Miami, FL, January 20, 2012 – Interval International, a prominent global provider of vacation services, is a sponsor of Caribbean Marketplace, the region’s preeminent business-to-business marketing event for the hotel and tourism industry. The gathering, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary,will be held on January 22-24 in Paradise Island, Bahamas. It is being organized by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and hosted by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the Bahamas Hotel Association, and the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board.

“As we commemorate this milestone, we would like to acknowledge the continued dedication of long-standing partners like Interval that make it possible for us to sustain the quality programs that have such a positive impact on our industry,” said Alec Sanguinetti, director general and chief executive officer of CHTA. “We hope to exceed the record attendance and vendor participation set in 2011 at this year’s event.”

“Caribbean Marketplace serves as one of the most important venues for connecting hoteliers with tour operators and wholesalers interested in promoting Caribbean vacations. Business conducted at this conference helps ensure the growth and success of companies in the region and we are proud to be a sponsor,” said Neil Kolton, Interval’s director of resort sales and service for the Caribbean and Florida.

The Caribbean has proven itself to be a very popular destination for owners of the shared ownership product. According to Interval International’s 2011 U.S. Membership Profile,the region is cited by nearly half of Interval’s U.S.-resident members as their leisure destination of choice for international travel within the next two years.

As a Strategic Partner of CHTA and a Board Member of the CHTA Education Foundation and the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Scholarship Foundation, Interval has been a long-time supporter of the tourism industry in the Caribbean. The company is committed to understanding the unique needs of the region and providing products and programs tailored to this market.

Red Tails trailer courtesy LucasFilm/20th Century Fox.

A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard. 1944. As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options – including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country – and the fate of the free world.

5th Annual International Casino Games

The International Casino GamesThe International Casino Games
ST. JULIANS, MALTA

The widely recognised International Casino Games, an online gambling promotion associated with the Fortune Lounge Group of Online Casinos including 7Sultans Online Casino is set to launch its fifth and latest installment offering greater rewards and extended playing time. The collective prize pool amounts to 200,000 in casino credits and 50 double cruise tickets to the International Casino Games main cruise event.

The International Casino Games is one of the most popular online casino promotions ever since it first set sail to a Caribbean breeze in 2006. As with previous International Casino Games events, countless players from the Fortune Lounge Group will all compete for a chance to secure top-notch credit prizes and tickets to the coveted main cruise event. The Fortune Lounge Group of Online Casinos also rewards players through its Rewards Programme, allowing players to extend their playing time at their casino of choice, while also allowing them to earn rewards points quicker.

This year, this 19 week promotion is made up of a series of events that include online tournaments, lucky draws, highest-wagering contests and bonus Rewards possibilities and always culminates in a luxury cruise to exotic locations. Player’s who win tickets during the weekly contests, leading up to the cruise, will take part in an onboard tournament where they will have a 1 in 12 chance to win a minimum of Eur25000… The first prize is Eur50 000.

With two weeks to go till the start of the International Casino Games V, casino fans can look forward to great entertainment, excitement and rewards opportunities in the months to come at all of the Fortune Lounge Group of Online Casinos.

About Fortune Lounge:

Fortune Lounge is one of the oldest and largest online casino groups. We’ve achieved this status by offering a superior online gambling experience, coupled with a commitment to ethical behaviour, dedicated player service and operational excellence.

Homegrown heart and soul fuels this weekend’s Fox Jazz Fest, which features headliners with Wisconsin ties who have achieved widespread recognition in their fields.

Pianist Geoffrey Keezer, a California-based Eau Claire native whose 2009 album “Aurea” received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album, headlines Saturday, the first day of the two-day free and public event. Vocalist Janet Planet of Oshkosh performs Sunday and will feature selections from three professional projects.

The Jazz Corner Society, the event’s umbrella organization, offers the 17th annual festival to the community as a free gift of jazz celebration, education, enjoyment and appreciation, said John Harmon, a pianist and composer from Winneconne who is the festival’s artistic director and emcee.

“Geoffrey Keezer, he was an absolute prodigy,” Harmon said. “He has virtuoso talent and sometimes displays it, but often he can be very simple and quite elegant. I think that’s part of his maturity as an artist. I think probably Janet (Planet) is probably one of the top five jazz singers in the country, personally. … She is probably the most articulate singer, it’s so clear. Plus, she’s so evocative. She can make you cry, and she can make you laugh.”

The event, themed “Home Cookin’,” takes place from noon to 8 p.m. each day at Jefferson Park in Menasha.

Keezer brings to the fest music from his CD “Wildcrafted” and also from the newer “Aurea,” which he says is not typical Latin jazz.

“It’s Afro-Peruvian and Argentine folk music mixed with jazz,” he said. “I went to Peru in 2004 for a jazz festival there and met several Peruvian musicians. It was really inspiring so I decided to start a project and play some of that music. What happened in Peru is … they had a slave trade so there are a lot of African Peruvians living there. They developed a kind of music that’s really interesting. It’s kind of a hybrid of Caribbean music and West African rhythms and the Spanish flamenco mixed in with it and then the native Andean Indian music.”

