The Acadamy Is concert at the 9:30 Club

This past monday I managed to escape the office for a concert I had already planned to attend.  My sister Theresa and friend Rob joined me.  I primarily wanted to go to this concert to see my new favorite band…Carolina Liar.  Honestly we were the oldest people there apart from the parents onlooking from the tier seating above us.  We had a great time though.  Carolina Liar and We The Kings who opened for The Acadamy Is were both equally fantastic.  While the headliner band was playing Rob went out to get a smoke.  He met the whole band from Carolina Liar.  He told them he had never heard of them before I made him listen to the cd this past week.  He told them I was a huge fan and had them wait outside so he could go back inside the club and get me.  Theresa and I went outside and met the band.  Rob tried to take photos with my camera and the darn battery died!  Ugh!!!  Luckily I had my cell phone camera on me as well.  He tried to take a photo and I ended up with a video instead.  Technology, Liquor, and Rob are not a good combination – LOL.  Anyways…here are the photos from the concert.

I’m Alive….

Just a quick update to all my friends and family.  I’ve not dropped off the face of the earth.  I’m just temporarily missing in action as I transition to a new firm.  My boss decided to leave Smith Barney this past Friday to join Merrill Lynch.  I was forced to decide if I was coming with him or remaining at Smith Barney w/ an unknown future of who I would be working for in the long run.  Ultimately I decided to stay with my boss whom I’ve worked with quite well for the past five years.

Life is going to be extremely hectic over the next several months as we try to convince our client base to move to Merrill Lynch with us.  Wish me luck!  When I have a breather I’ll update my blog more…but for now work is my life…not much else will be going on!

TTYL,

Jackie

Your Invited

You are invited to an exclusive Inaugural Fashion Trunk Show at Dessange Paris in Tysons Corner, Virginia, November 13 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Featuring French Designer Gilles Montezin whose designs appeared in Sex and the City  movie and more.

For more information call us at (703) 761-3135.

RSVP: rsvp@dessangetysons.com

Carolina Liar – Come Join Me!!!

I absolutely love this band!!! (See the youtube link above if you haven’t heard their music)

They are playing at the 9:30 club on November 17th. Tickets are $20. If you want to join me click on the link and buy a ticket. Should be awesome. So far Rob Taylor from my office is interested in going with me. The more the merrier!!!

Buy Tickets here: http://www.930.com/fs.php?x=1280&ba=IE&bv=6.0&bp=Win

My Awesome Friend Frankie has suggested that we meet up here:   

http://www.nelliessportsbar.com/      

A great new sports bar on the corner of 9^th/U called Nellie’s.  It’s a great gathering place prior to events at the 9:30 club.  Lot’s of people meet there for happy hour while waiting to cross the street over to the venue.  They have a menu with decent food with good HH deals.  I highly recommend a visit.  

PS: This place is a hybrid gay/straight bar.  You can walk in and there is a 50/50 mix so the straight boys should not be intimidated. It’s more straight on the nights of 9:30 events as it’s right across the street from 9:30.   

Oasis Saga Continues….Here’s the latest

God bless this has been an ongoing saga drawn out within horse country and the local media.  I completely agree w/ Tareq that they should create a mini series based on the events surrounding Oasis.  The drama has certainly been entertaining to read about!  It has all the makings of a good series…and the craziest thing is that it’s not the figment of some hollywood writers imagination.  You couldn’t make this stuff up!!! 

 

My fingers are crossed for Tareq.  I really do like the guy and I hope he can manage to keep the vineyard and restore it to it’s former glory.

 

Here’s the article in today’s Washington Post:

Tangles in the Vine
A Storied Va. Winery Is Up for Sale, but a Complex Family Dispute Has Confronted Potential Buyers

By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; B01

Of all the luxury real estate for sale in the economic downturn, one property in Northern Virginia’s horse country sticks out for its owners’ magnum-size struggle to find a buyer.

The Oasis Winery in Fauquier County, one of Virginia’s oldest, has been on the market since May 2007 and is now selling for $4.75 million. Such is the mystique of Oasis that basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, an apparent oenophile, and a group of investors were said to be on the verge of buying it last year. But infighting between members of the owning family has bedeviled attempts to sell the vineyard, winery, tasting room and four-bedroom French country-style home that sit on 108 acres.

