Climbing, 40′ Blowup Slides, Slot Cars, Soda Ring Toss, and many other Games! 

The Orange International Street FairSM is a Non-Profit Organization comprised solely of non-paid Volunteers. 

 Contact: Street Captains - Jon Stuemke Jr. streetcaptain@orangestreetfair.org or visit their website: http://orangestreetfair.org 

Isaac Hayes - When It All Changed… by Cisco

  I saw “Shaft” when it first came out, in New York, in the winter of ‘71. I didn’t know what it was, other than a private eye movie. In those days, so long as it was a Western or a private eye movie, I’d go see it.
Right from the opening credits, I was hooked. There it was, New York in the winter, just like right outside the door of the Times Square movie house I was slumped in.
And here he came up the subway steps: John Shaft, all cool and Bogie-esque, only now the trench coat was leather. He stalked the mean streets of Manhattan like he owned them.
And pulsing beneath, that ultra-cool, driving, dangerous, soaring, funky-hunky MUSIC.
This was no typical film noir. This was NOW.
Have a look and a listen… Now, truth be known, “Shaft” isn’t really a great film. Richard Roundtree was not - yet - enough of an actor to pull off “cool.” The coolest actors - Mitchum, McQueen, Poitier, Denzel, Sam Jackson - know that, in order to project “cool,” the character has to have an inner-story, something churning under the surface, that they just don’t share with the audience.
Roundtree didn’t know that yet, and while Gordon Parks was one of the greatest photographers who ever lived, that didn’t make him film director enough to get the performance needed from Roundtree.
So Roundtree tried to “act” cool, and cool can’t be acted.
But he was something else that Sidney Poitier hadn’t been during the 60s: Roundtree’s Shaft was angry. One angry black man, and that fitted the temper of the times.
There’s a scene in “Shaft” that nails it. Shaft’s just hoodwinked a couple Mafia thugs in a bar, and turned them over to the cops. One the goom-bahs spits in his face.
Poitier might have glared, or slapped him (see “In The Heat Of The Night”).
Roundtree doesn’t blink. He swings a whiskey bottle and shatters it over the thug’s head.
There was a new bad muthfucka in town, and his name was John Shaft. John Shaft kicked off and locked in an era of black action films that found an audience, white AND black, and in their wake came some fine dramas and film biographies (”Sounder” and “Lady Sings The Blues,” to name but two).
From that era came a flood of films and stars that have, right up to today, given us Sam Jackson and Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Morgan Freeman, Spike Lee and John Singleton, Theresa Rusell and Wesley Snipes and Queen Latifa, among many many others.
And our world and our popular culture is a better place for it.
But I’m here to tell ya, without the music in “Shaft,” the movie might have sunk like a rock.
The music was all Isaac Hayes.
That theme from “Shaft” is nothing short of brilliant. It is THE damnedest combination of old Hollywood, late 60s early-70s funk, and “new” jazz (listen to Miles Davis’s 1969 classic “Bitches Brew,” and you’ll hear the same echoes Isaac adapted to “Shaft”).
Yeah, the lyrics are kinda dumb, but that was part of the fun back then - and still is.
Then came the Academy Awards. Isaac Hayes was nominated for “Best Song” for the theme from “Shaft.”
No way in hell, I thought. The song was a major hit, far too popular, I thought, for Oscar to give it a nod. And besides, the movie wasn’t much.
And dare we say it? Isaac was black.
Then, man, he came rolling out on the stage at the Oscars, behind that funky keyboard, shrouded in a fog of dry ice, with his bullet head, muscles draped in gold chains like Othello ready to rock, those fine lady back-up singers all slinky and set to throw down.
And Isaac Hayes tore the place up - and copped the Oscar.
Isaac Hayes never had a bigger hit than “Shaft.” Doesn’t matter. In an inspired explosion of creativity, with one piece of music, he changed our culture, and it changed our world.
We’ll be listening to his work for a long time.
It don’t get better than that.  RIP, brother.

For more information in Cisco vsiit: http://www.myspace.com/ciscowrites  

Turning Heads: A Group Exhibition at Dawson Cole Fine Art, Laguna Beach

Dawson Cole Fine Art, Laguna Beach wanted to take this opportunity to personally invite you to Turning Heads: A Group Exhibition.  The face, recorded through the eyes of the artist, truly lives forever.  Portraiture has been central to the history of art for centuries and this unique exhibition examines how we view portraiture today.  The showing will include works by leading contemporary artists:

Chuck Close - The remarkable career of artist Chuck Close extends beyond his completed works of art. More than just a painter, photographer, and printmaker, Close is a builder who, in his words, builds “painting experiences for the viewer.” Highly renowned as a painter, Close is also a master printmaker, who has, over the course of more than 30 years, pushed the boundaries of traditional printmaking in remarkable ways. Almost all of Close’s work is based on the use of a grid as an underlying basis for the representation of an image. This simple but surprisingly versatile structure provides the means for “a creative process that could be interrupted repeatedly without damaging the final product, in which the segmented structure was never intended to be disguised.” It is important to note that none of Close’s images are created digitally or photo-mechanically. While it is tempting to read his gridded details as digital integers, all his work is made the old-fashioned way - by hand. Close’s paintings are labor intensive and time consuming, and his prints are more so. While a painting can occupy Close for many months, it is not unusual for one print to take upward of two years to complete. Close has complete respect for, and trust in, the technical processes - and the collaboration with master printers - essential to the creation of his prints. The creative process is as important to Close as the finished product. “Process and collaboration” are two words that are essential to any conversation about Close’s prints.

