Featuring iconic jazz legends The Heath Brothers, Randy Weston, Billy Harper, Kahil El'Zabar, Hamiet Bluiett and more; blues aristocracy Sweet Georgia Brown, Ray Shinnery and Blind Boy Paxton; imported tango gems Pablo Ziegler and Julio Botti; piano phenoms ELEW and Matthew Whitaker; Russian folk rebels from New Orleans Debauche; vintage swing's coolest bands Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks and The Baby Soda Jazz Band; flamenco dancers from Seville and some serious jaw-dropping surprises to come…Special appearances by Richard Marx and Dianne Reeves at VIP reception.

Lifetime Achieve Award Honoree: Bruce Lundvall.

Attire: Please be creative! Come as your favorite era, from 1920's flappers to 1930's satin gown elegance, cool jazz cats from the 60's or cocktail dresses of the 50's with high hair and a martini...Or you can go Woodstock looking like Hendrix, or a wildly elegant masked fashionista…Or come as your fabulous self.

About the Jazz Loft Party

For 23 years, the Jazz Foundation's annual Jazz Loft Party has offered an experience like no other in the music world. Five hours of continuous jazz and blues in three spectacular loft spaces with panoramic views of the Hudson River. It is one of the only occasions in New York City where you can roam free in an intimate setting and mingle with some of the greatest jazz legends and celebrity hosts.

These historic loft parties have featured Lou Reed, Ron Carter, Jimmy Heath, Randy Weston, Melvin van Peebles, Gloria Lynne, The Hot 8 Brass Band and many more. In the Fall of 2008, the great Odetta graced us with her presence. We did not know that this was to be one of her very last performances. Click here to watch this historic set.

This event benefits the JFA's programs, which have been keeping jazz and blues alive since 1989 by helping the musicians who played with everyone from Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, providing housing assistance, health care, gigs and emergency financial assistance in times of crisis.

Click Here for more information.

The Nevada Boxing Hall Of Fame held its first event of 2014, the “Party With Boxing’s Legends” fundraiser on Friday, April 11, in the beautiful Havana Room at The New Tropicana Las Vegas. The event, designed to bring the boxing community together, started at 8:00 pm and was truly a party.

Photo Credit - Lorenzo Collins

In attendance were 7 former World Champions including 2014 Inductee Cornelius Boza-Edwards, and 2013 Inductee Mike “The Body Snatcher” McCallum. Other champions on hand include Sugar Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, Ishe Smith, Kevin Kelley and Clarence “Bones” Adams. Two NVBHOF Inductees in the “Officials” class, referees Richard Steele and Kenny Bayless was in attendance to speak to fans, as will Trainer Inductee Miguel Diaz. Representing the boxing broadcast galaxy was 2013 Inductee Al Bernstein of Showtime, Harold Lederman of HBO fame, and Inductee Col. Bob Sheridan of international renown. From the world of entertainment, gifted R&B voice “Lloyd” attended, and the party was hosted by radio star DJ Nina 9.

NVBHOF Founder and President Rich Marotta said, “We are excited to kick off our 2014 events and especially thrilled to be hosting this event at the all-new Tropicana resort in Las Vegas. Fans will absolutely be blown away by the Havana Room - not only is it one of the most elegant and unique Las Vegas event venues, but it’s the perfect backdrop for this night of fun and fundraising. The event will be a combination ‘meet and greet’, autograph and photo session with music mixed in, and a great raffle for boxing memorabilia. With the Pacquiao-Bradley fight the next night, and the ESPN Friday show earlier that night, we are hoping boxing fans in Vegas take advantage of this unique opportunity to engage with boxing legends up close.”

The Nevada Boxing Hall Of Fame is an IRS 501(c)3 charitable, non-profit organization. Ticket purchases, donations, auction and raffle tickets are tax deductible.

For more information, go to http://www.nvbhof.com

February 27, 2014 – Full List of 2014′s NVBHOF Inductees:

2014 Inductees: Nevada Resident Boxers: Sonny Liston • Cornelius Boza Edwards

Nevada Non-Resident Boxers: George Foreman • Evander Holyfield • Roberto Duran

Adoptive Nevada Resident: Joe Louis

Pioneer Class: Jack Dempsey • Archie Moore

Officials: Richard Steele • Kenny Bayless

Media: Col. Bob Sheridan • Kevin Iole

Promoters: Bruce Trampler

Executives: Chuck Minker • Luther Mack

Special Contributors: Clifford Perlman • Steve Wynn

From Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame - http://www.nvbhof.com

The Oneida Indian Nation and the national Change the Mascot campaign it leads today praised leading Native American groups for withdrawing themselves from an event that included the Washington NFL team’s Original Americans Foundation (OAF). When it was revealed that OAF had become the title sponsor for a charity golf tournament in Arizona on Saturday, major Native American organizations immediately canceled their support to avoid being associated with the group.

The Notah Begay III Foundation is a respected charitable organization started by the Native American, four-time PGA Tour winner, who is a longstanding critic of the D.C. team’s name. Begay has termed Washington’s continued use of the slur “a very clear example of institutionalized degradation.” The Notah Begay III Foundation immediately backed out of this past weekend’s golf event when the Washington team’s involvement was revealed.

“I find it underhanded and despicable that the Washington football team would co-opt this event," said Executive Director Crystal Echo Hawk. "As soon as we found out about their involvement we withdrew our support."

“The NB3 Foundation does not support the Redskins or its organization OAF," the group said in a statement. “We are adamantly opposed to the team's continued use of this derogatory name."

Another group that pulled its sponsorship after learning that the Redskins foundation was involved in the same event was the National Indian Gaming Association, a nonprofit group that includes 184 Indian nations as members. Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association Ernest Stevens said his organization finds the R-word name offensive and questions the motives of the foundation recently started by Washington team owner Dan Snyder.

"It's a blatant attempt to try to buy out the issue," Stevens told USA Today. With regard to the Washington team’s name, which is a dictionary defined racial slur, Stevens added: “It hurts my heart to have to say that word.”

Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation Representative and leader of the national Change the Mascot campaign, praised the organizations for disassociating themselves from the Washington team’s foundation. “As more and more Native and non-Native groups are making clear, the single greatest contribution that Dan Snyder and his team can make to Indian Country would be to stop continuing to profit from the use of a dictionary-defined racial slur and pretending that this epithet somehow honors us.”

Since the Washington team announced the creation of OAF it has been dogged with controversy and widely criticized by Native American leaders, top policymakers and respected media voices. Just days after the organization was launched, The Washington Post, USA Today and other outlets cited a report by the Office of Inspector General determining that the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) awarded, and then terminated, a $1 million contract to the organization whose CEO is the leader of the Washington NFL team’s new foundation.

Learn more at www.changethemascot.org

LAS VEGAS (April 16, 2014)-- Former WBA Welterweight World Champion boxer Luis Collazo will once again demonstrate his support for The NephCure Foundation when he meets Amir Khan in a critical confrontation May 3 as the co-featured bout on the blockbuster Floyd Mayweather card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. 

When he knocked out Victor Ortiz before his hometown fans Jan. 30 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Collazo entered the ring with NEPHCURE.ORG emblazoned on his robe and on the back of his trunks in support of the kidney disease patient advocacy group and his teenage friend, Allie Genatt, who suffers from the debilitating kidney disease FSGS.  Collazo will sport similar NEPHCURE.ORG  identification in the ring on May 3, when he takes on Khan, the popular, British, multi-sanctioning body junior welterweight champion who is moving up to the 147-pound welterweight division.   

The winner of the 12-round battle for the WBC Silver Welterweight title will be positioned to possibly meet Mayweather, boxing’s biggest star, in a lucrative pay- per-view fight later this year or in 2015.  The unbeaten Mayweather is favored to defeat Marcos Maidana in the main event of the May 3 card, which is expected to sell out the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas and generate an audience of millions on pay-per-view.   

Media Assets for Download:  https://clients.box.com/collazo-khan-boxing 

A two-time New York City Golden Gloves Champion (35-5, 18 KO’s), Collazo returned to the ranks of elite fighters with his spectacular second round knockout of Ortiz, the younger, more prominent favorite, on Jan. 30.  When he landed the perfectly-timed right-hook knockout punch, the NEPHCURE.ORG was easily recognizable in video and still photos seen via media outlets around the world.  Collazo embraced NephCure for that fight when learning of the kidney disease afflicting 15-year-old Genatt, whom he met during training sessions at Competitive Edge Athletics in Port Washington, Long Island. 

NephCure launched an awareness campaign around the Super Bowl-week Collazo- Ortiz card, specifically targeting New York City’s Latino population centering on the popular Collazo, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in Brooklyn and lives in Queens.  That campaign will continue around the Collazo-Khan fight as the May 3 Las Vegas date approaches.  Genatt is a 15-year-old Long Islander who was first diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome at age two. The disease was later confirmed as FSGS and she endured years of medications with risky side effects  

before receiving  a kidney transplant (from her mother)  at age 11.   Collazo has also spent time with eight-year-old Nephrotic Syndrome sufferer Manuel Casado of The Bronx and 11-year-old FSGS sufferer Matthew Levine of Long Island. 

“The challenge with FSGS is that there is a very high rate of reoccurrence when the disease attacks the new kidneys,” stated Henry Brehm, Executive Director of The NephCure Foundation. ”We have much work to do raising awareness and funding for research so people with FSGS can avoid the road to dialysis and transplant. “ 

Collazo has a tough opponent in Khan (28-3, 19 KOs), the former unified world light welterweight champion who won the Silver Medal for Great Britain at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The first ever British-Pakistani and Punjabi boxing world champion, Khan has been inactive since defeating Julio Diaz last April in Great Britain.  