On one side are co-owners Dirgham Salahi, 82, an Israeli immigrant, and his wife, Corinne Salahi, 63, who want to unload their stake and pay off debt.

On the other is their polo-playing son, Tareq Salahi, 39, also a co-owner, and his wife, Michaele, a former Washington Redskins cheerleader who is now a Richmond lobbyist. The son, a member of the Virginia Tourism Authority, is hurrying to team up with investors to buy what he views as his heritage before someone else steps in.

The family tensions are exposed in a civil suit in Fauquier County Circuit Court in which the parents allege that their son has interfered with the winery’s sale and falsely advertised on the Internet that Oasis was closed. The parents also sought to evict him and his wife from an apartment on the property. The son responded in court documents with allegations that his parents’ attorney assaulted him and a request that he be removed from the case. (The attorney, Thomas Brownell of the firm Holland & Knight, has denied those allegations in court papers.)

Both sides said in interviews that the lawsuit is dormant; Tareq Salahi said he expects a formal settlement soon without any monetary payments. But it’s unclear who will buy the winery in this economic climate.

“My heart and soul is in Oasis. I am worried that someone will come in and try to buy it,” said Tareq Salahi, who grew up planting vines with his father. “If you told me 10 years ago this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would have told you that’s the life of [the television show] ‘Falcon Crest.’ I am also concerned about the economy. Clearly, people who have money to invest in a project like this, there are less of them.”

Corinne Salahi, who is founder and director of the Montessori School of Alexandria, said in an interview that the fight with her son is depressing and that she blames him for amassing unmanageable debt through enterprises related to the winery. The mother said she had hoped that after her son graduated from college he would join the family business, “learn the ropes and gradually take over, not create more work for me and his father.” She said the family stress has caused her to develop a heart problem. “It’s just depressing,” she said. Blood is the most important thing. I used to call him my best harvest. I still do.”

Among Virginia winemakers, Oasis, founded in 1977, has been known for its sparkling blended wines. In the 1990s it was also known for hosting large events that prompted battles with neighbors and Fauquier officials over noise and traffic. Oasis’s tasting room boasts multiple wine awards, a framed Pittsburgh Penguins hockey stick — Oasis was the team’s official wine — and photographs of former Virginia governor Gerald L. Baliles (D) touring the facilities.

But Oasis is not growing grapes this year and offers only a limited number of chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons for sale at its site and at stores, according to Tareq Salahi. It’s still open for tastings, and the son said that if he gains control of the winery, he hopes to bottle 10,000 gallons from its 2007 vintage.

The winery’s reputation as one of the state’s more muscular producers and tourism pioneers was diminished by its large debt, according to the Salahis, and accounts of the family’s spats and real estate troubles. (The son said most of a $1 million debt was paid off in September, but the mother said heavy debt remains.)

The elder Salahis said their son ran up too many expenses with tourism initiatives that could not be paid back. Tareq Salahi said the winery lost revenue because it was spending too much money in lawyers’ fees — $2 million — battling Fauquier officials over zoning restrictions of the winery events.

The wine operation was almost sold late last year. The three separate bidders were Tareq Salahi; his friend and real estate agent Casey Margenau; and a Florida-based limited liability corporation that the younger Salahi said was linked to O’Neal, now a center for the Phoenix Suns. Perry Rogers, O’Neal’s agent, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

According to Tareq Salahi, O’Neal and his partners backed out of the deal with the elder Salahis after the investors learned they would not obtain the Oasis trademark or wine.

Margenau, who had introduced Tareq Salahi to Michaele at Cafe Milano in Georgetown, emerged as the potential lead buyer, offering to lease the property back to his friend. But he backed out, too.

“When I looked at the disarray of the property and vines, and looked at the financials, I said, ‘Tareq, you can’t make this work. You couldn’t pay the rent. You’d be defaulting to me, and we wouldn’t be friends,’ ” Margenau said.