Planet said her audiences can expect to hear material from “Of Thee I Sing,” a 2009 concept album that she calls “a musical love letter to our country”; “Janet Planet Sings the Bob Dylan Songbook,” an homage to Dylan’s songs of the 1960s; and “Love Letters from Cary Bluff,” a CD in production that is a tribute to the late musician Chris Swansen.

“There are songs that just groove and really pay tribute to the words, which is kind of my thing,” Planet said. “Then there are the sensitivities as well as the kind of fun, spunky, bluesy types.”

“Janet Planet Sings the Bob Dylan Songbook” is scheduled for nationwide release Sept. 15, Planet said, but she plans to sell pre-release copies at Fox Jazz Fest.

Harmon said the festival is reaching out to youth, for they are the next generation of jazz listeners and musicians.

The fest’s third annual Jazz Improvisation Competition, sponsored in part by Heid Music, selected two high school students from a seven-county application pool to solo Saturday with a professional ensemble.

First-place winner Mike Darling, a Hortonville High School sophomore who plays the drums, piano, vibes and guitar, will showcase his skills on three of the four instruments. Ana M. Nelson, a saxophonist and clarinetist from Berlin High School, also will take the stage.

“I really love just playing blues guitar and really soulful stuff so I picked ‘Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.’ You can have the space you need for the guitar just to speak,” Mike Darling, 15, said. “And then for my vibes piece I picked ‘Mr. P.C.’ because it’s faster. For ‘Donna Lee,’ which is the other soloist’s choice, I’m taking the drum solo.”

For members of the Neenah High School Jazz Ensemble, one of several student ensembles that perform during the fest, there is excitement in seeing how far they’ve come and also what possibilities may lie ahead for them.

“It makes the students part of this genre, this language,” said conductor David Dunning, who encourages students to take in as much of the event as possible. “Two Neenah grads (John Schwerbel and Patrick Kelly) are out in California in school, and they just finished freshman year … they’re going to be playing a duo on Sunday afternoon. They’re slotted in just like some of the regular professionals. The students are excited that somebody they know from being in school with is now playing like that.”

The festival, which takes about $40,000 to run, relies on grants, donations and sponsorships to return each year, said Harmon, who said attendance last year amounted to about 3,500 listeners on Saturday and at least 2,000 on Sunday.

Planet said jazz is powerful, and she has noticed over the years how people have been affected by its honesty and heart.

“What it truly boils down to is hoping you bring love and compassion and hope to the listeners,” she said.

Source: Post Crescent News

The 2010 MIAMI CARNIVAL will be held on Sunday, October 10th, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium (Dolphin Stadium) in the City of Miami Gardens. Miami Carnival is a celebration of creativity: an eruption of revelry, colorful and spectacular costumes and pulsating music. It is a time when the diversity of the caribbean community can be seen as people of all ages and races come together to shed their inhibitions and enjoy a release from everyday stress. Dolphin Stadium is home to numerous NFL Super Bowls and major entertainment productions, including Jazz in the Gardens.

The Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Sun Life Stadium and its affiliates and the Miami Dolphins organization to secure the Stadium as a venue for the Miami Carnival on Columbus Day Weekend each year. This spirited agreement represents a major opportunity for the Miami Carnival to build the future and sustainability of the Carnival brand at a world renowned venue.

Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee, Miami Carnival Inc. (MCI) and Broward Caribbean Carnival Inc. (BCCI) united last year, and hosted one of the most successful Carnivals in the world that attracted over 50,000 people on Carnival day. This Caribbean cultural experience and spectacular riotous blend of colors, pageantry and fantasy, is depicted through a kaleidoscope of incredible costumes, steel bands, calypso, soca and konpa music. The annual event attracts over 100,000 people from throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to the South Florida area. The unified Miami Carnival has a significant impact on annual tourism and the overall economy in South Florida.

“The richness and diversity of the Caribbean culture is an important part of the fabric that makes South Florida unique. We are excited about the possibilities that are ahead of us with a viable venue, renewed energy and the continued support of our bandleaders, masqueraders, steel bands and promoters. The time spent over the last few months provided us with a foundation to elevate Miami Carnival to a new level”, adds Mario Zamora, Chairman of Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee and BCCI representative.

“We are excited to finally have the opportunity to announce the venue for Carnival 2010. We thank all our stakeholders, including our bandleaders, masqueraders, steel bands, promoters and the tens of thousands of attendees who travel from all over to attend Carnival for their patience and support for this important community celebration. Miami Carnival would not be possible without their continued support. We are committed to finalizing all plans for one of the most successful productions of Carnival that South Florida has ever seen.”, states Ruthven Williams, director of Miami Broward One Carnival Host Committee and MCI representative.

Miami Carnival will be held on Sunday, October 10, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium.