Interfaith Thanksgiving service planned for Wednesday night

Members of various faiths in Coral Gables will come together at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a spirit of unity for the annual Thanksgiving Eve Interfaith Worship Service hosted by Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, 3010 De Soto Blvd., across the street from the Biltmore Hotel.

The Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, senior pastor of the church said, "We invite everyone - no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey — to a Spirit-filled service that celebrates with words and music the connections found through the awesome diversity, work and fellowship of our community."

The service will be followed by a time of friendship and refreshments that will include a variety of seasonal muffins and preserves and hot cider.

All are welcome.

Nurcracker jazz

The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, will present a dance-inspired program featuring Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite, at 8 p.m. on Nov. 30, at the university's Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr.

According to Terence Blanchard, artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute at the university, the work is an upbeat, multi-movement jazz interpretation of "The Nutcracker," by Tchaikovsky, created in 1960 by Duke Ellington and his musical collaborator Billy Strayhorn.

The concert is entitled "Terence Blanchard Presents: A Concert of American Music," and will feature Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, a ballet suite for 13 instruments inspired by ballet music that Copland composed for famed dancer and choreographer Martha Graham in 1944, and two world premieres by Henry Mancini Composition Fellows David Pegel and Rafael da Lima de Piccolotto.

At 7:15 p.m. Blanchard will host a pre-concert talk for young people involved in the institute’s community outreach program, HMI Outbound.

Scott Flavin, resident conductor of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra and Stephen Guerra, managing director of the Henry Mancini Institute, will conduct the concert.

Tikets are $15 for adults, general admission and $10 for seniors and children and may be purchased via the Frost School’s website, www.music.miami.edu/concerts or by calling 305-284-2400.

‘A Taste of Dance’

The Karen Peterson Dance Company will present "A Taste of Dance," at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1, at Excello, 8700 SW 129th Terr. The event is a fundraiser for the 2013 KPD mixed- ability educational projects.

The cost is $35 per person online at www.karenpetersondance.org and $40 at the door. Call 305-298-5879 for more information.

LGBT seniors

The critically acclaimed documentary "Gen Silent," by filmmaker Stu Maddux, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 27, at the Miami Theater Center, 9806 NE Second Ave. in Miami Shores.

The documentary addresses the question, "Do LGBT seniors need to go back in the closet?" because many LGBT seniors face the heart-wrenching decision of whether to enter a nursing home.

The program is presented by Creative Arts Enterprises, in association with Treece Financial Group, and is free and open to the public.

The screening will be followed by a panel of local experts who will address the issues discussed in the film. To view a trailer, go www.gensilent.com. For more information call Ellen Wedner at 305-573-6477 or email her at wednerfriend@hotmail.com. You may also call Michael Vita at 786-586-4286 or email him at michael@davidtreece.com.

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14 Black Friday Tech Deals Start Early at Walmart

1. Apple iPad 2 — 16GB

$ 399

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week]

This year Walmart is starting Black Friday on Thursday, so you can get an early start on your holiday tech savings. You’ll need to gobble up your Thanksgiving dinner early and get over to Walmart; the company is kicking off in-store deals at 8 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving, when you can snag a Nintendo Wii Console for $ 89.

The big electronics event begins at 10 p.m. with deals on a Samsung 43-inch plasma TV and a NOOK Color. Don’t worry that they’ll run out of those door-buster deals either. Walmart is offering a one-hour guarantee on select consumer electronics during Thursday’s 10 p.m. event.

[More from Mashable: Stylish HiRise Stand Elevates Laptops to the Ideal Height]

Walmart says customers inside the store and in line between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time can purchase an Apple iPad 2 16GB with Wi-Fi for $ 399 and score a $ 75 Walmart gift card, an Emerson 32-inch 720p LCD TV for $ 148 and an LG Blu-ray Player for $ 38. If the store runs out of stock, you’ll receive a Guarantee Card for the item, which you must purchase by midnight and register online.

If shopping online from the comfort of your home is more appealing than elbowing your way through a jam-packed store, Black Friday specials will be posted on Walmart’s website early on Thanksgiving Day. Head to Walmart’s Facebook page or use its mobile app to check out all the deals.

Scroll through the gallery above to see the top 14 tech deals we spotted, and let us know if you’ll be out shopping the specials this Black Friday.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, el neato

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Buzzmakers: Lindsay Lohan Comes Clean & Janeane Marries

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. Janeane Garofalo: I Didn't Know I was Married!

Sometimes what happens in Vegas actually does stay in Vegas -- at least for two decades. Funny girl Janeane Garofalo is claiming she's been married for 20 years, and didn't even know it!

The Reality Bites actress told the New York Post that she and Big Bang Theory producer Rob Cohen decided to wed at a Las Vegas drive-thru chapel but never thought it would stick. "Rob and I got married, for real, which we had to have a notary dissolve not 30 minutes before we got here tonight," Garofalo said at the New York Comedy Festival reunion for The Ben Stiller Show. "We were married for 20 years until this evening."

Garofalo, 48, further explained, "We got married drunk in Vegas. ... We dated for a year, and we got married at a drive-through chapel in a cab. [We thought], 'You have to go down to the courthouse and sign papers and stuff.' So, who knew? We were married, and apparently now that [Rob] is getting married for real, his lawyer dug up something." Cohen, 63, joked, "I'm gonna get all of that Reality Bites money!"

2. Miley Cyrus: My Dad Knows Nothing

In speaking with ET's Christina McLarty, Miley Cyrus cleared up rumors that she and fiance Liam Hemsworth were planning multiple weddings, started by her dad.

According to Miley, she hasn't even set one wedding date, let alone the three ceremonies that Billy Ray told Us Weekly were going to take place.

"My dad knows nothing," Miley says, pointblank. "I think he's getting cabin fever from [Superstorm Sandy]. He got stuck in his hotel and now he's making up crazy things." Billy Ray has been in NYC, performing in a Broadway production of Chicago.

The 19-year-old singer/actress goes on to admit that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

"He does what I do: When he's sitting in a press thing, he's like, 'Let's make this fun. Let's make some stuff up,'" Miley says.

Even with this recent flub, Miley does thank her parents for doing a good job of raising her, saying, "My parents have never been super strict, and people could think that's bad or good, but people that judge me or say that I'm, like, crazy -- they don't know half the stuff their kids are doing."

3. Stephanie Bongiovi Drug Charges Dropped

Stephanie Bongiovi, Jon Bon Jovi's 19-year-old daughter, will not be charged after reportedly overdosing on heroin in her dorm at Hamilton College in New York.

According to a statement from the Kirkland Town Police Department, a female [presumably Bongiovi] was found unresponsive by an ambulance crew sent to the college early Wednesday, after a report that a female had apparently overdosed in the school's largest dorm.

Although Bongiovi and 21-year-old Ian Grant were charged with drug possession, the charges have now been dropped.

Citing section 220.78 titled "Witness or victim of drug or alcohol overdose" of New York State Penal Law -- which states that a person who seeks health care for someone who is experiencing a drug or alcohol overdose or other life threatening medical emergency, as well as the individual who has overdosed or who was experiencing such life threatening medical emergency, can't be prosecuted for the possession of heroin weighing less than 8 ounces or possession of any amount of marijuana -- police said that neither Bongiovi or Grant can be charged.

There has been no statement from Jon Bon Jovi at this time.

4. Dina Lohan Addresses Cocaine Accusation

Did Lindsay Lohan lie about her mother having an alleged cocaine problem? Dina Lohan sets the record straight for ET's Christina McLarty.

"Absolutely lied. We were having an argument, it escalated," explains Dina of their October altercation which was recorded by her father, Michael Lohan. "She just wanted to hurt me at that moment. You know, mothers [and] daughters, we fight."

Dina tells Christina that it pained her to see that private family moment "go public and viral." As for accusations that she uses cocaine, Dina replies, "I hate cocaine. I don't do cocaine."

After Lindsay proclaimed that she was not being truthful about her accusations against her mother about cocaine use, Dina says, "I'm so proud of her for telling the truth because it destroyed me. I mean, I cried for weeks. It just hurt me so bad and she knew how horrible that was, and she came clean and told the truth that she lied. I'm very proud of her for that, which is very difficult to have to do."

Dina adds, "There's so much more to the story than the public sees, and it takes its toll on my children and myself, and we're just trying to move forward." Watch ET for more with our exclusive Dina Lohan interview.

5. Big Bang Cast Leads Call Me Maybe Flash Mob

Fans of The Big Bang Theory might logically assume that the cast of the hit CBS comedy has as many laughs on-screen as off. But now there is concrete proof as Kaley Cuoco just revealed in this clip of cast and crew members surprising showrunners with a flash mob of Carly Rae Jepsen's viral hit Call Me Maybe!

Kaley explains on The Big Bang Theory's Facebook page that the idea was hers and that she recruited her sister Bri to choreograph the impromptu number, which occurred during a taping on October 23 in front of a live audience.

The clip shows how the prank was carried out with secrecy and precision, with the cast re-assembling on the set immediately after the flash mob to resume taping and to hear star Jim Parsons sum up the event with one of his character Sheldon Cooper's favorite words, "Bazinga!"

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Booty call!

If the programming lineup of the History and Discovery channels show us anything, it’s that Americans love a good treasure hunt (almost as much as handfishing).

Wall Street windfalls come and go, but how often do we hear stories like the true-life tale of the S.S. Port Nicholson, a sunken World War II vessel recently found off Cape Cod. A group has spent $6 million finding and exploring the wreck, which they believe holds as much as $5 billion in platinum bars. They are so far mum on what, if anything, they’ve found.

So if you’re sick of the 9 to 5, there are plenty of lost fortunes to get armchair Indiana Joneses’ hearts pumping. Here, 10 treasures for which adventurers are still searching.

New York Post

The Rosebud egg sold as part of a set for $100 million in 2004. But eight Fabergé eggs are still missing.

The Lufthansa Heist

An infamous robbery took place at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport in 1978, netting its perpetrators $5 million in cash (more than $17 million in today’s dollars) and millions more in precious collectibles. Thanks to a tip-off from an airport worker, a crew partly comprised of Mafia operatives was able to make off with huge sums of cash from monetary exchanges in Germany used by servicemen.

The job marked the biggest heist in US history and inspired more than one screen treatment, including a plot thread in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mobster classic “GoodFellas.”

When police identified one of the getaway vehicles, it was only a matter of time before arrests were made and fugitives started getting anxious. The subsequent killing of several men involved with the heist has been attributed to ringleader and Lucchese crime family figure Jimmy Burke. But despite the high-profile nature of the case and the litany of participants and informants, the princely haul of cash and jewelry was never recovered. There are theories that Burke buried at least some of it — but if so, the secret went to his grave. He died in prison in 1996.

Missing Fabergé Eggs

The ornate, bejeweled Fabergé eggs are recognized around the globe as an iconic symbol of opulence. By commission of Tsar Alexander III, they were created by French-descended Russian craftsmen Peter and Agathon Fabergé in the late 19th and early 20th century. When Russia’s historic House of Fabergé was raided by the Bolsheviks in 1918, the resulting chaos relegated some of these priceless artifacts to the Kremlin. Others were sold off to raise money for the new socialist regime.

Over time, the eggs have been scattered to various corners of Europe and beyond. Of the 52 eggs from the original Imperial collection, eight are still missing. Those yet to be recovered include the original Hen Egg, the Alexander III Commemorative Egg and the Cherub with Chariot Egg — each worth millions.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Panama Canal’s $5 billion makeover could be boon for South Florida

PANAMA CITY, Panama --
Huge yellow dump trucks resemble Tonka toys in a sand pile as they haul tons of rust-colored dirt and basalt rock from a 56-foot gash in the earth that will become a new access channel in the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal.

The trucks keep rumbling up muddy terraced slopes as a quick-moving storm blurs the horizon. The rain chases away workers pouring concrete for a mammoth set of locks that will lift super-size ships for their transit across the narrow Isthmus of Panama, but the crews are back in the pit as soon as the sun returns.

By April 2015, it will all be under water — ready for the ever-bigger vessels revolutionizing international trade. The expansion is expected to double the canal’s capacity.

The 2015 target is about six months behind schedule, but U.S. ports are still scrambling to ready their channels for so-called post-Panamax ships and some say they welcome the reprieve. At this point, Baltimore and Norfolk, Va. are the only ports along the Eastern Seaboard with channels deep enough to handle the vessels when they’re fully loaded.

Call it the race for deep water as ports up and down the East Coast, including PortMiami and Port Everglades, and along the Gulf of Mexico make plans to dredge their channels, shore up their docks or rustle up funding for renovations to receive the big ships. Many won’t be ready by the time water floods the new locks.

PortMiami in position to cash in

PortMiami is further along than most and is hoping that early advantage and its position as the first major U.S. port north of Panama will make it a preferred port of call for post-Panamax ships.

Latin American and Caribbean ports also are trying to figure out how to capitalize on the expansion.

As this new phase of canal construction nears completion with 13,000 people working around the clock, there is renewed interest in preserving the history of the old Panama Canal Zone as well as the legacy of those who worked and died building the canal.

While the 50-mile-long Panama Canal has provided a maritime shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific for the past 98 years, it’s just about maxed out.

This year vessels from the four corners of the globe — car carriers from Japan, bulk carriers loaded with soybeans and wheat from the U.S. heartland, oil tankers, towering container ships carrying the output of Chinese factories to U.S. retailers — are expected to move a record 332 million tons of cargo through the waterway, said Jorge L. Quijano, chief executive of the Panama Canal Authority.

That’s only about 20 million tons short of the canal’s capacity, he said. The canal is also popular with cruise lines and dozens of cruise ships are being built that exceed the size limits of the current canal.

But the more immediate problem is that the huge cargo ships increasingly favored for trade with Asia are too wide, too long and too heavy for the current canal.

With a growing number of ships in the post-Panamax category — exceeding the specifications for the largest ship that can fit through the existing locks — the Panama Canal must expand or risk losing market share.

And post-Panamax vessels aren’t even the biggest on the high seas. Post-Panamax Plus ships, such as most U.S. tankers that carry liquefied natural gas bound for Asia, are five times too big for the Panama Canal.

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Former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz pens book about reinventing the city

Former Miami mayors don’t usually write books anyone would want to publish, much less read.

Then there’s Manny Diaz. Whether you admire him like many in Miami and across the country do, or excoriate him as some at home did, Diaz was hardly shy about embracing big plans and notions. And few would disagree that the city was a far different place when he exited City Hall in 2009 after two terms in office.

So it should come as no surprise that Diaz has written a book for a national audience, recapping his greatest hits as mayor. Recall police reform and Irish-cop Chief John Timoney, Midtown Miami, the downtown condo boom, the “mega-plan’’ and the innovative Miami 21 zoning plan. It’s been published by the über-serious University of Pennsylvania Press. No vanity press project, this.

But Miami Transformed: Rebuilding America One Neighborhood, One City at a Time, is no policy wonk-fest, either. A breezy read at just over 200 pages — index and foreword by New York mayor and Diaz buddy Michael Bloomberg included — the book is meant as a concise case-study of how a poor, crime-ridden and economically stagnant medium-sized city can be swiftly transformed into a flourishing, swaggering metropolis with a hurtling skyline and its own Tom Wolfe novel.

“I wanted to keep the book short and easy to read,’’ said Diaz, who will appear at the Freedom Tower for the Miami Book Fair International on Friday evening. “You can lose someone with a 750-page book really fast. So it’s sort of conversational, talking about how we got to where we are.’’

If features, of course, an ambitious Cuban-refugee protagonist who arrived as a 6-year-old child, grew up happy in Little Havana despite poverty, studied hard and became a successful lawyer and behind-the-scenes political fundraiser and operative. Then he was thrust into the spotlight by the curious case of another young Cuban refuge-seeker: the rafter-child Elián González, whose Miami relatives Diaz famously represented.

Diaz was in the family home in Little Havana, working on last-minute negotiations, when the Border Patrol broke down the door at gunpoint to take Elián, and says he still feels betrayed by then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, a former Miami-Dade state attorney who ordered the raid.

There is little inside baseball and only a few reveals: For instance, Diaz earned $1.10 an hour working as a janitor at Belen Jesuit Prep, where he was a student, under a federal jobs program.

All this and more is quickly recounted before Diaz, who wrote the book with longtime collaborator Ignacio Ortiz-Petit, gets into the heart of the matter: The eight years he served as mayor, which coincided with a dramatic real-estate boom and helped usher Miami into the rank of world cities with a changed downtown, regenerated neighborhoods, a growing, young population and the kind of buzz even the best promotional hype can’t buy.

The overriding goal of his administration, Diaz writes, was to bring the middle-class back to Miami from the suburbs by improving substandard city services, fostering both private development and affordable housing, and rebuilding crumbling streets. He also focused on creating alluring amenities, including parks, museums, and arts and cultural institutions, which he says are proven economic generators.

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‘Journey,’ ‘Assassin’s Creed III’ among Spike Video Game Awards nominees

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The artsy downloadable game “Journey” leads the pack of nominees for this year’s Spike Video Game Awards.

The PlayStation 3 game received seven nods in such categories as best graphics, independent game, original score and game of the year.

Other game of the year nominees are “Assassin’s Creed III,” ”Dishonoured,” ”Mass Effect 3″ and “The Walking Dead: The Game.”

