These are a few of the press releases I wrote as a freelancer.
El Primero Hotel (B&B based in Chula Vista, California)
Julep Restaurant & Bar (fantastic Jackson-based restaurant)
'Last of the Mississippi Jukes' (blues documentary filmed in Mississippi, broadcast on Starz Networks)
Showing posts with label press release. Show all posts
Showing posts with label press release. Show all posts
Sunday, June 7, 2009
'Last of the Mississippi Jukes'
I like doing press releases. It's a challenge to get as much information out there, in as little space as possible. This was my very first paid release. It's here for sentimental reasons.
On April 5th, Last of the Mississippi Jukes, a new film by Starz Encore Entertainment, had its home-state premiere at Jackson’s Crossroads Film Festival. This brilliant documentary, directed by Robert Mugge and produced by David Hughes, takes a loving look at the legendary Subway Lounge, one of the few remaining “juke joints” in the state that birthed the blues.
The movie was punctuated by frequent applause for the performances, and a standing ovation for twenty-five of the performers themselves when they were introduced afterward by producer Hughes. The King Edward Blues Band, the House Rockers, and Chris Thomas King (O Brother Where Art Thou?) were joined onstage by Subway Lounge owner Jimmy King, and by Bill Luckett and actor Morgan Freeman, owners of Clarksdale’s Ground Zero blues club, also featured in the film.
The celebration continued at a fundraising concert for the crumbling Subway Lounge. The event, hosted by local club Hal and Mal’s, was also the scene of Sanctuary Records’ Last of the Mississippi Jukes CD and DVD release party, and was also attended by Morgan Freeman. There the performers from the movie jammed for several hours to a crowd of nearly one thousand, many of whom made donations on the spot to the Save the Subway Fund.
On April 5th, Last of the Mississippi Jukes, a new film by Starz Encore Entertainment, had its home-state premiere at Jackson’s Crossroads Film Festival. This brilliant documentary, directed by Robert Mugge and produced by David Hughes, takes a loving look at the legendary Subway Lounge, one of the few remaining “juke joints” in the state that birthed the blues.
The movie was punctuated by frequent applause for the performances, and a standing ovation for twenty-five of the performers themselves when they were introduced afterward by producer Hughes. The King Edward Blues Band, the House Rockers, and Chris Thomas King (O Brother Where Art Thou?) were joined onstage by Subway Lounge owner Jimmy King, and by Bill Luckett and actor Morgan Freeman, owners of Clarksdale’s Ground Zero blues club, also featured in the film.
The celebration continued at a fundraising concert for the crumbling Subway Lounge. The event, hosted by local club Hal and Mal’s, was also the scene of Sanctuary Records’ Last of the Mississippi Jukes CD and DVD release party, and was also attended by Morgan Freeman. There the performers from the movie jammed for several hours to a crowd of nearly one thousand, many of whom made donations on the spot to the Save the Subway Fund.
Julep Restaurant and Bar
I love me some Julep. I won't lie. I've written about them. I've reviewed them. If the world was a fair place, some major food reviewer would leave the whole New York-Dallas-Chicago-San Francisco-L.A. scene and find his way to Jackson, eat at Julep, and write about it as if its the Second Coming. That may be overstatement, but not by much.
Jackson’s own Julep Restaurant and Bar has been selected by USA Today as one of Ten Great Places to “feast on crispy fried chicken.” With September National Chicken Month, it is a timely honor for the restaurant, which specializes in “family-friendly contemporary Southern cuisine.”
Derek Emerson, chef and co-owner of Julep, says of the honor: “It feels good. It’s pretty exciting to be recognized nationally like this.”
The article, which is in the Friday, September 12 issue of the weekday-only newspaper, says that at Julep, “Fried chicken gets the respect it deserves.” Listed on Julep’s menu as Blackwater Farms Fried Chicken, the chicken is fried crispy and tossed in a honey-rosemary glaze.
Blackwater Farms is a Mississippi-based business located just outside of Meridian. They are the sole supplier of chickens to Julep. The birds are all field-raised.
USA Today’s Shawn Sell and John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, selected the Ten Great Places. Edge is a fried chicken aficionado and is the author of Fried Chicken: An American Story, which will be published in 2004.
