Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Oak Park Arms presents its popular series “You Be the Critic” at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The 1996 film, “A Family Thing,” will be viewed and reviewed with radio announcer Dan Kane.

This drama was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson and directed by Richard Pearce. It stars Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Irma P. Hall and Michael Beach.

When the mother of a Scotch-Irish American Southerner, Earl Pilcher (Duvall), dies, she leaves behind a letter explaining how he is not her biological son but the son of a Black American maid who was raped by Earl’s (white) father and who died in childbirth.

The letter prompts Earl to visit his half-brother in Chicago, Raymond Murdoch (Jones). Ray blames the death their mother on Earl’s father and wants nothing to do with Earl when he shows up. As Earl is preparing to leave town his car is high jacked by street thugs, and he ends up in the hospital with nothing but Ray’s contact information in his pocket.

Ray, a veteran Chicago police officer, begrudgingly lets Earl recover in his home as the hospital is too crowded. It is there that Earl meets his Aunt T. (Hall), a loving and blind woman who eventually persuades the family to accept Earl and helps them all heal old wounds.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

The Monday Night Concert Series continues with Steve Million at 7 p.m. Monday, July 29, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave.

Million is a professional jazz pianist and composer. Jazz has been in his blood ever since he saw his first live performance at the age of seven. Million has since recorded three CDs featuring his writing, arranging and playing on Palmetto records: “Million to One,” “Thanks a Million,” and “Truth Is.”

Before settling in Chicago, Million lived in Kansas City and New York City. But he loves the city of Chicago, citing is as a place where one can balance making a living with being creative.

Today, in addition to performing, Million teaches jazz piano both privately and at the Merit School of Music in Chicago.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

A recital will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 7, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. Students from the Language and Music School of Oak Park will perform for residents and the public at the Arms.

The Language and Music School was founded by Maria Fermi and Martha Yelenosky. What began privately in a teacher’s apartment in 1990 with just six students learning a combination of Spanish, piano, violin, guitar and recorder lessons is now an establishment with 25 teachers and hundreds of students. The school provides students (from age four to adults) with a unique environment in which nearly a dozen languages and dozens of instruments are taught daily.

Fermi is a music professor from the Conservatorio de Musica Julian Aguirre with studies in Music Therapy and ongoing studies in child development and developmental disorders such as Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, ADHD and Bipolar Disorder.

Yelenosky is on staff at the Northwestern University School of Music and has been president of the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association (C.A.M.T.A.) Jazz Festivals of Chicago since 1997.

Private 30-minute classes are offered, once a week. Languages taught include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and English as a second language. Instruments taught include wind, brass, guitar, piano, percussion, strings, voice and music composition. In addition, group immersion Spanish classes are available for children and pre-school, after-school, kindergarten and summer camps available for kids age two to nine.

Yelenosky and Fermi have also co-authored LMS First Steps in Spanish™ (CDs and materials for teaching Spanish through music-based activities).

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

Patricia Dezynski, RN, MSN, a nurse from Interim HealthCare, will present a talk titled “Alzheimer’s Awareness” at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 11, at the Oak Park Arms retirement community, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The seminar is part of the ongoing “Here’s To Your Health” monthly series.

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, and the only disease in the top 10 list that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed down. There are currently 5.4 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease. This progressive, degenerative disorder attacks the brain’s nerve cells resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills.

While scientists still don’t fully understand what causes Alzheimer’s disease, it is becoming increasingly clear that it develops as a result of a complex series of events that happen in the brain over an extended period of time. Research also indicates that it may be triggered by factors including age, genetic makeup, damage to neurons from overproduction of toxic free radicals, serious head injuries, brain inflammation and environmental factors.

Although it is the most common cause of dementia (loss of intellectual function) among people aged 65 and older, Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. In addition, no one factor can be identified as the catalyst.