The nominees in the best shooter category are “Borderlands 2,” ”Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” ”Halo 4″ and “Max Payne 3.”

The 10th annual ceremony on Dec. 7 will be hosted by Samuel L. Jackson and broadcast live on Spike.

The show will feature debut footage from such upcoming games as “The Last of Us” and “Gears of War: Judgment,” as well as musical performances by Linkin Park and Tenacious D.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Stars Come Out For Restore The Shore Fundraiser

Celebrities from MTV and beyond came together Thursday night to lend their name to the network's Restore the Shore fundraiser in the wake of Superstorm Sandy's destruction of New Jersey's iconic Seaside Heights.

Video: Tearful Snooki Witnesses Sandy's Devastation

Stars from The Jersey Shore, Awkward, Teen Mom, The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Teen Wolf stepped up to man the phones for the special's "thank-you bank," personally calling individuals who donated to the cause with a personal message of gratitude.

Reflecting on good memories of the Seaside Heights, Snooki, DJ Pauly D, Deena Cortese, Sammi Giancola, Jenni Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, and Michael Sorrentino made an emotional visit to the now-destroyed boardwalk to get a first-hand look at the devastation.

Video: Ty Pennington Sees Sandy's Aftermath Firsthand

Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, P!nk, Christina Aguilera, Carly Rae Jepsen, No Doubt, Kelly Clarkson, One Direction and Kim Kardashian were just some of the many stars Thursday who delivered personal pleas for donations benefiting the cause.

American Idol winner Phillip Phillips and Gym Class Heroes also lent their voices to the cause with emotional live performances.

If you'd like to help, you can still Text SHORE to 85944 to give $10 or go to restoretheshore.mtv.com to find out how you can help. Those who donate of $500 or more will be immortalized in writing on the boardwalk when it is restored.

Related: Celebrities Lend Their Star Power to Sandy Victims

Restore the Shore is paired with Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit that led rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, with intent to restore the famed boardwalk as well as local businesses and homes destroyed by the storm.

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Watchdog groups question tourism agency’s CEO pick

TALLAHASSEE --
The day after the CEO of the state’s top tourism agency announced he was stepping down, board members quickly handpicked his replacement.

There was only one problem. Picking Visit Florida’s chief marketing officer Will Seccombe to head the agency without doing a national search could upset the agency’s main funders — state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott.

Visit Florida’ solution: give a recruiting firm a no-bid, $45,000, two-month contract to conduct a nationwide CEO search. The firm, Minnesota-based Searchwide, just happened to be the same one that brought in Seccombe five years earlier.

Now, a state watchdog group is slamming the agency's recruiting process, saying it suggests either favoritism, government waste, or both.

The developments highlight the awkward relationship between Visit Florida's board and elected state officials who control so much of the agency's budget. While the board appears set to hire Seccombe, its handling of the transition process could lead to more scrutiny from the very lawmakers who control the agency's purse strings

“Visit Florida claims to be an equal opportunity employer, but it appears they have rigged their hiring process to unfairly benefit the acting president,” said Dan Krassner, executive director for Integrity Florida, which advocates for tougher ethics laws, and is now questioning whether the swift recruiting process is completely open and fair.

Searchwide, which signed the contract on Oct. 5, did not respond to requests for comments. The agency is expected to complete its nationwide search by early December.

Experts in the field of executive talent recruitment say that such a short period is abnormal for a national CEO search.

“That’s a really aggressive timetable,” said Theresa Rohr, senior associate at Stanton Chase International, a global executive search firm with offices in San Francisco. “For a CEO, very aggressive.”

While Searchwide is a top name in the hospitality industry, Visit Florida has used it only once before: to recruit Seccombe in 2007.

Visit Florida’s former CEO, Chris Thompson, who left in October to head up a national tourism agency, defended the decision to give the contract to Searchwide. While Seccombe may have an advantage as an “incumbent,” all candidates will be considered, he said.

He pointed out that Searchwide also had been retained by Visit Orlando for an executive search this year.

“It is absolutely in no way, shape or form going through the motions,” Thompson said. “It is a legitimate search.”

But Visit Orlando offers a useful comparison. The Central Florida tourism agency hired Searchwide to do a national search for a CEO back in May. A spokesman said the organization doesn’t expect the process to be completed until January. Several other companies that have contracted with Searchwide have given the company more than six months to complete a national search.

