Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

American Beach on Amelia Island, Florida, celebrates 75

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On January 31, 2010, American Beach, located on northeast Florida’s Amelia Island, will celebrate its 75th anniversary. Located on the southern end of the island, the 200-acre American Beach was once a glorious oceanfront haven for African Americans during the Jim Crow-era of segregation. Like so much of the island’s 13 miles of shoreline, American Beach exemplifies Amelia’s unique blend of breathtaking natural beauty and intriguing history.

The founders of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company purchased American Beach over a span of 11 years, making the first of three purchases on Jan. 31, 1935. A.L. Lewis, one of the company founders, was one of the first black millionaires in Florida. In its heyday, the beach was lined with homes, restaurants and nightclubs that were frequented by notables such as Zora Neale Hurston, A. Philip Randolph, Billie Daniels, Joe Louis, Hank Aaron, Bob Hayes and others.

Today, American Beach is the first stop on the Florida Black Heritage Trail, with approximately 50 homes remaining from the 1940s and 1950s. Though its popularity faded with the advent of desegregation, residents like MaVynee Betsch, great-granddaughter of A.L. Lewis, worked to keep its history alive. Betsch made her career as an opera singer throughout Europe, and upon her return became known as “The Beach Lady” because of her unwavering devotion to environmental causes. Betsch died in September 2005, penniless, after devoting all of her time and money to her beliefs.

Visitors can now enjoy a 90-minute walking tour of American Beach, which includes a stop at Miss Martha’s Hideaway, a home built of hand-molded coquina blocks, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tour also includes visits to the very first homes built on American Beach, and homes where actor Ossie Davis and jazz singer Billie Eckstein stayed on frequent visits to American Beach. Tours are $25 per person and can be arranged by calling (904) 261-0175.

Sharks create major waves – St Augustine, Florida

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“SHARKS” Creates Major Waves at the World Golf Hall of Fame
IMAX® Theater Beginning on January 15, 2010

New IMAX Film Presented by Jean-Michel Cousteau; Opening Weekend to Feature Live Presentations by Gavin McKinney, “SHARKS” Director of Photography

The 2D World Golf Hall of Fame IMAX Theater, Jean-Michel Cousteau and 3D Entertainment, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, invite audiences to a stunning, immersive diving experience with SHARKS, premiering Friday, Jan. 15, 2010. Additionally, the film’s Director of Photography, Gavin McKinney, will be on-hand opening weekend to share his expertise and experience in bringing SHARKS to IMAX audiences. For film schedules, presentation times and ticket information, visit the IMAX Theater section on www.wgv.com.

An expert international team of ocean explorers that brought audiences “OCEAN WONDERLAND” have embarked on a unique round-the-globe expedition documenting the life of the ultimate predator in “SHARKS.” The World Golf Hall of Fame IMAX Theater brings “SHARKS” to life in grand fashion, offering a unique experience from each of its 300 stadium-style seats with high-definition images projected onto the huge, six-story tall screen and 12,000 watts of pure digital surround sound.
Swimming with Sharks
“I am very pleased that Jacksonville- and St. Augustine-area residents will now get the chance to share in this truly memorable encounter with the world’s great shark species, such as the Great White, Whale Shark and Hammerhead,” said Jean-Michel Cousteau, President of Ocean Futures Society. “Watching ‘SHARKS’ is like pulling on a diving suit and swimming weightlessly with sharks all around. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s really like to dive with sharks, this film is certainly a must-see. You can witness them as they truly are in their natural habitat — not wicked man-eating creatures, as they are far too frequently depicted in modern feature films, but wild, fascinating and highly endangered animals that have been in existence since a million years before the dinosaurs.”

Principal photography on “SHARKS” required an extensive nine-month shoot totaling 500 dive hours. The film was shot on location in Guadalupe Island, Socorro Island, Revillagigedos and the Sea of Cortez (Mexico), Malpelo Island (Colombia), the Red Sea (Egypt), Sodwana Bay (South Africa), Inhambane (Mozambique), San Diego (USA) and Rangiroa Atoll (French Polynesia).

SHARKS is recommended for general audiences and is produced by 3D Entertainment and McKinney Underwater Productions Inc. Directed by Jean-Jacques Mantello, filmed by Gavin McKinney and executive produced by Francois Mantello. SHARKS features an original score composed by Christophe Jacquelin and performed by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. “SHARKS” is distributed worldwide by 3D Entertainment in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (http://www.unep.org) and is endorsed and supported by Ocean Futures Society (http://www.oceanfutures.org), Reef Check (http://www.reefcheck.org) and PADI’s Project Aware (http://www.projectaware.org).