FSGS (Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis), which afflicted the late actor Gary Coleman and interrupted the NBA career of Alonzo Mourning, is a disease that damages the kidney function, often requiring dialysis or transplant.  The NephCure Foundation is the only organization committed exclusively to support research seeking the causes of FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome, improve treatment and find a cure.  

The Collazo-Khan fight is part of a SHOWTIME PPV® event entitled “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana.” Also scheduled are 10-round bouts featuring super middleweights J’Leon Love vs. Marco Antonio Periban and junior welterweights Adrien Broner vs. Carlos Molina.  

Media Contacts: Tim Davis, NephCure Foundation, tdavis@NephCure.org, 610 585 4610 Steve Griffith, NephCure Foundation, sgriffith@NephCure.org, 484 433 7757 

From: Steiner Sports - For Immediate Release

New York, April 7—Mike Tyson hasn’t been in the ring in nearly a decade, but his popularity hasn’t waned. You would have thought that he had a championship fight on the horizon when 700 fans of the “Sweet Science” flocked to meet the former heavyweight champ at the Steiner Store on Saturday (April 5) in Garden City on Long Island. It took 12 security guards to escort “Iron Mike” from the signing because a massive crowd had gathered in Roosevelt Field Mall. The Tyson fans paid from $149 for a photo op to $2,000 for a VIP package with all five former champs.

Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II (June 28, 1997) and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran II (November 25, 1980) produced two of the most bizarre finishes in the history of boxing. The headlines blared “Tyson bites Holyfield,” and “No Mas.” Steiner Sports presented boxing aficionados the chance to meet these boxing legends, along with Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, at the ticketed event. The Tyson fans paid from $149 for a photo op to $2,000 for a VIP package with all five former champs.

Tyson quipped that Steiner needed to put a fan in between he and Holyfield so that another brawl wouldn’t ensue similar to their heyday battles, but both former kingpins were all smiles during the many photo ops. Duran hugged just about everyone there, including Holyfield upon his arrival.

Holyfield and Tyson renewed their late nineties heavyweight rivalry.  The duo had engaged in a pair of epics at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In the first on November 9, 1996 Holyfield outmuscled Tyson to score one of the most monumental upsets in boxing history. Holyfield became the first heavyweight since Muhammad Ali to regain the heavyweight title twice. The rematch was one of boxing’s most bizarre encounters on June 28, 1997, and saw Tyson bite off a piece of Holyfield’s ear to be disqualified by referee Mills Lane.

Like Holyfield and Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran battled in one of the most famous championship fights in boxing history. After Duran took the title from Leonard in a unanimous decision on June 20, 1980 in Montreal, a rematch was inevitable. Just five months later, on November 25 in New Orleans, Duran said “No Mas” and Leonard regained the belt. It gained its famous moniker at the end of the eighth round when Durán turned away from Leonard, towards the referee and quit by saying "No más." To this day, Duran says that stomach cramps. Leonard was the winner by a technical knockout at 2:44 of Round 8, regaining the WBC Welterweight Championship.

Nine years later, Leonard again beat Duran in their third match up by unanimous decision on December 12, 1989, in a fight that didn’t have nearly the hoopla of the first two.

Leonard and Thomas “Hitman” Hearns  likewise had classic encounters. They fought twice, once in 1981 and again in 1989, both are considered to be epics, both at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In their first encounter on September 16, 1981, for the undisputed Welterweight championship, Leonard beat Hearns by TKO at 1:45 in the 14th round when the referee stopped the fight.

After almost eight years, the Leonard-Hearns rematch finally happened. It was promoted as "The War". Leonard (35-1 with 25 KOs) and Hearns (46-3 with 38 KOs) met on June 12, 1989 at Caesar's Palace in a scheduled twelve-rounder for the WBC & WBO super-middleweight titles. Though Hearns had Leonard on the canvas twice, the judges scored the fight a draw, with both boxers retaining their respective titles. The decision was soundly booed, as most felt that Hearns had won.

Hearns and Duran fought only once for the WBO Super Welterweight championship. That was a dominating performance by the Hitman, who dropped Duran twice in the first round. After nailing Duran with a devastating right to the jaw in the second round, Hearns stepped back and Duran fell face first to the canvas. The fight was over.

I attended the Shell Houston Open today. What a great event, amazing shots and I had a great time. Currently, Matt Kuchar is leading with only tomorrow left. What was really amazing was Shawn Stefani holes a 63 foot eagle put for the shot of the day. Be sure to listen to my show tonight from 10:00 pm to 12:00 am (CST) for more highlights from the event.

Video clip from PGA Tour, Inc. PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, and the Swinging Golfer design are registered trademarks.
http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/shell-houston-open.html
Shell Houston design by Houston Golf Association. http://www.shellhoustonopen.com