A most special birthday for Diana

Yes, it was finally time for the big one, the landmark birthday, the one everyone's been waiting for. It's been a long time coming but our very own Diana D'Angelo has hit the big twenty-one, and is ready to take a few writers out for drinks. As you can see she was grinning ear to ear for the occasion:


Here's Diana as she got ready to blow out her birthday... well, pastry collection, which may be a first for an afternoon Shore Fire birthday celebration, flanked by the front of Chris Taillie and the back of Andy Silva. The pastries were spread among the staff with joy, partly aided by the intrepid tong-wielder whose prominently displayed arm is obscuring Mark Satlof, just after bestowing some morsels on Matt Hanks, seated to his left.


And as the sugar and good conversation sets in, the staff eases back to celebrate another wonderful year with the lovely Ms. D'Angelo, at far right, with (counterclockwise) Chris Taillie, Carrie Tolles, Nora Lyons, Rob Krauser, Mr. Hanks, Mr. Satlof, and a glimpse of our fearless leader, Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty, peeking into the photo at far left:


Happy Birthday Diana!!

Cups & Cakes For Lauretta's Birthday

The battle for the honor of best cupcake in the city has become a serious NYC pastime, with fierce advocates and strong opinions, and Sugar Sweet Sunshine has been chronicled here as an office favorite on multiple occasions. But Lauretta Charlton's birthday celebration marked the debut of a new contender -- Brooklyn's One Girl Cookies -- that might just have a shot at the title. Here's Lauretta making a wish flanked by Mark Satlof, Elizabeth Lutz, and Matt Hanks captured in mid-applause.


The huge smile says it all, it's a hit. Here's Lauretta with (from right to left) Elizabeth, Mark, Nora Lyons, Diana D'Angelo, Carrie Tolles, and Matt. Happy Birthday Lauretta!

The New Kindles are Here! The New Kindles are Here!

Thanks to Shore Fire's President Marilyn Laverty, we got brand new Kindles yesterday at our annual pot luck. That plus Matt Hanks' amazing peanut butter and bacon pie made for a wonderful time.

A quick, day after survey of "what did you download first?" finds that Marilyn, Mark Satlof (me) and Brendan Gilmartin downloaded Moby Dick, with the atmospheric addendum that Brendan has been reading his Kindle on the high seas (during his commute on the Staten Island Ferry). Diana D'Angelo's got the Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe; Chris Thieke's digging the Compete Works of HP Lovecraft; Nick Baily has subscribed to the Economist; Lauretta Charlton plans "Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir as her first read; and Matt Hanks is starting with a trial subscription to The New Yorker (and his wife Courtney grabbed the new Alice Munro short stories collection Too Much Happiness).

Shore Fire Holiday Party, 09 Brooklyn Bowl Edition: Thanks to our Friends

And finally, thanks to everyone who came from near and far to Brooklyn Bowl last night to contemplate the year's end and prepare for what's next in 2010.




Sirius XM's Jeremy Tepper and Sony Legacy's Rob Santos preparing for the next round.

PR Newser's Joe Ciarallo with his friend Meg, of Random House.
Cat Empire manager Corrine Wilke, Velour's Sean Hoess, Chris Taillie, and Velour's Morgan Young.

Check out that spread!

Old friends and former Columbia colleagues Arthur Levy and Ronnie Kairey.

Jornos Jim Bessman and Ira Robbins of Premiere Radio Networks.

Regina Joskow and John Newcott, both of Verve, with Arthur Levy and Andy Schwartz.

Flatiron Management bros Ben Weber and Mike Martinovich.

Freelancer Tad Hendrickson, Shore Fire's Brendan Gilmartin and freelancer Will Hermes, down from New Paltz.

Shore Fire Holiday Party, 09 Brooklyn Bowl Edition: Thanks to the Staff

Our Brooklyn Bowl holiday party last night was a blast....we've worked hard all year and we were blessed we could celebrate. And we couldn't do it without our terrific staff, most of whom made it into one of my shots and seen here with some of our other attendees:




L-R - Blue Note's Perry Greenfield, Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty, Shore Fire Senior Vice President Mark Satlof


Nora Lyons with Sirius/XM's Jeremy Tepper and Sony Legacy's Rob Santos.


