After a few short press releases for Moving Arts Dance in Concord, I've now written my first full-length press release for the group, although you could consider my resume a press release. Anyway, here it is:
For more information, contact:
Scott Belding, Moving Arts Dance: 925-825-8399 or e-mail: info@MovingArtsDance.org
Aaron Crowe, public relations, 925-482-5934, or e-mail: aaron.crowe.consulting@gmail.com
Meet Major League Baseball Manager Tony La Russa and get his autograph at recycling event
Sponsored by Moving Arts Dance Center & Theater, and AT&T Real Yellow Pages
CONCORD, CA, JAN. 21, 2009 -- Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and former Oakland A's manager, will appear at an autograph signing of the new AT&T Real Yellow Pages on Saturday, Jan. 31, from 1-3 p.m. at Moving Arts Dance Center, 1281-C Franquette Ave. in Concord. A suggested donation of $10 is requested.
La Russa will sign copies of the new Contra Costa County Central AT&T Real Yellow Pages to kick off the annual phone book recycling drive. La Russa and his daughter, Moving Arts Dance member Devon, are featured on the cover of the new AT&T phone book alongside Moving Arts Dance members and Artistic Director Anandha Ray. AT&T is a 2009 season presenting sponsor for Moving Arts Dance. La Russa is on the board of directors for Moving Arts.
New, signed copies of the phone books will be provided at the event.
Residents and businesses that bring their old phone books to the event to be recycled will get a new phone book signed by the manager of two World Series-winning teams, including the A's. One of his former players, Rickey Henderson, was recently voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Moving Arts Dance is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable arts organization. It is a dance company, school and theater, and has classes, workshops and shows each year.
Moving Arts Dance Theater presents a variety of dance performances throughout the year. Under Executive Director Scott Belding, its professional dancers have traveled around the globe to perform. Artistic Director Anandha Ray, who is also on the phone book cover, heads the dance company and the dance center.
Here are some upcoming events at Moving Arts Dance:
* Salon Concert on Feb. 7 and 8, titled "Beauty from Darkness" with the band Judgement Day. The shows are at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 and 2 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Moving Arts Dance Theater at 1281-C Franquette Ave., Concord. Advance tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children. Tickets on the day of the show are $25 for adult and $20 for seniors and children.
* Jan. 30 auditions for "Hansel & Gretel's House of Rock," an original show that gives dancers a chance to build their resume by performing with a professional company. A variety of parts are available for children, teens and adults, from non-dance roles through professional dance roles. Participants should wear clothes that are easy to move in and show your body, bare feet and hair back with no bangs (no baggy clothes, please). Dancers should arrive warmed up and ready to learn choreography, and arrive on the floor ready to go 15 minutes before their start time. Start times vary by age and experience: 4 p.m. for children ages 5-8; 5 p.m. for children ages 9-12; 5 p.m. for age 13 to adult who are beginner dancers and character actors; and 6 p.m. for others age 13 to adult. A $5 audition fee is required. If cast in the show, a participation fee will be required to cover costs related to rehearsals, costuming and performances. Fundraisers will be available to students to help cover their fee.
For people who can't make it to the recycling event and autograph session with La Russa on Jan. 31, they can call the AT&T Real Yellow Pages Project ReDirectory help line at 800-953-4400 for directory recycling information.
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Here are the Moving Arts Dance members pictured on the cover of the AT&T Real Yellow Pages, from left to right:
* Anandha Ray, Artistic Director of Moving Arts Dance. An award winning choreographer, she holds two master's degrees in dance, is in the Contra Costa County Women's Hall of Fame, a former chairwoman of a university dance program and has more than 30 years' experience with teaching, choreographing and producing dance concerts and tours.
* Devon La Russa, assistant artistic director. Devon debuted with Moving Arts Dance in July 2002 at the Chronicle Pavilion in Concord, and is a principal dancer in the group. She performed with Oakland Ballet from 1995-2005, performing principal roles in Michael Lowe's choreography and with other choreographers. She has been a freelance flamenco artist since 2005 and is studying and performing with award winning flamenco dancer and choreopgrapher Yaelisa.
* Tony La Russa, board member of Moving Arts Dance for five years.
* Coreen Danaher, (in background) debuted with Moving Arts Dance Center in April 2006. Born in Vallejo, she studied for 10 years at Vallejo Ballet Conservatory and later trained at Berkeley Ballet Theater. She has performed with Ballet Counterpointe Rep, as a corps dancer in Diablo Ballet's Paquita, and as a guest in Professional Ballet School's Spring Showcase. She is in her second season at Peninsula Ballet.
* Paris Wages, assistant artistic director, joined Moving Arts Dance in September 2005. She has danced with several companies, including Los Angeles Classical Ballet, Winifred R. Harris' Between Lines, Heidi Duckler's Collage Dance Theatre, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera Ballet. She has been adjunct faculty at Solano Community College since 2005.
* Mariko Takahashi joined Moving Arts Dance in 2007. She received her training at the Ayako School of Ballet, in Belmont, where she also teaches ballet and jazz. She has performed with the Oakland Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Diablo Ballet, the Ronn Guidi Foundation for the Performing Arts, and Sierra Nevada Ballet. In addition to her work with Moving Arts Dance, she has had the pleasure to have dances created for her by choreographers such as Donald McKayle, and Scott Rink, and has performed principal roles in full-length productions such as Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Don Quixote.
* Maria LaMance joined Moving Arts Dance in summer 2005. She trained at the San Francisco Ballet School and earned her bachelor of arts degree at San Francisco State University. She has performed with numerous modern dance companies and independent choreographers, including Heidi Schweiker, Lea Wolf, Kate Corby and Dancers, Earth Circus Productions, Jenice Alcosta Movers and Huckabay McAllister Dance. She teaches ballet and Russian character dance at Dance Theater international and is a certified massage therapist.
