HOLISTIC ASSAULT TO MY WALLET……THE COST OF TRUE HEALTH?

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Karen Kuzsel

Karen Kuzsel


The prognosis that one small area of my hip had crossed the border into osteoporosis has landed me in the sticker shock hell of questionable medicine and its cost. What price are you willing to pay for your health when it’s not a matter of life and death?I’m not a conspiracy theorist, so my recent experiences have made me question whether I am being treated this way because I have “women issues” or are these concerns generated from society’s reluctance to adhere to anything other than conventional Western medicine Read more

Hollywood The Band, A Tale of Sex, Drugs, And Rock And Roll

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hollywood the band coverThere’s a relic of an ironic joke that if you can remember the 60’s, you weren’t really there. The drugs were psychedelic and mind-expanding, the clothes worn as a defiant costume of flowers, paisleys and neon colors, and the arrogance of youth permeated the atmosphere like a clashing haze of ideas and ideals that rose upward and outward from a center core of music that can still be heard on any classic oldies station. The same could be said for the early 70s. Bands that etched their genius onto the landscape like The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, Grand Funk Railroad, Bob Seger, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfinkle, The Buffalo Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Santana, and Rare Earth were just some of the names that regularly vied for #1 on music play lists.
On none of those lists would you have found the band, Hollywood, a ragtag group of wanna-be rock ‘n roll stars who fought through their drug-induced sex haze long enough to let their creative musicality and stumbling managers guide them to their dream. You wouldn’t have found Hollywood listed because author Steven Jordan Brooks hadn’t yet imagined them on paper. But the band lives as surely as any fictional character representing a time, a place, and an era. “Hollywood The Band, A Tale of Sex, Drugs, And Rock And Roll” is a story of that band’s journey to secure a record deal. To get there, they had to survive the issues of the day: politics, music maneuverings, unlimited designer drugs, unbridled sex, homosexual awareness, the Viet Nam war, and racial tensions.
Brooks is a classically trained musician who transitioned from rock ‘n roll performer to management and production. Those years before he eventually morphed into an English and drama teacher became the research of his saga. He uses Hollywood, The Band, as the catalyst for telling a story of the 70’s, name dropping real bands and real-life situations into the fictional mix. While the story rings true and is likely a composite of characters Brooks lived and partied with, Read more

Film Festival Favors Global Themes & International Filmmakers

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Pui Chan, the documentary, won Best Documentary and Audience Favorite

Ron Howard and his Oscar nominated daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, were at the Central Florida Film Festival (CENFLO) over Labor Day Weekend. OK, so maybe they weren’t physically there, but the movie he executive produced and she directed, When You Find Me, was not only there, but later won for Best Short Film.

Over the course of the Friday-Sunday festival, more than 80 features, shorts and documentaries from 14 states and eight foreign countries were shown to more than 2,000 film fans and movie industry folks. Held each Labor Day weekend for the past eight years, this was the third time it was sponsored by the City of Ocoee’s Community Redevelopment Agency (administered by my husband, Russ Wagner) and held at the newly-expanded West Orange Cinemas (WOC) in Ocoee.

MovieMaker Magazine recently named CENFLO in the “Top 25 Film Festivals worth Read more

Raising the Platform: SOCIAL MEDIA takes users to communication heights never before reached

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 This story was published in the December-January 2012 issue of Facility Manager magazine, an official publication of The International Association of Venue Managers, Inc.  It is reprinted with permission from Editor RV Baugus.
Face it. When it comes to using social media to get traffic through your doors, the concern now is how to use it more effectively than should you be using it at all. In a world where software changes more quickly than a teenager’s moods, the successful arena manager begins by pondering  these questions.
Which social media platforms work best for my audience?

  1. How do I build brand trust and loyalty?
  2. What incentives should I offer to engage and hold their attention?
  3. What’s next?

Deciding which social media platforms work
If Facebook and Twitter aren’t your new best friends, they should be.  “Facebook currently has 800 million active users, who in turn each have about 130 friends they actively share information with on a daily basis,” says Ryan Sheehy, Advertising & PR instructor for the Nicholson School of Communication for the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
What does that mean to you?
“Facebook allows you to directly connect with folks invested in your product.  Research shows that those connected to Facebook are more likely to purchase your product,” she noted during a session on Building A Social Media Strategy for Every Type of Facility at the 22nd annual Area Management Conference in Orlando.
For the 18,000-capacity Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, social media has been a gift for reaching an audience beyond their regional area. Social media collects personal information from users that “allowing us to customize what we’re sending,” says General Manager Michael Marion. “Email is being replaced by social media sites as the preferred Read more

Vibrate into the New Age!

