We're Moving!

This is the last post on this version of Pick's Place. I am moving to a new blog, Pick's Place 2.0

The new web address is:
http://picksplace2.blogspot.com

This page, the original Pick's Place, will remain active but there will be noting new posted here from this point forward.

 - Jeff

Easy Pickens BBQ & More to Launch August 7

It’s a family affair: South Jersey dad, sons, to  turn passion for outdoor cooking into a barbecue team and catering service

Turnersville, NJ - August 2, 2010

A South Jersey backyard barbecue enthusiast has teamed up with his sons to make the leap from amateur to pro. Washington Township resident Jeff Pickens, along with his sons, has formed Easy Pickens BBQ & More, a barbecue team which will compete in Saturday’s annual Stephen Starr Garry Maddox BBQ Challenge in Philadelphia, PA. After that, the team plans to parlay their outdoor cooking skills into a catering service specializing in barbecue and other specialties.

“ I keep hearing, ‘you guys need to go into business’, anytime someone tries our ribs”, says Pickens, 53, who has competed in the Maddox Challenge twice before. On the urging of his son, Dan, 23, Pickens decided to form a real team for this year’s competition. Dan’s idea for the team name was “Easy Pickens BBQ”. Jeff decided to add “& More” to incorporate some other indoor specialties, such as chili and Italian dishes.

“Our passion for food stems from a rich family tradition, growing up watching my Dad from a young age and experiencing the “thrill of the grill”, and watching and learning from my Mom, Grandmother, and aunts, all of whom were consummate Italian cooks” Pickens recalls. “I remember my Dad and uncle cooking their traditional New Years Eve filet mignons outside every year, sometimes in the snow”.

The team, which consists of Jeff, Dan, along with sons Dennis, Frank, and Rob, and some of their friends, will be ready for the Maddox BBQ Challenge with entries in the ribs, chicken, chef’s choice, and Garry’s Rib Challenge, decked out in their newly minted Easy Pickens BBQ & More t shirts.

The team t shirt and logo will feature a smiling pig, surrounded by the team name. The pig’s face was drawn by Jeff’s cousin Susan Mauro, a prominent New Jersey designer. “I drew the pig, it’s Jeff’s job to make it taste good”, says Susan.

Anyone interested in learning more about Easy Pickens BBQ & More should pay a visit to the Stephen Starr Garry Maddox BBQ Challenge, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Saturday, August 7, 2010. If you can’t make it to the event, please visit the website:

http://www.easypickensbbq.com

About Easy Pickens BBQ & More:

Easy Pickens BBQ & More is a family-based barbecue team and catering service, serving South Jersey and the greater Delaware Valley. We specialize in ribs, chicken, and beef, smoked or grilled to perfection according to your tastes. "& More" means we are more than just barbecue; we offer a variety of Italian and Southern comfort foods, as well as desserts.

 Contact:

Jeff Pickens, Managing Partner
Easy Pickens BBQ & More
easypickensbbq@gmail.com

http://www.easypickensbbq.com

Top Ten Key Search Phrases Leading to the World's Greatest Website

For what it's worth - for the first time ever, since I have been tracking this, "jeff pickens" was not at the top of the list:

Search Keyphrases (Top 10)
151 different keyphrases Search Percent recall chris christie 81 21 % recall christie 29 7.5 % recall governor christie 26 6.7 % jeff pickens 19 4.9 % acs bike-a-thon 2010 13 3.3 % american cancer society bike-a-thon 2010 12 3.1 % chris christie petition 8 2 % recall governor chris christie 5 1.2 % petition against chris christie 5 1.2 % chris christie recall 5 1.2 % Other phrases 182 47.2 %

Early TV Kids Show Pioneer’s Puppets To Be Brought Back To Life.

PRESS RELEASE

Sandy Becker’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ To Be Re-Imagined using his original puppets from the lost 1961 production.  

Almost 50 years after it’s original airing, and now lost to the ages (as were many early  TV productions from the 1950’s and 60’s), Flexitoon – one of the premiere puppet production companies in the country – has signed up to ‘re-imagine’ the original production of Sandy Becker’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ with production costs backed by members of the crowd-funding Web site kickstarter.com.   

Sandy Becker was a television announcer, actor, comedian and puppeteer who hosted several popular children's programs in New York City, the best known was The Sandy Becker Morning Show, which ran from 1955 to 1968 on Channel 5 WABD-TV and WNEW-TV. Becker believed that one of the highlights of his career was his December 23, 1961 interpretation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, performed by his resident troupe of puppets, with GEEBA GEEBA as Scrooge. Unearthing a copy of this lost classic remains the holy grail for many fans and collectors.

“To millions of Baby Boomers who grew up in the Metro NY area, the name SANDY BECKER is magic!” said Flexitoon Partner Craig Marin. Marin, who was profoundly influenced by Becker as a child later become his protege, and friend. When Sandy Becker passed away, he bequeathed his puppets to Marin, with the mandate to "re-imagine" the ‘Sandy Becker Christmas Carol’ as a gift to "his kids." Those plans which have been on hold since Becker’s death in 1996, have been reignited with the prospect of funding by a traditionally unlikely source - his fans.

Through the urging of Sandy Becker fan Jeff Pickens, who proudly lists himself as “one of Sandy’s kids” and came up with the idea of using Kickstarter as a funding source, Marin was convinced that a modest, but sufficient of budget of $30,000 could be raised by tapping into the hearts (and wallets), of other grown up “Sandy’s kids”.