Jian Wang - If Jian Wang is to claim a style, it lies in his approach to painting. Distinguished by his ability to reconfigure the elements of a composition to his own vision, he virtually sculpts the image using energetic brush strokes and thick, buttery oil paint. “My style involves tremendous physicality and emotion,” he says. “I have a simple palette of eight colors, which I combine right on the canvas. I’m careful with my gestures; I carry many colors in a single brush stroke.” His work, influenced significantly by realism with an impressionist inference, is influenced both by the landscape and by contemporary artists such as Fred Dalkey, Wayne Thiebaud and Oliver Jackson. “Every single painting is 90 percent experiment and 10 percent of what I’ve learned,” he says. “I cannot guarantee that every painting will turn out, because I don’t want to set up that much control. I have great admiration for historical painters who developed a style and yet, each piece remains individual.” Long before he came to the United States to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts at California State University, Jian Wang dreamed of a life of painting. A child of the Cultural Revolution in China, he experienced limited opportunities for painting and exhibition, which led him to pursue the field of engineering. And yet, he did not lack background or training in art. Upon arrival in America, his work already exhibited a serious investment in the western conventions of drawing and painting. What he lacked, was the venue this country could provide.

and Richard MacDonald - Richard MacDonald is world-renowned for artistry that reveals a profound understanding of the human experience and which celebrates the ascendancy of the human spirit. His fascination of the human form and with mankind’s broad emotional range has inspired him to create dynamic, sensitive works; each infused with a quality that withstands the passage of time, of taste, of trend. Born and raised in California during an unkind era for figurative art, MacDonald was tossed into artistic waters by his uncle, then a leading graphic designer. Primed by his childhood and formally trained in Professional Arts at the Art Center, College of Design, MacDonald forged an alchemy of experience to become an artist whose drawings, paintings and sculpture portray the passion inherent in the triumph of the human condition The inspiration behind MacDonald’s 1996 tour de force, “The Flair,” a 26-foot gymnast caught in the execution of the maneuver, actually emerged from a painting he created for the 1984 Olympics. And although he based his design on the studies he did of Kurt Thomas for the painting, The Flair’s essence lies more in the struggle, determination and hours of training, all brought to that instant when performance is everything. Therein lies the metaphor for his own artistic achievements. MacDonald went on to create, among other masterworks, “Momentum”, a 15-foot, 15-ton sculpture created in celebration of the 100th playing of the U.S. Open golf championship at Pebble Beach. When not creating art, he travels on behalf of it, extensively and internationally, forging relationships with other countries, other creators. His work is collected by such people as former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, Linda and Stewart Resnick, William Payne, Dean Koontz, Richard Marx, Leanne Rimes, and opera legend Luciano Pavarotti. The absence of opportunity and training in figurative sculpture has created a void not only in the preservation of fine art, but in the persistence of life, which MacDonald, a natural teacher and devoted mentor, works relentlessly to fill. He works tirelessly to increase the appreciation and understanding of figurative art throughout the world. MacDonald also graciously gives of his art and his time to hundreds of charitable organizations; among those Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Make a Wish Foundation, and New York’s “Free Arts for Abused Children,” which was a charity event sponsored by Cirque du Soleil and Lincoln Automotive. His commitment to fostering the future of post-modern, neo-figurative art is realized not only in creating monuments to human triumph, but by imparting his knowledge and technique, his experience and his lessons to emerging international and national professional artists through intensive master classes on location at his own 25,000 square foot studio complex. As he passes the torch, he ensures his legacy. The artist’s international reach has now captivated Shanghai, China, which recently recognized his accomplishments with a prestigious award and invited him to install his life-sized sculpture “Three Graces” in Central Green Park, a 1,500-acre expanse that softens Shanghai’s new cosmopolitan financial center of Pudong. “China is important to the world in that they are a force and on the move,” MacDonald said. “Exposing them to figurative art opens up a potential for artistic expression far greater than anyone would ever have dreamed possible until today. It is this very spirit of the struggle and determination to triumph that inspires creative expression. This is the message, I think, that will endure through my work.”

Contact:  http://dawsoncolefineart.com

THE OCEAN INSTITUTE - 4th Annual Laguna Beach Million Dollar (PLUS) Home Raffle

On Monday, July 7, 2008 when we begin the raffle our members, friends and the communities we serve will have their chance to win one of the hundreds of cash and special prizes that will be awarded during the 2008 Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle campaign.
The Ocean Institute’s goal is to be the home of California’s best home raffle with more prizes and fun than ever before. Tickets are $150 each, two or more will enter you into our multi-ticket drawing!
“Our Grand Prize of either $1 million in cash, or a $1.2 million dollar home in Laguna Beach will be a life changing event for the winner,” commented Dan Stetson, President of the Ocean Institute. “It’s fitting that our 2008 Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle begins just a few days past Independence Day since our Grand Prize winner will be on his or her way to financial independence.”
The Grand Prize, a wonderful selection of dream vacations, a Lexus Hybrid 400h, hundreds of cash prizes and a surprise or two awaits the entrants and winners of our 2008 Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle.

You can’t win if you don’t enter!  Your support of our 2008 Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle provides us with the resources to inspire over 110,000 school children every year to the power of science, math, history and the majesty of the sea.
With every ticket you buy you secure a chance to win big with the knowledge your purchase helps school children from all walks of life.

To Order Raffle Tickets: Fill out an entry form and call: 949.542.3600, Fill out an entry form and fax it: 949.542.3601 or
Send your entry form to: Ocean Institute, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Dr. Dana Point, CA 92629. The Earlier You Enter, the More Chances to Win! Enter by August 20 and be eligible for $44,000 cash prizes in Early Bird Drawing 1 - Enter by September 17 and be eligible for $24,000 cash prizes in Early Bird Drawing 2