When Thompson announced he was leaving, some board members, in an emergency meeting, quickly decided to promote Seccombe to the $225,000-a-year CEO position.

Doing so would allow the state-funded agency to have a permanent CEO in place before Scott and the Legislature began making crucial decisions about how much taxpayer money the organization should get next year.

“I don’t think we need to put the time, money and effort into a nationwide search,” said John Perez, a hotel executive who sits on Visit Florida’s board. “I think we have a very competent replacement for Chris, in Will, already in place.”

But some board members were concerned about the perception of appointing a new CEO without consulting the Legislature or conducting an official search — something they believed Scott, Florida’s businessman-turned-governor, would expect.

Visit Florida relies on the Florida Legislature for a large chunk of its operating revenue. The public-private organization bolsters its budget with free advertising from private partners, but its cash revenue is overwhelmingly taxpayer-funded. That means the Legislature and governor hold sway over the future finances of the organization.

Visit Florida has been a darling of Scott and the Legislature in recent years. As most state agencies weathered drastic budget cuts in the last two years, Visit Florida saw its taxpayer funding more than double to $54 million.

At least one Visit Florida board member said the Legislature feels it should have a say in how the agency conducts because of lawmakers’ generosity.

“I think if we’ve all learned anything from our past, it is that there is a certain entitlement from the Legislature because there’s so much funding that they now allow us to have,” said Carol Dover, president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

The organization should “dot all our I’s and cross all our T’s” before appointing Seccombe as CEO, she warned.

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Concert tells tale of a ‘Tough Turkey’

Orchestra Miami will present a series of free family concerts, designed to introduce young children to classical music. At 7 p.m. Friday , the orchestra will perform "Tough Turkey in the Big City: A Thanksgiving Odyssey," by Bruce Adolphe and Louise Gikow at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church at 602 NE 96th St.

At 1:30 p.m. Saturday the orchestra will bring the concert to the North Dade Regional Library at 2455 NW 183rd St. in Miami Gardens.

The story behind the music is what happens when a turkey from the sticks meets a Park Avenue pigeon? Tough Turkey... follows the comic blunders of Tom Turkey, who leaves the farm to try his luck in the big city. The story is told to the audience by a narrator and illustrates a close call with a menacing chef, a tussle at the "Turkey Club," a brief romance with a pigeon, and a happy mix up at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tom is portrayed by the bass trombone and his barnyard friends by the violin and clarinet.

The two concerts are sponsored in part by the Miami-Dade Public Library System. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, children are asked to bring canned goods to be donated to local food banks.

Handbell choir

Some sacred music seems all the more beautiful when the choir is accompanied by a handbell choir, and on Saturday (Nov. 17) churches with handbell choirs and individual ringers are invited to a workshop to be from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 254 Curtiss Pkwy. in Miami Springs.

The workshop is sponsored by the Miami Chapter of the Amrican Guild of Organists and will be conducted by Maryann Tobin.

A free lunch will be provided and following the workshop, the ringers will perform a short concert.

For more details call the church before 1 p.m. weekdays at 305-888-2871.

‘TED’-style lectures

Rabbi Mitchell Chefitz will continue the monthly "TED"-style lecture series at 10 a.m. Sunday in the board room of Temple Israel of Greater Miami 137 NE 19th St. The talk is entitled, "Blessings and Prayers That Work in Real Time."

Just in case you don’t know, the rabbi said TED is the acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design, an online collection of thought- and soul-provoking talks on a wide range of topics, given by some of the world’s most innovative thinkers, Chefitz is a TED fan and in his talks, which he calls "Moshe Talks," he has put a Jewish spin on the concept with a four-part series of TED-style discourses he said he wished he’d heard to enhance his own Jewish education.

"I regret I never heard these talks," said Chefitz, a bestselling author and scholar-in-residence at Temple Israel. "But now, 40 years later, I know how to give them."

The series which began Oct. 14, will run through January. The event is open to the community and is free. For more information call the temple at 305-573-5900 or email info@templeisrael.net.

‘Five Keys to Health’

The public is invited to a free health lecture presented by Dr. Matthew Westrich, at 7 p.m. today in the fellowship hall at Silver Palm United Methodist Church, 15855 SW 248th St. Westrich will speak on the topic, "Five Keys to Health." Attendees are asked to bring a can of food in support of the church’s Family Food Ministry, which provides food weekly on Fridays to the families of children attending Redland Elementary and Middle Schools.

Call Margaret Cross at 305-255-5894 for more information.

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