In June, Tareq Salahi met with another potential investor from Hong Kong. The elder Salahis’ real estate agent, Lynn Wiley, showed up for the meeting. In a lawsuit filed in August in Fauquier County Circuit Court, Tareq Salahi alleged that Wiley defamed and embarrassed him in front of the investor by saying he “did not know what he was talking about.” The Hong Kong investor, Tareq Salahi said, subsequently bowed out. The son is seeking $3.6 million in damages.

In court papers, Wiley responded that her comments were “insufficient” to support a defamation claim. To this day, Tareq Salahi is wistful about O’Neal’s visit to the winery last year.

“I would still love to do a deal with him, and it could be a better deal,” Tareq Salahi said. “He came to Virginia because of a personal interest. I showed him my prospectus, but his businesspeople were going to deal directly with [my mother]. He’s a very pleasant gentleman. He’s articulate about wines, and they weren’t looking to buy a vineyard and winery [just] to say they owned one. He loved the big reds.”

Tareq Salahi said he is considering teaming up with investors in Northern Virginia or Los Angeles to buy his parents’ share for $3 million. He wants to start growing grapes again, renovate the tasting rooms and transform the property’s residence into a bed-and-breakfast, but he worries about the credit crisis. “Honestly, and candidly, we are 80 percent there with the investors in Northern Virginia,” he said, declining to identify them. “Their hang-ups are the economy, their liquidity. And they ask, ‘Will the mother still be there?’ “

So the Salahis wait for a sale. One sunny October day, the property, which normally would have been busy with tourists and harvesting, was silent. As the parents walked past empty Italian concrete vats, they pointed to some barrels of old wine. “It’s just vinegar now,” Dirgham Salahi said.

As for the son, he has high hopes for the Salahi saga. He said he has met twice with a TV producer about using the dispute as the basis for a movie or miniseries.

 

Great New Product

I absolutely love the new Cover Girl Volume Exact mascara.  My lashes are long and seperated.  The brush is perfect for getting those hard to reach lower lashes as well.  I’d definately give this tube a try the next time your in need of new mascara.  I hear the Dior mascara is the very best on the market ($25 at Sephora).   But for now my $6 Cover Girl mascara rocks!

Steal of the week

I was in Leesburg on Sunday for brunch and decided to check out Stein Mart while I was there.  They didn’t open till noon so I decided to check out Ross next door while I was waiting for the store to open.  I found this gorgeous Suzi Chin for Maggy Boutique dress!  I love the color and the fit…and it was only $30!!!  I googled the designer and found the same exact dress at Nordstroms selling for $140!  Who doesn’t love knowing they got such a great bargain!!!

Toga Party

Here are pictures from the wild Toga Party Kathy & Keith hosted this weekend.  They fired up a nice bonfire in the backyard fire pit.  I spent a good part of the night roasting in front of the fire.  I want a deck like theirs.  It was so nice.  Most of the guests were neighbors.  Several people jumped in the hot tub…which was awfully tempting.  We also played Wii bowling in thier basement.  Dawn whose never played before was our ringer.  She bowled several strikes in a row.  The people at the party were all really nice and it was a wild night out.  Kathy & Keith are getting ready to adopt so I think this party was an end of an era.  Glad I was there to celebrate with them!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed they have smooth sailing through their adoption process.

Halloween 2008

Here are some pictures of our office Halloween party.  Rob, Susan and I got a prize for the Most Original Costumes for our Alice In Wonderland theme.  My boss Joe dressed up as the Burger King (hillarious).  One of the brokers dressed up as a unemployed broker whose become a bum.  We had several great costumes.  Participation was down this year…but hopefully next year people will be back in the spirit!

Once I got home I decided to stay in costume for the trick or treaters.  The kids were too cute and they loved that I was in costume.  Especially the little girls.  I got…”you look beautiful” from many of them and a tiny little two year old little girl dressed as a princess kept saying, “your a princess like me” and pointing to her tiara.  Seeing the kids makes me want one of my own!  Later I closed up shop and left the candy on the front stoop.  I walked over to my neighbors Janice & Darren.  Darren and Nate had the whole house decorated like a haunted house.  They even had a movie screen playing clips of scary movies.  The little kids loved it.  Darren, Nate, and I did a car bomb.  That mixed with my wine has left me with a killer headache!  It was worth it though!  Last night was so much fun.  I love my halloween “traditions”!