By Dee Richard
For me it was deja vu all over again. The Queens Chamber is a great organization to belong to. In fact, it has been in continuous operation for more than 90 years. They must be doing something right! If you are a professional or a business person, you should consider joining the QCC. Aside from attending Chamber events from a fun point of view, you will find the Chamber most helpful business-wise. There are many seminars and business-card-exchange get-togethers hosted by other members at their locations. Check it out!On Wednesday, March 19, the Northeast Queens Republican Club held its monthly meeting at the Reception House in Flushing. The guest speaker was Edward Cox, son-in-law of former President Richard M. Nixon and chair of the New York region for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. He is a fabulous and informative speaker. The entire place was packed, which only proves the point that if you provide an interesting speaker, your membership will turn out. At the meeting they introduced some local Republican candidates for the upcoming elections. There was Jun Policarpio, who informed everyone present that he intends to run against Gary Ackerman again for his congressional seat. Other than making his announcement, he did not give any details. Peter Koo is going to run for Toby Stavisky's state Senate seat. Koo has, however, replaced his campaign manager, Stephen Graves, with Oliver Tan, Mai Lin Tan's son. They also introduced Richard Speranza, who is a retired police officer and a member of Community Board 11. He seems to be a pleasant and agreeable man, although as of now he is a total unknown to me. Be that as it may, he stated that he intends to run for Ann Carrozza's Assembly seat. The only Republican that we know of who has positively declared his intention to run for Tony Avella's City Council seat is Joe Gravagna of Beechhurst. Thursday, March 20, the Democrats held their annual Queens Reception at Caffe on the Green in Bayside. The cafe is a longtime favorite watering hole, restaurant and party provider extraordinaire of mine. The cocktail party was held in honor of Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith, a great guy. The chairs of the event were Dr. Robert Aquino, CEO of the New Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills. His co-chair was Vincent Rizzo. Some of the hosts were Joe Mattone Sr. and two of his sons, Carl and Michael Mattone. Some of the Democratic hopefuls for election or re-election were Joe Addabbo Jr., running for state Sen. Serf Maltese's seat; state Sen. Toby Stavisky, running to retain her Senate seat; and Jerry Iannece, who has his eye on Avella's Council seat.A few of the guests that I had the opportunity to chat with were Barbara Silberman, Joan Flowers, James Heylinger II, Bill Briggs and Henry McCoy, and the list goes on and on. The Democrats as a whole sure do know how to give a great party and they can invite me anytime. On Sunday, Michael Ricatto invited all his family members, both real and honorary, to join him for an Easter dinner at the St. James restaurant in Forest Hills. A good time was had by all. Speaking of Easter, I hope everybody had a happy one. There is good news for all you Frank Sinatra fans. I just heard from a friend that to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of Old Blue Eyes, Hofstra University is presenting a musical dance fantasy entitled “Sinatra Dances” on Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6. The narrator is Hofstra's Bob Spiotto, accompanied by Leonora Volpe and her Metropolitan Repertory Ballet Company. We are all going on Saturday. If you love Sinatra's music the way we do, it sounds like a great evening's entertainment. For additional information call Hofstra University at 516-463-6644. I really can't believe that Sinatra has been dead for 10 years – can you? The man and his music will live on forever in the hearts of his admirers. See you there.That's it for this week.I always look forward to hearing from you directly with information on people, parties, politics or some plain old-fashioned gossip. I also like to receive your voice mail at 718-767 6484, your faxes at 718-746-0066 and your e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.Till next week, Dee.