Julep was the only Mississippi restaurant selected and one of only four restaurants chosen from the South. The other Dixie restaurants are Jacque-Imo’s in New Orleans; Watershed in Decatur, Georgia; and the Inn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.
Julep is located at 1305 East Northside Drive, just off I-55. It opens at 11 am Mondays through Fridays, 8 am on Saturdays, and 9 am on Sundays.
Ten Great Places is a regular feature in the newspaper, appearing every Friday. The article can be found at USA Today’s online issue at: http://www.writersownwords.com/fckeditor/editor/%22http://www.usatoday.com/travel/vacations/great/2003/fried-chicken.htm%22
Jackson’s own Julep Restaurant and Bar has been selected by USA Today as one of Ten Great Places to “feast on crispy fried chicken.” With September National Chicken Month, it is a timely honor for the restaurant, which specializes in “family-friendly contemporary Southern cuisine.”
Derek Emerson, chef and co-owner of Julep, says of the honor: “It feels good. It’s pretty exciting to be recognized nationally like this.”
The article, which is in the Friday, September 12 issue of the weekday-only newspaper, says that at Julep, “Fried chicken gets the respect it deserves.” Listed on Julep’s menu as Blackwater Farms Fried Chicken, the chicken is fried crispy and tossed in a honey-rosemary glaze.
Blackwater Farms is a Mississippi-based business located just outside of Meridian. They are the sole supplier of chickens to Julep. The birds are all field-raised.
USA Today’s Shawn Sell and John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, selected the Ten Great Places. Edge is a fried chicken aficionado and is the author of Fried Chicken: An American Story, which will be published in 2004.
Julep was the only Mississippi restaurant selected and one of only four restaurants chosen from the South. The other Dixie restaurants are Jacque-Imo’s in New Orleans; Watershed in Decatur, Georgia; and the Inn at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.
Julep is located at 1305 East Northside Drive, just off I-55. It opens at 11 am Mondays through Fridays, 8 am on Saturdays, and 9 am on Sundays.
Ten Great Places is a regular feature in the newspaper, appearing every Friday. The article can be found at USA Today’s online issue at: http://www.writersownwords.com/fckeditor/editor/%22http://www.usatoday.com/travel/vacations/great/2003/fried-chicken.htm%22
El Primero Hotel
This was the only press release I over wrote to break the standard short-n-simple form. When I helped my girlfriend first move to So-So Cal, and I was still living in Mississippi, we ended up staying several nights at the El Primero Hotel - which is really a casual Bed-and-Breakfast - and were blown away at how nice the Roque family was. The owners impressed us. Four members of the family ran it while we were there - both parents and two of their daughters. Father Rufino "Pie" is active and well-respected in the Chula Vista community, and together with Sol, his wife, they make a formidable team. While I was there, I spent many happy hours writing on their patio - which is simply beautiful. During several conversations with members of the family, I offered to do the press release for the people who ran such a wonderful place. Yes, the release is out of the ordinary, but so is the El Primero. It also garnered them some attention. And for the record, the patio at the El Primero is my all-time, no-questions-asked favorite place in which to write.
News release: December 30, 2006
Chula Vista’s historic “El Primero Boutique B&B Hotel” celebrates first grand re-opening anniversary.
Following the dramatic renovation that began more than a year ago, the El Primero Hotel marks its first anniversary of operation with pride.
Since its transformation into the hotel’s third stage of life – following its roles as historic downtown keystone and troubled, unsafe eyesore – the El Primero and its owners, the Roque family of Chula Vista, who bought the building in 2004, has garnered numerous recognitions from the community. The City of Chula Vista awarded its first-ever Historic Preservation Award to the hotel, and it received the Mayor’s 2005 Neighborhood Beautification Award. Owner Rufino “Pie” Roque was named the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year, was given the Maria Clara de Pilipinas Sorority (MCPS) V.I.P. Award for Business as well as Outstanding Achievement Award by the Univ. of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) San Diego Chapter.
