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Barefootin'

All kinds of Cape Region people making the news

December 6, 2013

While many of us are in local restaurants celebrating the arrival of the new year, local musician Keith Mack will be off to Tel Aviv in Israel preparing for a Jan. 4 performance. He’s playing lead guitar for rock and roll legend Cyndi Lauper’s 30th anniversary She’s So Unusual tour. The tour revolves around a beginning-to-end live performance of Lauper’s 1983 debut album.

That album included four singles that went to the No. 1 position on the pop charts, including “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “Money Changes Everything” and “All Through The Night.” Lauper was the first female artist to have four No. 1 singles on one album.

Mack said he’s been having a good time traveling around the U.S. and other parts of the world with the tour. A solo artist and professional studio musician, the Rehoboth Beach resident plays frequently with The Funsters when he’s not touring, recording, or in New York studios. He played recently for the Sussex Family YMCA’s annual dinner, and we talked during a break.

He said Lauper has been giving him plenty of latitude on stage for his guitar licks. After all, boys just want to have fun too.

This weekend, Lauper, Mack and the band will be joining the Indigo Girls, Pink and others for a sellout holiday show at the Beacon Theater in New York City.

Then on Monday, they will go into the studio to record a Public Broadcasting System special on the She’s So Unusual production.  

Mack said he’ll let us know when that special will air so we can pass it along. Then in February it’s off to the Super Bowl in New Jersey where Lauper and company will perform at one of several live concerts associated with the big game.

Spending time with the family

Cape Gazette Sports Editor Dave Frederick has been writing regularly about local people in the sports scene for the better part of four decades.

He covers everything from T-ball to professional football, serves as master of ceremonies for an amazing variety of banquets and awards ceremonies, and never is without his notebook and camera.

One thing Fredman won’t have to do is quit his journalism profession to spend more time with his family. Members of his family have been a constant in the Cape sports scene for the many years Fred has been covering sports, including his own stints as a state championship-winning track coach at Cape and a member of the football team coaching staff. His children and grandchildren have been involved in Cape hockey, lacrosse and football as players and coaches. So, you get the drift.

Even if his family members weren’t involved, Fredman would be walking the sidelines and hanging on the fences trolling for small and large stories out of the huge local pool that constitutes his extended family.

This all comes up as a result of a recent Wall Street Journal article passed on to Cape Gazette senior reporter Ron MacArthur from dairyman Walt Hopkins. Under the headline A CEO Quits to Spend Time With Family - Really, writer John Bussey talks about David Yost’s decision to retire this year from the top spot at drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen, where he spent most of his professional career. At the time of his retirement, Yost’s company’s revenues held the 29th position in the Fortune 500 list. Harvard Business Review this year also named Yost one of the world’s 100 Best CEOs.

No doubt Walt passed the article along because he is proud of his classmate from the Lewes High School Class of 1965. David’s father, Bob, made sure the launch fleet for the Pilots Association for the Bay & River Delaware stayed in top running condition for many years.

Bussey’s article noted that Yost, at 63 with his company flying high, decided to resign while his health was good so he could actually spend time with his family.

I say actually because in the high corporate world, as Bussey points out, resigning to spend time with the family is oftentimes code for a forced retirement. But not so for Yost who, like many of us in this mobile society, has children and grandchildren in Colorado, New York City and closer to his Philadelphia home.

Still cranking out the miles

Ever since his former boss was elected vice president of the United States, Kevin Smith has Forrest-Gumped his way into distance running. The only difference is Forrest eventually stopped, and Kevin shows no such signs. He won’t be running this weekend’s Delaware Seashore Marathon because he has already logged a marathon in his home state, and he is saving his efforts to add to his tally elsewhere. So far, since 2008 when Kevin started distance running, he has completed marathons or ultra-marathons in 16 states. Fifty- and 100-mile races are among Kevin’s ultras. He likes to get up early and head out for a day’s worth of running - like from Lewes to Fenwick Island and back. His goal is to complete a marathon in each of the 50 states.

A great music opportunity

We’re so blessed with great live music here along the coast. In the classical realm, Coastal Concerts and Brandywine Baroque bring wonderful programs through the fall and winter, while a variety of ensembles perform in local churches and on the Freeman Stage in the summer.

This Saturday, Dec. 7, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Julien Benichou will take the stage in Cape Henlopen High School’s performing arts theater.

The evening of holiday music will feature the symphony along with Metropolitan Opera soloists and other vocalists.

The acoustics in the theater are exceptional, as is the talent of Maestro Benichou’s orchestra, the first to take the stage at the new high school.

It’s a busy weekend as the Christmas season rolls into high gear, but those who take advantage of the 7:30 p.m. concert will come away marveling once again at the caliber of the live music attracted to the coast.

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