Typical warning signs include:
•    Memory loss, especially of recent events, names, placement of objects and other new information
•    Confusion about time and place
•    Struggling to complete familiar actions, such as brushing teeth or getting dressed
•    Trouble finding the appropriate words, completing sentences, and following directions and conversations
•    Poor judgment when making decisions
•    Changes in mood and personality, such as increased suspicion, rapid and persistent mood swings, withdrawal, and disinterest in usual activities
•    Difficultly with complex mental assignments, such as balancing a checkbook or other tasks involving numbers

Age is the most important known risk factor of the disease. In fact, the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years beyond the age of 65. While there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s, there are several approved medications which may provide relief from some symptoms and slow the decline in mental function to some extent

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The program is free and open to the public. For more information call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

The public is invited to an afternoon of movement-based learning with Brain Gym® with Aimee Edwards at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave.

Brain Gym movements, exercises or activities refer to the original 26 Brain Gym movements, sometimes abbreviated as “The 26.” These activities recall the movements naturally done during the first years of life when one is learning to coordinate the eyes, ears, hands and whole body. There are four categories: midline, energy, deepening attitudes and lengthening.

The 26, along with a program for “learning through movement,” were developed by educator and reading specialist Paul E. Dennison and his wife and colleague, Gail E. Dennison.

For more than two decades, clients, teachers and students have reported the effectiveness of these simple activities. Although it’s not yet clear why these movements work so well, they often bring about dramatic improvements in areas such as:

•    concentration and focus
•    memory
•    academics: reading, writing, math, test taking
•    physical coordination
•    relationships
•    self-responsibility
•    organization skills
•    attitude

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, an all volunteer radio reenactment group, will perform “The Cinnamon Bear,” live at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 23, at the Oak Park Arms Retirement Community, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the extremely popular holiday radio program broadcast on WGN radio.

WGN radio first aired The Cinnamon Bear radio show in 1938, broadcasting an episode every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Cinnamon Bear, stole the hearts and imaginations of listeners across the country with the adventures of young Judy and Jimmy Barton.

Twins Judy and Jimmy are searching the attic for the Silver Star that belongs atop their Christmas tree when they meet a stuffed bear with shoe-button eyes and a green scarf – Paddy O’Cinnamon — who offers to help them. The Cinnamon Bear teaches the twins how to “de-grow” so they can fit through the attic tunnel and flies them off to the weird and wonderfully enchanted world of Maybeland.

With only a month to find their star, the clock is ticking for the trio. Along the way they encounter other memorable characters such as the Crazy Quilt Dragon (who tries repeatedly to steal the star for himself), the Wintergreen Witch, Fe Fo the Giant, and Queen Melissa.

Eventually Judy, Jimmy and the Cinnamon Bear make their way to the North Pole and the adventure ends on Christmas morning with a special visit from Santa Claus himself.

The show was recorded in just a few weeks by a group of merchants as an advertising promotion and was first broadcast in 1937. Its immense and immediate appeal has sealed its legacy as a traditional holiday classic.

In 1951 WGN-TV produced and aired a TV series of “The Cinnamon Bear.” Judy, Jimmy and all the other characters were transitioned to the screen as hand puppets and the transcription disc recordings of the radio program were used as a soundtrack. The series was aired on WGN-TV until its final season in 1954. It was sponsored by Wieboldt’s Department Store.

Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear Performers

Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear is composed of Chicagoland actors who share a common interest – to perform old time radio programs for the community. Each actor and technician donates talent and time for free.

Group founders, Ben Dooley and Pam Turlow, husband and wife, established a connection with The Oak Park Arms in September of 2002, when Turlow’s father became a resident. They’ve been volunteering/performing at The Arms ever since.

Dooley and Turlow’s group performs only once every two months due to the considerable challenges involved in creating a show. They browse through thousands of old time radio episodes, select a favorite, listen and type out the script. Many shows are not available in print and have to be painstakingly transcribed. Then they gather sound effect, rehearse and mount the show.

Sound effects were an important part of live radio shows, and the group performs them live. They have a real door for slamming, buzzers, a sound board and shoes for footsteps, and doorbells.

The shows are very popular with residents and people from the community. Some even bring their children and grandchildren to show them what entertainment was like before television.

“Since the entire cast donates its time and energy, we can only do shows six times a year,” Dooley said, “but we strive to make sure that it’s well worth the wait.”

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The radio show is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.