Chris Taillie with Nick Loss-Eaton


Marilyn Laverty and Elizabeth Lutz.

Sony's Fran DeFeo with Rebecca Shapiro, who is looking terrific just five days after giving birth to a bouncing baby boy!


Rockingale Record's Karen MacMillan with Brendan Gilmartin and friend.

Prefixmag.com's Dave Park with Chris Taillie and Nick Baily


Lauretta Charlton with Random House's Meg (??) and Joe Ciarallo of PR Newswer


Carrie Tolles, Matt Hanks and Matt's wife Courtney Banfield.


Elizabeth Lutz with Diana D'Angelo


Nancie S. Martin with Director of Multimedia for Time.com, Craig Duff

Shore Fire Holiday Party, 09 Brooklyn Bowl Edition: Thanks to the Musicians

Shore Fire capped a great year with our annual holiday party last night, but this year a venue change to the amazing Brooklyn Bowl added a whole other dimension to the festivities. It had to be our biggest yet, lanes packed with friends old and new, journalists of all stripes. But let's not forget that it's really our clients, the musicians, who are our most honored guests. This year Butch Walker, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Cat Empire, Myron Walden and Sonya Kitchell were spotted in the crowd:


Matt Hanks with Annie Clark

Marilyn Laverty with Sonya Kitchell


Matt Hanks with Butch Walker

Music Themed Halloween

Carrie Tolles and I had an action packed weekend frolicking through the city dressed as Ziggy Stardust (she) and Lady Ga Ga (me). The matching lightening bolts through some people off when they tried to figure out who we were.
Here Carrie... eh I mean Ziggy posses with good friend Gene Simmons.

CKB's Sugar Sweet Sunshine Selection

Cupcakes this time, a selection from Sugar Sweet Sunshine, for Director of Operations and Shore Fire stalwart Chris Brudzinski (known around here as CKB). I can't say anyone complained 'cause within five minutes all the treats were gone! Happy Birthday Chris!

SFM Bake-off: and the winners are.....

We had nine scrumptious entries to our first Shore Fire Annual Bake-Off earlier this week, not to mention two celebrity judges, freelance writer and cheese expert Martin Johnson and our neighbor, Dave Park of Prefix Magazine. Thanks again to our judges for taking time out of their busy days to help us have a bit of fun at the office.


(l-r, some of the baked goods, me, Dave Park, Martin Johnson)

Entries were judged on taste and presentation and while the spread was pretty close, the winners were clear:


Nancie Martin's Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake

On left, Andy Silva's Hummingbird Cake

On left, Matt Hank's third place savory Fig Tart.

Congrats to all the entrants and thanks to all the judges!!

Krauser's Sugar Sweet Sunshine Celebration

In what's turning out to be the bakery of choice for Shore Fire birthday celebrations, Sugar Sweet Sunshine was Rob Krauser's selection for today's b-day soire. Rob got a terrific pistachio cake. Congrats Rob and a very happy birthday from all of Shore Fire!

Chocolate Cake for Lutz B'day Fest

Yup, that's a killer flourless chocolate cake from Cousin John's Cafe in Brooklyn's own Park Slope that's about to be devoured in celebration of Elizabeth Lutz's Shore Fire birthday celebration...Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!

Breakfast Spread for Chafin Celeb.

Our reliable local deli Lassen & Hennings delivered a tasty breakfast spread this morning for our celebration of Chris Chafin's birthday. He stuck a candle in his Danish and called it Happy Birthday! That plus a gallon of coffee made for a great Monday morning start to our busy work week. Happy Birthday Chris!

An Early Fireworks Celebration: Marilyn's Birthday

Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty's July 3 birthday neatly coincides with Independence Day celebrations, so this is always a festive time of the year for all of us at Shore Fire. This year, we partied with an ice cream and coffee spread -- along with fixings like sprinkles, chocolate sauce and whipped cream -- the perfect late afternoon snack combo. Happy Birthday MTL!!