Official website: http://www.SharksFilm.com

Grant Supports New Jazz Technology Project – Savannah, GA

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Savannah Music festival awarded Jazz.Next Implementation Grant to support new jazz technology project

Savannah, Georgia –SWING CENTRAL, the nationally acclaimed high school jazz band competition and workshop produced by the Savannah Music Festival (SMF), is the subject of a new media project that utilizes technology to enhance the promotion of jazz music and education. SMF is one of only five recipients of first-round funding from the national Jazz.NEXT initiative, also including NPR, Monterey Jazz Festival, Walker Art Center and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. The project is funded by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “Through this technology project, we’re making our unique jazz education efforts accessible to the masses,” remarks SMF Associate Artistic Director of Jazz Education, Marcus Roberts. “The internet is now a primary learning tool for people of all ages, and young people such as the participants in our Swing Central program will benefit greatly from the lessons, artist interviews and audio/video performances that will be hosted at swingcentraljazz.org.”

Over the next two years, the swingcentraljazz.org technology initiative will combine video and audio documentation of SMF’s jazz programs, social and other digital media, and traditional broadcast to promote its efforts to a broader audience, offer supplemental educational content to young jazz musicians, reinforce the creative and academic work of jazz artists, enhance communication between students and teachers, and connect members of the jazz community with each other. The Center for New American Media from New York City has been selected to handle video documentary work relating to the project, and Heideldesign from Savannah will be SMF’s digital media partner. In addition to its wide use within swingcentraljazz.org, the video documentation of the 2010 SWING CENTRAL program will be used to produce a documentary promoting the importance of mentorship and teamwork within the jazz tradition.

The Center for New American Media and its creative partners (Louis Alvarez, Andrew Kolker, and Peter Odabashian) have created some of the most honored and critically praised documentaries on American life and culture over the past 25 years. Twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, their work, all of which premiered on public television, includes People Like Us: Social Class in America, Vote for Me: Politics in America, and American Tongues, which deals with American accents. Heideldesign, managed by lead designer and owner, Lee Heidel, has been on the leading edge of web design and development since 1998. Their web development work is featured on the newly redesigned savannahmusicfestival.org.

Track Santa’s arrival via Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

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This year you can go high-tech and track Santa’s arrival with the help of NORAD – the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Follow Santa’s flight via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and more. Even OnStar is on board.

It’s that time of the year again and the North American Aerospace Defense Command is getting ready to track Santa! The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site, www.noradsanta.org, is now live and features fun holiday games and activities that change daily. The Web site is available in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Chinese. On Dec. 24, the website will stream videos, captured by NORAD “Santa Cams,” from numerous cities along Santa’s journey.

This year, children and the young-at-heart are able to track Santa through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and TroopTube.mil. To follow us on any of these Web sites, type in @noradsanta into the search engine and start your tracking.

New this year, OnStar is partnering with NORAD to provide OnStar subscribers with live Santa updates as they travel in their vehicles on Christmas Eve. Subscribers simply push the blue OnStar button to get status reports on Santa’s whereabouts.

Also new and beginning at 12:00 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, visitors to the website can watch Santa as he prepares his sleigh, checks his list, and goes through all his preparations to ensure he has a successful journey.

As soon as Santa takes off from the North Pole, children can also track him with up-to-the-minute Google Maps and Google Earth reports.

Santa trackers will begin answering phones and replying to email at 4:00 a.m. MST (6:00 a.m. EST) on Christmas Eve. Children of all ages can call the NTS toll free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or send an email to noradtrackssanta@gmail.com.

The NTS program is carried out with the assistance of many corporate partners. Booz Allen Hamilton has designed the NTS Web site. Other sponsors helping with the event include Verizon, who donates the toll-free number, Time Warner, Avaya and PCI provide communications engineering, while OnStar, 5 Star Bank, Pepsi Distributing and First Choice Awards and Gifts keep the trackers happy with food, beverages and souvenir tracking pins.

The NTS program began on Dec. 24, 1955, after a phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement. The commander at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Colo. who answered the phone that night gave the youngster the information requested – the whereabouts of Santa. This began the tradition of tracking Santa, a tradition that was carried on by NORAD when it was formed in 1958.

The NTS program has grown immensely since first presented on the Internet in 1998. The Web site receives millions of unique visitors from hundreds of countries and territories around the world. In addition, the NTS Operations Center will be occupied for 25 hours with over 1,200 volunteers on Christmas Eve, who will be receiving hundreds of thousands phone calls and emails from families around the world.

We look forward to helping you with NORAD Tracks Santa!
santaclaus