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“The Help,” Read it, Watch it!

"The Help" Thankfully, first-time author Kathryn Stockett did not give up when her novel “The Help,” was rejected 60 times. When someone finally had the wisdom to recognize its worth, and it was published in 2009, the book sold more than three million copies and spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Millions more of us devoured the brilliantly-written, masterfully-plotted book that is based on Stockett’s own white, Christian, southern upbringing and her close relationship with the family maid who died when she was 16. Years after moving to New York City, Stockett decided to write about that relationship that was so intensely influential in her life. It took five years for her to paint a vivid picture of the humiliation black maids in Jackson, Mississippi endured in the early 1960s by their white employers who trusted them to raise their children but often times not to polish the silver.

Andre Agassi: A Champion On and Off the Court

By Marsala

“I fell in love with tennis far too late in my life, but the reason I have everything that I hold dear is because tennis has loved me back. I’m thrilled, humbled, quite terrified to be honest, to stand before you. I felt vulnerable on the tennis court many times, but not quite like today. I’ve grown up in front of you. You’ve seen my highs and lows. We laughed together, cried together, but what is so clear to me standing here today is that you have given me compassion, understanding, and love – more than I expected, many times more than I deserved.”

Those words are part of the speech given by eight Grand Slam tournament winner and Olympic gold medalist, Andre Agassi on July 9, 2011 when he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

Andre remains one of the most beloved players in the history of tennis and thousands of fans demonstrated their love the day he played his last game on September 3, 2006 at the U.S. Open.

Carlos Santana: Love Divinely Orchestrated

By Marsala

Carlos Santana was just 22 years old when he and his band mesmerized 500,000 people who were at Woodstock, the three-day phenomenon in August 1969 that is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most pivotal moments that changed the history of Rock and Roll.

Forty-two years later, Carlos the eternal, cosmic melody man, is still using his supremely magical gift of music to touch us in that deepest, most sensual, primal, spiritual place which can only be accessed by the pure, truthful emotion of Divine Love that connects us to our higher selves.

He says, “My job in this life is to give people spiritual ecstasy through music. In my concerts people cry, laugh, dance. If they climaxed spiritually, I did my job. I did it decently and honestly.”

If you’ve been to a Santana concert than you know that Carlos delivers that spiritual ecstasy that courses through your veins and electrifies every cell in your body. [Read more…] about Carlos Santana: Love Divinely Orchestrated

Endless Love: What it Really Means

By Marsala

On June 18, 2011 my husband Steven and I celebrated our 28^th wedding anniversary. While we’re both proud of that accomplishment, longevity alone isn’t cause for celebration. What is most meaningful is that the love, trust and commitment we have shared over the years has grown deeper and richer.

As I sat down to write this post, I heard that George Clooney (50) and his girlfriend of nearly two years, Elisabetta Canalis (32) had just split up. It isn’t surprising since the Italian model recently told the press that she will definitely get married someday, and the actor, one of the sexiest men alive, has vowed that he will never marry again.

Natalie Cole: A New Chance at Life

By Marsala

Hepatitis C and a kidney transplant may have left Natalie Cole somewhat frail and weak, but oh that lady still has an incredible set of pipes. Her voice is smooth as a spoonful of honey, rich like a piece of dark, decadent chocolate, powerful as a freight train barreling through your mind, sensual like your man’s lingering caress, warm like a sip of brandy, and divine as an angel who takes flight on the wings of love..

Music is in Natalie’s genes which she inherited from her father, the late, great, Nate King Cole who she adored. After he died from lung cancer in 1965 at the age of 46, Natalie was sent away to boarding school by a mother she wasn’t close to. Being only 15-years-old and away from home, it was a difficult time for the teenager to deal with such a devastating loss.

That may explain why Natalie turned to drugs to numb the pain and perhaps deal with the success she’s known ever since she came on the music scene in 1975.

Since then she has been mesmerizing audiences with bluesy ballads, scat-singing jazz like her idol Ella Fitzgerald, and performing signature her hits that include “Mr. Melody,” “Inseparable,” “Our Love,” and “I’ve Got Love On My Mind,” as well as “Unforgettable,” the duet she sings (thanks to film and audio splicing) with her father, and the finger-snapping, toe-tapping, tongue-twisting, “This Will Be” (An Everlasting Love) co-written by Natalie’s ex-husband Marvin Yancy, who died of a heart attack in 1985 at the age of 34.

Jane Seymour: A Connection That Transcends Time

By Marsala

Jane Seymour - Up Close and Personal with Marsala Rypka Royal Wedding Mania has gripped America and ardent fans are anxious for newsy details about anything and everything that has to do with the historic day when Prince William takes Kate as his Princess Bride this coming Friday April 29, 2011.

Jane Seymour, the official British correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, has been happy to oblige – reporting on speculation about the wedding gown designer, the chic custom-made hats for the ladies attending the wedding, the royal carriage ride from Westminster Abbey, the kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, the wedding ring forged from Welsh gold, the tiara, and on and on.

Seeing Jane in London so often this past week reminds me of the interview I did with her in 2007 about six weeks before she appeared on Dancing with the Stars We had a special connection at the time that we spoke. We were two daughters commiserating about the health of our ailing parents. My father who had bladder cancer died ten days after that interview, and Jane’s mom, who had recently suffered a stroke, passed away while Jane was on DWTS about ten weeks later. In my mind there will always be a heartfelt connection that links Jane Seymour to the last few precious days I had with my dad.