Mike Vavrek: Listening to Fans, Making Moves, and Grabbing the Attention of Amazing Musicians of Note

Mike Vavrek, Singer/Songwriter, Johnstown, Pa -- Greetings dear friends!

"Buttons & Threads" has been out for almost a month now on iTunes, Amazon & various outlets and the feedback has been wonderful! I want to thank you all for this!
The commercial is now made to help in promoting the album which will feature the song "Down Here" in the background. Why "Down Here" you may ask? This was chosen by your input, which I'm honored to have.

The commercial is done, all I ask is please help me in placing the links anywhere you can! I'll be uploading it to my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/mikevavrek76) by Tuesday; or, you can type "Buttons & Threads" into the search engine and pull it up.  Also, I'll be answering questions, talking about songs(new&old) and thinking out loud on YouTube.

Speaking of background, I'll be carrying with me fabric tiles for a backdrop. This is a jewel of the stage! All the names of fans/friends helping with spreading threads, free when you purchase any merchandise, or share $1 for the cause.

As the mailing list grows, I'd like to welcome new names, as well as encourage your help with spreading the thread! Reflections Studios is almost up and running(now equipped with ProTools) and the collaborations will begin for Reflections Foundation LLC!!! Stay tuned, much more news to follow (I'm biting my tongue.. )!

April will be showered with wonderful things, and a new winner announced for something FREE! Refer 5 folks to the mailing list and you automatically get a FREE download card(=1album)+ tile! (::)PEACE(::)

Side note: pleased to announce "Another Way" has been selected for a nomination in the LA Music Awards taking place this coming November! Got some great feedback and insight on a few tracks, which inspired more writing!!

News bits: recently completed a few interviews that I'll be sharing with you, and will be a part of a radio broadcast next month as a guest speaker for the IDMYGD weekly segment airing Monday nights between 7-8(EST) {link to online/terrestrial channel coming closer to the airtime date}.

This journey depends (a great deal!) on you; and, is my view that it should include you as well. So, as we go forward, more collaborations are on tap either musically, lyrically or both. I am a man of my word.

I take real joy in having you along for the ride insofar as bringing you along- this has been my dream come true, but means little without you.

Stay close my friends, we are only getting started! Help spread the thread!
(::)PEACE(::)
Mike Vavrek

Ways to Connect:
Website:  http://mikevavrek.com/fr_home.cfm
Reverbnation:  http://www.reverbnation.com/mikevavrek
Facebook:  http://www.reverbnation.com/mikevavrek
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/Farradelica

"The Comedy Awards" Announces Best Viral Original to be Voted on by YouTube Users on the "Comedy Awards" Page on YouTube; 2012 Digital Categories and Nominations Announced Including Best Comedy App, Best Comedy Podcast, Best Remix, Mash-Up or Supercut and Funniest Person on Twitter

Best Viral Original To Be Voted On By YouTube Users at www.youtube.com/ComedyAwards

Fan Voting For All Other Categories Begins Today at www.thecomedyawards.com

Television Event Honoring The Best In Comedy Tapes at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, April 28 and Premieres on COMEDY CENTRAL on Sunday, May 6

NEW YORK, March 26, 2012 -- The best in digital comedy is celebrated and honored as the digital nominations for the second annual "The Comedy Awards" were announced today, recognizing the outstanding work available every day in the world of digital comedy.

"The Comedy Awards" today launched a dedicated page on YouTube (www.youtube.com/ComedyAwards) to exclusively host the nominees and voting for Best Viral Original, where fans can watch all of the contenders and vote for their favorite. Voting begins today and is open through April 8. The nominees in this category are: "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Will Ferrell," "Drive Recklessly," "7 Minutes in Heaven With Mike O'Brien: Kristen Wiig," "Shit Girls Say" and "Songify This: Winning – a Song by Charlie Sheen."

Also starting today, fans are encouraged to visit www.thecomedyawards.com to vote for their digital favorites in categories including Best Comedy App, Best Comedy Podcast, Best Remix, Mash-up or Supercut and Funniest Person on Twitter. Voting for these categories will be open through Sunday, May 6, when "The Comedy Awards" premieres on COMEDY CENTRAL. A full list of digital nominations for the 2012 "Comedy Awards" can be found at the end of this release.

"The Comedy Awards" will take place at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, April 28 and premiere on COMEDY CENTRAL on Sunday, May 6. "The Comedy Awards" will also air on COMEDY CENTRAL's international channels across Europe, New Zealand, India, Israel and Africa.

"The Comedy Awards" is led by its Board of Directors which include such luminaries as: Carol Burnett, James Burrows, Greg Cavic, Stephen Colbert, James Dixon, Budd Friedman, Jim Gosnell, Rick Greenstein, Brad Grey, Caroline Hirsch, Sharon Jackson, Blair Kohan, Martin Lesak, Steve Levine, Jamie Masada, Adam McKay, Jimmy Miller, Conan O'Brien, Peter Principato, Joan Rivers, Jay Roach, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Rory Rosegarten, Michael Rotenberg, George Schlatter, Mitzi Shore, David Steinberg, Jon Stewart, Lily Tomlin, Sandy Wernick and Geof Wills.