The hotel has been singled out as a model among hotels in the city for safety. According to the Chula Vista Police Department, the El Primero was the only hotel in the city to have not needed police or emergency calls in 2005 – 2006, a far cry from its reputation as ‘the worst hotel in the city’ as recently as 2003.
The El Primero has been featured on San Diego’s KUSI-TV news. Featured articles have been written about the hotel in the San Diego Union-Tribune South, Chula Vista Living, MDM magazine, and the local Star News. Arizona-based magazine, Scottsdale, named El Primero one of the five best places to stay in the San Diego area. Of the five, it was the only one not in San Diego proper and was the only B&B listed.
Partly due to its role as historic Chula Vista landmark and partly due to owner Roque’s love of the area, the El Primero is the only hotel in the region that promotes San Diego County’s rich history, with room names chosen to reflect historical places and events, and with in-room information provided about them.
During its first new year, the hotel has hosted guests from nearly half the fifty states, from France, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, Australia, England, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. The mayor of Beaufort-en-Vallee, France, was a recent guest, along with visiting executives from Hitachi, Sanyo, and American Water, and 2005-2006 off-road racing champion Johnny Greaves. The El Primero has been the site of a “Titanic Tea Party,” a reunion for Peace Corps volunteers, weddings, and birthday celebrations. Many business and leisure travelers make this small unique hotel their home away from home and guests – especially the ‘Bed & Breakfast clientele’ – rave about the cozy atmosphere, the light gourmet breakfast, and the comfortable beds.
For more information: Contact Pie or Sol Roque (owners/innkeepers), at (619) 948-5852 or (619) 948 5852, E-mail: pie (at) elprimerohotel (dot) com
News release: December 30, 2006
Chula Vista’s historic “El Primero Boutique B&B Hotel” celebrates first grand re-opening anniversary.
Following the dramatic renovation that began more than a year ago, the El Primero Hotel marks its first anniversary of operation with pride.
Since its transformation into the hotel’s third stage of life – following its roles as historic downtown keystone and troubled, unsafe eyesore – the El Primero and its owners, the Roque family of Chula Vista, who bought the building in 2004, has garnered numerous recognitions from the community. The City of Chula Vista awarded its first-ever Historic Preservation Award to the hotel, and it received the Mayor’s 2005 Neighborhood Beautification Award. Owner Rufino “Pie” Roque was named the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year, was given the Maria Clara de Pilipinas Sorority (MCPS) V.I.P. Award for Business as well as Outstanding Achievement Award by the Univ. of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) San Diego Chapter.
The hotel has been singled out as a model among hotels in the city for safety. According to the Chula Vista Police Department, the El Primero was the only hotel in the city to have not needed police or emergency calls in 2005 – 2006, a far cry from its reputation as ‘the worst hotel in the city’ as recently as 2003.
The El Primero has been featured on San Diego’s KUSI-TV news. Featured articles have been written about the hotel in the San Diego Union-Tribune South, Chula Vista Living, MDM magazine, and the local Star News. Arizona-based magazine, Scottsdale, named El Primero one of the five best places to stay in the San Diego area. Of the five, it was the only one not in San Diego proper and was the only B&B listed.
Partly due to its role as historic Chula Vista landmark and partly due to owner Roque’s love of the area, the El Primero is the only hotel in the region that promotes San Diego County’s rich history, with room names chosen to reflect historical places and events, and with in-room information provided about them.
During its first new year, the hotel has hosted guests from nearly half the fifty states, from France, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, Australia, England, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. The mayor of Beaufort-en-Vallee, France, was a recent guest, along with visiting executives from Hitachi, Sanyo, and American Water, and 2005-2006 off-road racing champion Johnny Greaves. The El Primero has been the site of a “Titanic Tea Party,” a reunion for Peace Corps volunteers, weddings, and birthday celebrations. Many business and leisure travelers make this small unique hotel their home away from home and guests – especially the ‘Bed & Breakfast clientele’ – rave about the cozy atmosphere, the light gourmet breakfast, and the comfortable beds.
For more information: Contact Pie or Sol Roque (owners/innkeepers), at (619) 948-5852 or (619) 948 5852, E-mail: pie (at) elprimerohotel (dot) com
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