* Terrin McGee Kelly (being lifted) joined in summer 2004. She has dance with Ballet Magnificat, Oakland Ballet, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Theater Ballet of San Francisco, and has guest performed in and around the Bay Area. She has been an extra for Comedy Central, the the series Nash Bridges and the Matrix II. She was a participant in the Miss America Organization, holding titles over three years while she promoted her platform of arts in education, where she gave lecture demonstrations, assemblies and performances at local schools.
* Adam Aicher, ballet master, has danced with Company C and started with Moving Arts in 2007. He received full scholarships to Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Houston Ballet and received a ballet scholarship to the University of Utah. In 2003 he was invited to study under Fernando bujones at Orlando Ballet. he is a dual-certified pilates trainer, is Red Cross CPR and First Aid certified, and gives frequent lectures on dancer health and injury prevention. He has extensive experience working with all levels of dancers and athletes.
This tale was brought to you by
talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com
Took the day off from working, job hunting, and enjoyed a basketball game this afternoon at St. Mary's College in Moraga. Wanted to give Emma a taste of women's hoops, and we saw a good game as the Gaels beat San Diego in double overtime.
On this eve of change in America, about the best advice, request, plea I can offer to President Obama is to start his administration by doing everything he can to help create jobs and get people back to work. It's a difficult task, but the most important in fixing the economy and getting everything else back on track.
Part of my job search is falling by the side as I try to earn more money with part-time work. I may be shooting myself in the foot with this decision, but I'm leaving the Success Team I started through CPC Job Connections, mainly because I don't have time to attend this networking team because of my part-time jobs. I won't go into the details of the work, but as you've read here before, I'm busy with many part-time jobs as a way to bring some much-needed cash into the house.
Time is running out for my unemployment benefits, at least the first 26 weeks of benefits. I've got about another month of money coming in, as my limited part-time work has allowed me to extend the 26 weeks of pay another month or so. Federal extensions are next, and I'll apply for it, but I'm working under the impression that the benefits are running out and I've got to find something. Anything. I've tried so many tactics, and am still trying more, but nothing has worked yet -- at least not for full-time work with benefits, which is what I want.
It won't be official for a few weeks, but I'm going to move talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com to a new site. I've bought a domain name, have a site host and want to learn as much as I can about WordPress and Web site building before I unleash it. 
My first press release is below. I sent it out this morning to various newspapers in an effort to get people to audition for an upcoming performance. Now I've just added to my job skills, and here's the proof:
Once again, I'm denied a job and lost out to a guy with more experience than me. It's difficult to keep your chin up after losing in a job interview, and yes, there are losers in these things. After a month of applying for this government position, an interview and a few anxious weeks awaiting a callback, calling myself and getting the final word today, I'm getting tired of this. It's depressing.
For the unemployed, it's a shock to learn that the IRS wants your money, even if you didn't earn a paycheck in 2008. If you earned some money -- through unemployment benefits, part-time work or pulling money out of a 401(k) plan -- among other things, then you must file a tax return. Today I wrote about this issue for the unemployed for WalletPop.com.
I continue writing for RedwoodAge.com, and today I wrote and blogged about Rickey Henderson on RedwoodAge.com and his election to the baseball Hall of Fame. I wrote about how Henderson is an iconic baseball player for many Baby Boomers, and was my favorite baseball player growing up.
On Jan. 22 I'm attending the event below, which applies to all reporters, not just health reporters. I'm interested in how these tools can help me as a journalist, but also as a job hunter. I already regularly use Twitter, Facebook and a blog, and wonder what are the best ways to use them to their full advantage. Through my job search I'm open to remaining a journalist, probably online, but also see these online tools as things to use in my next job, whether it be in communications or elsewhere.
I'm trying to drum up more financial support for my Spot.us story on solar power. Below is a letter that will soon be sent via e-mail to Spot.us supporters. Feel free to donate
The marketing of Aaron Crowe looks to get a bit interesting this week as a guerrilla job search firm has offered to help me rework my resume. If I like the service, I'll promote it here and tell my friends, family, etc. I was laid off more than six months ago and figure I might as well try something different. I'll give it a try and report what's happening here so other unemployed people can learn from it and apply it to their job search too.
I've written here before about non-profits and not-for-profits and why I'd like to work at one. I expanded on that idea for this WalletPop story about how not-for-profits need more workers than for-profit businesses, and how they pay a little more. Interesting stuff from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of my favorite places to get job data.
What would Popeye's resume look like in today's world? Unemployeddad.com has the answer, which I think is worthy of linking to here. He's Mr. P for purposes of protecting his identity.
We went to a great movie Friday night, "Slumdog Millionaire." It's a great film that is kind of a fairytale. It doesn't have much to do with finding a job, but it's a great story that in a way shows how to continue chasing what you want in life, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
A comment was recently made by a WalletPop reader on my story about callbacks for job interviews. He didn't gain anything from the story, which is fine, and he made a point that I think is worth remembering in the search for a job. The full letter is linked to the story, but this is part of what he wrote:
My profiles view are now at 1,000 and counting! Thanks everyone for helping UnemployedDad hit this milestone. I haven't converted it to page views, or looked that up, but 1,000 profile views must mean something, right? And that's in less than four months of publishing (start date of Sept. 11, 2008, the evening after someone in an informational interview told me to start writing for the Web if I wanted to get a job writing or editing for the Internet).
As I've said in previous posts, I'm not big into New Year's resolutions, but I plan on a few this year, one big, one small: Finding a career where I can have an impact, and being better organized.
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