About a thousand partygoers turned out in black, white or both for the “Vintage Las Vegas” Palo Alto Black and White Ball on Sept. 29. The gala, at the Lucie Stern Community Center, continued the tradition of the Recreation Foundation’s bi-annual benefit for Palo Alto schools and community programs. It dates back to 1987.
“The event exceeded our expectations,” said co-chairwoman Pat Emslie in an interview Tuesday. “Guests particularly said they liked the entertainment and the gambling.” The glitzy party had entertainment on four sparkly stages, featuring something for everyone, including the return of the huge crowd- drawing ForeverLand Band ,along with BASSment, Fabulous Hummerz, God’s Gravy and Johnny Fab. Dean of crooners Dean Martin, played by Matt Helm, appealed to guests of all ages with his performance of “Moon River.”
For those who didn’t want to gamble on a marriage performed by Elvis in a simulated wedding chapel, there was blackjack, roulette and a poker room.
About 100 guests each purchased a glass of Diamond Wine, in the hope of winning a carat diamond from Gleim the Jeweler.
Seen sampling delicious food from 30 restaurants including Joya, La Strada, Sweets by Sue and the Green Girl Bakeshop, were Council Member Pat Burt and Sally Bemus, Nancy Shepherd, Sid Espinosa, Palo Alto School Board President Camille Townsend and her husband Ward Townsend, Palo Schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly, Mike Dreyfus and Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss.
Event proceeds fund middle-school athletic programs, Youth Community Service (service projects enlisting high school students from Palo Alto to Sequoia), Palo Alto Youth Forum and Palo Alto Partners in Education.
“We were pleased with the turnout,” Emslie said. “Our focus was to create a community event. For the first time, the committee decided to encourage collaboration with local nonprofits, to make the ball a community effort. Brochures from local nonprofits were displayed at the ball.”
Another first was raising more than $50,000 in sponsor donations. “We were thrilled, it was the best ever,” Emslie said.
Hollywood meets Palo Alto
The second Palo Alto International Film Festival was a four-day event showcasing technology meeting the art of filmmaking. As part of the selection process for the Sept. 27-30 event, Programming Director Alf Seccombe and his committee attended other festivals.
The result was an eclectic mix with everything from the adventure thriller “Looper” to the classic “Dial M for Murder” in 3D to documentaries and cutting-edge productions where the audience controls what is on the screen.
Executive Director Devyani Kamdar said the festival was a “phenomenal success. We were grateful to the community for their support in both helping to put on and in attending the event.
“Watching 3D movies in the outdoor theater we created at the Festival Village on High Street was one of the highlights for me. We were also happy to see that the wine tastings, VIP lounges and parties were full of pass holders, speakers and filmmakers meeting and mingling as we had hoped.”
The Innovators Party hosted by Pejman Nozad in his Palo Alto carpet gallery on Sept. 29 was a gathering of innovative filmmakers, producers and exhibitors, techie start-up types and venture capital people. The evening also saluted the documentary film “How to Live Forever” by Mark Wexler.
Wexler said it took three years of research and filming (on a global trek) to discover how old people in other cultures achieve a long and meaningful life. “Good characters make an effective documentary,” Wexler said. “All active old people said everyone needs a purpose.”
Interesting characters included everyone from Jack Lalanne and Phyllis Diller to a fisherman on Okinawa who dived into the water, with only his net, wearing goggles and a wet suit. And an interview with a 74 year-old Japanese porn star (elder porn is becoming popular in Japan, it is said), with a clip from one of his films.
Director Josh Stern and production designer Freddie Waff said they were in the editing phase of their film, “Jobs,” that will star Ashton Kutcher; no release date has been set.
Jonas Jacobi, president of the Mountain View-based company Kaazing, and Manuel Hoffman, Kaazing’s VP of business development, were excited about the festival being the first to use their hot new product — the Instant Film Feedback mobile application that makes it possible to vote by cellphone. Festival attendees had the fun of voting digitally for their favorite films.
Guests seen sampling dinner by the bite against a backdrop of handsome Persian rugs and tapestries included John Gaeta (Visual Effects Academy Award winner), venture capital veteran Pitch Johnson, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, Adam Savage (of TV’s Mythbusters), Linx Dating CEO Amy Alex Anderson, Roger Katz (of Friend2Friend) and his wife Karen Katz, Stanford football announcer Todd Husak and his wide Katie Husak, author/playwright Betsy Franco (mother of film star James) and John Sears and Adam Russell, creators of the interactive movie/game.
“Now we are just waiting to see what new collaborations might result,” Kamdar said.
E-mail Janet Duca Norton at society@dailynewsgroup.com.
SEE MORE PHOTOS from these events at: http://tinyurl.com/Janet10-06-2012
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