The project is now live (http://bit.ly/c3HeYf ) on Kickstarter.com and features an original Flexitoon video explaining the project with Flexitoon characters Harried Harry and Lucky Jack that’s designed to unabashedly pry pledges ranging from $10 to $500 from enthusiastic backers.

 About Flexitoon

FLEXITOON is a company that for thirty years has specialized in television, film and stage, creating and performing award-wining puppets, marionettes, and programming for Nickelodeon ("Pinwheel"), PBS ("Shining Time Station"), FOX ("DJ Kat Show") and Showtime ("KIDS-TV"). Their "Talking Stain" for TIDE was voted the # 1 Funniest Office Commercial in the World, and the #3 Super Bowl commercial of all time. For more information please visit: www.flexitoon.com

Media Contact:

Craig Marin

Partner

Flexitoon

212-877-2757

FLEXITOON@aol.com

NYC Puppeteer Hopes to Recreate 1961 Christmas Classic

In today's digital age, where everything that is written, photographed, and otherwise recorded, is forever. If it's on the internet, you can find it. It's hard to believe that this was not always the case.

We are talking, in particular, about the kids' TV shows of the early 1960's, hosted by such giants and legends of broadcasting as Chuck McCann, Sonny Fox, Soupy Sales, and most of all, Sandy Becker.

Sandy Becker hosted a daily kids show, broadcast live on WNEW-TV, Channel 5. Any fifty-something Boomer who grew up in the greater NYC area in the 1960's watching TV, remembers being entertained by Sandy Becker, and his cohort of characters and puppets. These shows were broadcast live, recorded on kinescope (the pre-cursor to videotape), saved for a short time, then erased and taped over for the next show.

This includes Sandy Becker's 1961 rendition of "A Christmas Carol", starring his ensemble of puppets, including Geeba Geeba as Scrooge, and Sir Clive Clyde as Bob Cratchit. Anyone hoping to get their hands on a video of this original show is out of luck.

However, New York City based Craig Marin, of Flexitoon puppet studio, has a plan. Marin was a friend and protege of Sandy Becker and inherited Becker's puppets when he died in 1996. "Sandy was a mentor, and we often talked about and planned to remake his Christmas Carol," says Marin, who began his career as a puppeteer and ventriloquist as a teenager. "But sadly, when he passed away, plans were put on old. However, now is the chance to realize Sandy's dream for Boomers and beyond. Our vision is to produce a re-imagining of Sandy Becker’s Christmas Carol, using all the original puppets!"

This will be a 21st Century rendition of the classic show, using the original puppets, new sets, high-def cinematography, and state of the art special effects and editing. In order to finance this project, Craig and Flexitoon, with the assistance of Jeff Pickens (disclosure: the author is a collaborator on this project), have launched a project on Kickstarter, an all-or-nothing funding platform for artists who seek backing for their projects. Potential backers pledge a dollar amount, and with the pledges come premiums, the higher the pledge, the sweeter the premium. No money changes hands until the project is fully funded by pledges.

To learn more about this project, please go to the Kickstarter project page at http://bit.ly/c3HeYf. Read the project description, and the updates, for everything you need to know about this exciting project.

For those of us who remember this program, this was tantamount to a kids' version of Woodstock. With the 50th anniversary approaching, this DVD would make a wonderful gift, an instant Holiday classic you can enjoy with your kids, grandkids, and generations to come!

Geeba Geeba sez: BECOME A BECKER BACKER!

You can help make this happen by becoming a Becker Backer and making a pledge on the Kickstarter site.

American Cancer Society Bikeathon - This Sunday

This Sunday, July 12th, I will be riding in the American Cancer Society Bikeathon.

The Bikeathon is a 64.6 bicycle mile ride from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, PA to Buena, NJ. This will be my fifth year riding. Over 4,000 riders participate in the event, raising over $1 million for this worthy cause, supported by donations from generous people like you. The goal this year is $2 million.

I will be Twittering throughout the event Sunday, mobile uploading photos to my Facebook page and iReport, so stay tuned.

If you wish to make a donation, please go to the following link to my personal page:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jeffpickens

Thanks!

The Super Bowl, uh, I mean, the "Big Game"

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and that means anyone who has coughed up the dough will be allowed to call it the Super Bowl. Everyone else must call it the "Big Game".

Since the Super Bowl will be broadcast on NBC this year, NBC news has the opportunity to turn the Today Show and all their other "news" shows into Super Bowl infomercials. They have already started Saturday morning with on-site reports from Tampa featuring Jenna Wolfe and Al Roker. Keith Olbermann has been broadcasting "Countdown" from Tampa all week.

MSNBC will be featuring the "Predator Bowl", a marathon Doc-Block of "To Catch a Predator". I must admit Predator is one of my favorites, and I will probably be catching a few episodes while I'm smoking my ribs and waiting for the Big Game to start.

I don't have much interest in who wins. I don't like either team, but to give credit where credit is due, I watched in reluctant amazement as the great Larry Fitzgerald tore up my beloved Eagles in the NFC Championship game. So I will be leaning toward Arizona, if only to see what Mr. Fitzgerald can do to the Steel Curtain.

I do not look forward to listening to John Madden prattle on about how great the Cowboys are, as he always does, no matter who is playing.

On the menu: baby back ribs, buffalo chicken tenders, other assorted snacks. Check my iReport page later in the day for a full report.

I am hoping the The Boss, during the half-time show, brings out the legend, Pete Seeger, to do an encore rendition of "This Land is Your Land", with ALL the lyrics, like they did at the Lincoln Memorial before the Obama inauguration.

Enjoy the game!