"The Comedy Awards" has once again joined forces with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) to endow The American Comedy Fund. Without a union or other protection, many comedians face unique challenges to succeed and survive. The Fund provides much-needed financial assistance, health benefits and other resources for comedians across the country during times of need, crisis or transition. The American Comedy Fund is administered by EIF in collaboration with the Motion Picture & Television Fund and The Actors Fund.

A full list of previously announced nominees for the 2012 "The Comedy Awards" and more information about the show and its prestigious Board of Directors can be found at www.thecomedyawards.com. "Modern Family," Bridesmaids," "30 Rock," "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and Louis C.K. lead the nominations and fans can vote for "Breakout Performer of the Year." Last week Robin Williams was announced as the recipient of the prestigious "Stand-Up Icon" award which will be presented to him during this year's ceremonies. Click here to view a highlight reel from last year's show. Follow "The Comedy Awards" on Twitter @TheComedyAwards.

Don Mischer, Casey Patterson, EVP, Event Production, Viacom Entertainment Group and Charlie Haykel are the Executive Producers. Juliane Hare is Producer. Beth McCarthy Miller, the Peabody and DGA Award-winning and Emmy-nominated Director, will once again direct "The Comedy Awards." "The American Comedy Awards" were originally created by George Schlatter.

"THE COMEDY AWARDS" 2012 DIGITAL NOMINATIONS

BEST VIRAL ORIGINAL

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Will Ferrell
Drive Recklessly
7 Minutes in Heaven With Mike O'Brien: Kristen Wiig
Shit Girls Say
Songify This: Winning – a Song by Charlie Sheen

BEST COMEDY APP

Earwolf
WitStream
Robert Kelly Live
The Onion
WTF with Marc Maron

BEST COMEDY PODCAST

Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast
How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner
Sklarbro Country
The Nerdist
WTF with Marc Maron

BEST REMIX, MASH-UP, OR SUPERCUT

The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger
"Michele Bachmann": a BLR Soundbite
Tom Selleck's Moustache

FUNNIEST PERSON ON TWITTER

Aziz Ansari
Stephen Colbert
Rob Delaney
Jimmy Fallon
Kevin Hart
Mindy Kaling
Steve Martin
Patton Oswalt
Sarah Silverman
Daniel Tosh

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications

SOBER IS MY NEW DRUNK: 850 Days (and Counting) without Booze or AA. A Comedy in Twelve Steps.

A New Byliner Original by Paul Carr

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 2012 -- Paul Carr's new Byliner Original, published today, is Sober Is My New Drunk, a wonderfully bracing (but zero-proof) tale of recovery. In it, Carr—the bestselling humor writer and notorious tech blogger—explains why he avoided Alcoholics Anonymous and instead found salvation through social media, including using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the Internet to get (and stay) clean and sober.

 

 

Paul Carr gave up booze with the same verve and originality that he brought to his life as a drunk.

For one thing, he didn't go to Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization that, he writes, "breeds an 'it's not my fault' mentality that refuses to accept that anyone can ever truly be cured of the 'disease' of alcoholism."

Instead, Carr quit in the most non-anonymous way imaginable: He posted an open letter on his popular website and took to Twitter and Facebook, inviting others to police his progress.

As Carr writes, "Fortunately, we live in a time when it's easier than ever to share our secrets with friends and strangers alike. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter and blogging and video sharing and all that good stuff, a decision to give up drinking can easily be publicized for all to see. Which is precisely what I did."

The letter was both a confession and an invitation for public scrutiny. "No matter where I was," he recalls, "there was always a chance that someone had read my post and was waiting to catch me with a drink in my hand." To help keep himself on the straight and narrow, Carr still has a counter at the top of his site, ticking off the number of days he's gone without a drink.

In this no-holds-barred essay, Carr delivers his own twelve steps to building a life without booze. His hard-earned advice, punctuated with anecdotes that are both cautionary and comic (a bender once took him to Iceland, where he drunkenly believed he'd get better Wi-Fi), is given with humility and goodwill. Along the way, Carr celebrates the simple yet overlooked pleasures of sobriety—weight loss, a renewed love life, the ability to buy a phone or laptop without promptly losing it in a bar. As he slowly discovers, a sober life actually can be fun. What's more, he'll remember it.

Paul Carr is the author of the memoirs Bringing Nothing to the Party and The Upgrade. Sober Is My New Drunk is his first book since quitting alcohol. A former columnist for TechCrunch and The Guardian, he makes his home in a series of hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Byliner publishes compelling works of original fiction and nonfiction written to be read in a single sitting. Among its bestselling titles are Amy Tan's Rules for Virgins, Jon Krakauer's Three Cups of Deceit, Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car, William T. Vollmann's Into the Forbidden Zone, Taylor Branch's The Cartel, Margaret Atwood's I'm Starved for You, and Mark Bittman's Cooking Solves Everything. The companion website, Byliner.com, features curated archives of the best fiction and nonfiction writing and allows readers to easily find, share, and buy new and classic stories by their favorite authors.