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I love when certain words slide off my tongue as easily as dipping aforementioned tongue into a delectable Carvel soft chocolate ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Take synergistic, for example, a word that has been rolling around in my head for the past hour, just begging to be released. Synergy to me is when at least two diverse entities converge and the result is more powerful and wonderful than either part individually. Today my past and my present and my future all collided. When I was very young, I had a favorite uncle who was both a widely-respected newspaper editor and a prodigious national book reviewer. When I’d go to visit him, the walls were literally lined with books he’d reviewed. With each visit, he’d stimulate my thirst for knowledge with gifts of these treasures and encourage me to write about what I knew, what I saw, and what I wanted to be in this world. Never did I dream that one day I’d be on publicists’ lists to review their authors’ efforts, Read more

From My Lips To Your Eyes: A short synopsis of what you need to know

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It’s like squeezing into a too-tight dress when it’s the only one that will work for the event you’re headed to tonight. There’s just too much to cram into one small space and too little time to do anything more about it. That’s how I think of all the information I’m privy to about hotel and destinations promotions, event announcements, software that sweetens success, and people of distinction in the hospitality/meetings & events/entertainment industries. I know you’d like to know what I know, but the collection of knowledge doesn’t fit into the formats of publications and organizations for whom I already write.
Here’s where you come in.
I will give a $25 check to the person who comes up with a title for a new blog I feel compelled to create. Whoever dishes up the best Read more

To Wine or Not to Wine is Never the Question!

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             Wine is like fine art. Can’t explain why I like it. Just do, or don’t. I studiously strive to understand the complexities, savor the nose, taste the underlying notes, or chew each velvety drop to assay whether it is fruit forward. I know what I like, which usually tends to be bold, brassy reds like cabs, merlots, zins and syrahs from California or Australia. My palette was recently tested during a tasting tour through Oregon, Napa and Sonoma Valley wineries.

Through these handcarved doors lies Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards' wine cave. Photo by Russ Wagner

            Every couple years, my husband Russ and I visit my daughter, Gabrielle, and her husband, Steve, in the San Francisco area. As they are the ones who ultimately converted us to bolder wines, we inevitably make tasting treks to Sonoma County wineries they frequent. Occasionally Russ and I plan routes to wine regions with which we want to become much better acquainted. This trip we revisited some favorites, checked out some Napa Valley area wineries recommended highly by our friends, Julienne and Ross, and discovered gems in Oregon’s central coast. You already know I’m a foodie, so no surprise that our road trip likewise involved uncovering mouthwatering culinary delights.
            Grab a snack. Sip some wine. Read more

5 Stars for Ravella's Food & Spa

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Ravella at Las Lake Vegas


You know that old adage: which comes first, the chicken or the egg? For my recent journalists’ junket to Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, it was more like: the cuisine or the spa? Both were divinely delicious with a strong propensity towards nurturing health and wellness of mind, body and spirit by infusing the senses with an organic aromatherapeutic remedy.
In the interest of being the equal opportunity purveyor of opinions, I’ll lay out the facts. You decide.
My involvement as an entertainer and as a journalist for the meetings & events, entertainment and hospitality industries garners lots of opportunities to sample tasty treats from chefs of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and reputation. I certainly wasn’t expecting foodie nirvana at a tucked-away resort on the outskirts of Vegas.
Actually, to be truthful, I wasn’t expecting to wind up at a literal oasis in the desert, minus any maurauding nomads or sandstorm-swept flies in my face. Read more

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Side of Orlando Events

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 I attended events at two Orlando venues I’d not visited before and one I have. They were all better than just good. In fact, if you remember the old Tony the Tiger commercial signature line, they were “Grrrrrreat!.”
So, I see you already scratching your head and wondering, then where does the bad or the ugly come in? Read on. I’ll get there.
I’m pretty fortunate. In my multitasking roles as Natasha, The Psychic Lady (a corporate and social performer), an active  member with both Meeting Professionals International’s Orlando chapter and the Orlando chapter of the International Special Events Society, as well as my always-interesting role as Contributing Editor for Prevue Magazine (a meetings & events industry publication), I get invited to a lot of functions.
Saturday evening I dined at Todd English’s bluezoo at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Lake Buena Vista. To say our food selections were impeccably done would be an understatement. I knew bluezoo creates its own infused adult beverages, such as the Bazooka Joe, which allegedly tastes just like the bubble gum. I also know they customize cocktails to fit a corporate client’s logo colors or the function’s theme, so I was eager to see their unusual concoctions. Read more