Sober Is My New Drunk is available for $1.99 as a Kindle Single at Amazon, a Quick Read at Apple's iBookstore, a Nook Snap at BarnesAndNoble.com, and at Kobo.

SOURCE Byliner

Friskies® Goes Live with Custom-Built Sensory Experience for Rescue Cats

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine a colorful, one-of-a-kind residence complete with a built-in pond, custom aquarium and touch screen floor. It's an indoor playground – with a twist: the residents are cats.

Starting today, Friskies® hosts 10 cats for two weeks in the Friskies® Plus™ Playhouse, the ultimate play space for cats, broadcast live daily on the Friskies Facebook page. The Playhouse offers the Friskies Facebook community unique interactive opportunities to tune in, interact with the cats, and help create the imaginative environment.

 "Friskies is always looking for new ways to enhance play experiences for cats," says Alison Coburn, assistant brand manager for Friskies. "We're asking our Friskies Facebook community to join us in this one-of-a-kind engagement opportunity to help create a space as amazing as the cats that will live there for the next two weeks. They can tune in daily to see how the cats respond to their choices in real-time, and find new inspiration for play with their own cats. And we hope they'll be inspired to help ensure these cats and many more find forever homes."

The 10 cats living in the two-room Friskies Plus Playhouse are part of the MeoowzResQ network of foster cats available for adoption. MeoowzResQ is a non-profit cat rescue and adoption organization serving the Orange County region of Southern California. MeoowzResQ is part of the Adopt-a-Pet.com network of animal rescue and adoption organizations. MeoowzResQ helps find permanent homes for hundreds of cats each year.

The participating cats were selected based on a variety of factors, including personality and age. The Playhouse features are based on maximizing opportunities for cat play.
Certified Animal Behavior Consultant and cat behavior expert Pam Johnson-Bennett worked with Friskies to help recommend design themes and elements for the Playhouse cats.

"Cats are high sensory animals," says Johnson-Bennett. "Friskies has created a play space inspired by cats' imaginations and natural curiosity and discovery. It's designed to enhance their daily sensory experiences by incorporating texture, light, movements, heights and many details."

The feline housemates will enjoy a large built-in aquarium, touch floor to play Friskies® Games for Cats and many unique climbing spaces. Each day "extras," or new engagement features, will be added to the Playhouse based on input from the Friskies Facebook community. Extras up for vote may include a large climbing tree, tunnel system and bubble machine. Final decisions will depend on Facebook community votes.

Friskies is working with television production company Zodiak USA to produce the Playhouse program. Anyone who visits the Friskies Facebook page may watch the cats in the Playhouse live from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST/noon to 3 p.m. PST, every day, February 6 through February 19. If consumers miss the live window or just want to see more, they may visit the Friskies YouTube channel to watch daily highlights and recap videos.

The Friskies Facebook community gets to play too: in addition to helping choose new extras to add to the Playhouse and watching the cats; consumers may interact with the cats. The Friskies Plus Play Live feature offers three mechanical toys for users to select to operate four fully movable and zoomable cameras. Friskies Plus Play Live gives fans the ability to "play" with real cats in real time. It's a modified version of iPet Companion, created by AliceVISION™, which says its free app boosts adoptions, donations and sponsorships in pet rescue and adoption shelters worldwide. The Friskies Plus Play Live feature will be active on Friskies Facebook page during the Playhouse daily broadcast from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST/noon to 3 p.m. PST daily February 6 through February 19.

To watch the Friskies Playhouse cats live, or interact with them using the Friskies Plus Play Live feature, please visit www.Facebook.com/Friskies. To view highlights and video clips from the Playhouse, please visit www.youtube.com/PurinaFriskies.

About Friskies®
Friskies® offers a complete line of great-tasting cat foods, including more than 60 wet, dry and treat varieties that help cats enjoy multiple sensory experiences. Friskies® Plus™ wet cat food is available nationwide in six varieties. Friskies Plus helps support clear, healthy vision; a healthy immune system; and a healthy skin and coat and provides 100 percent complete and balanced nutrition for cats of all ages. It's everything your cat loves about Friskies, plus a little more.

Friskies is manufactured by Nestle Purina PetCare, a global leader in the pet care industry. Nestle Purina PetCare promotes responsible pet care, humane education, community involvement and the positive bond between people and their pets. The North American headquarters for Nestle Purina PetCare is located at Checkerboard Square in St. Louis, Mo. Nestle Purina PetCare is part of Swiss-based Nestlé S.A. – the world's largest food company.

About MeoowzResQ
Since 2001 MeoowzResQ has been rescuing unwanted cats and kittens saved from shelters throughout California. In 2009 MeoowzResQ was designated as a 501(c )(3)non-profit rescue and has over 100 volunteers with over 300 foster kittens and cats in their fostering system. In 2011 they placed over 1,500 cats and kittens into new homes. The rescue supplies all medical treatment, food, litter and miscellaneous supplies to their fosters. MeoowzResQ supports such a system by relying on donations from adoptions, fundraisers, private donations and partner vets.

SOURCE Friskies