Darth Vader wears a size 16 shoe, which is murder on the cobbler when you add to the mix red patent leather by the yard, three-inch spike heels and some bling. Kinky boots, indeed.

Ticket buyers leave Broadways Winter Garden Theatre feeling they got their moneys worth after the musicals 20-minute balls-to-the-wall fight sequences, complete with spraying blood, clanging bells and the primal thunk of glove pounding flesh. Howd they do that? they wonder.Drew Hodges, the Broadway ad man who shook up the industry in 1996 with his mold-breaking campaigns for Rent featuring rough graphics, grimy looking punk photography and dare-you-to-see-this copy, entered the Tony Awards season this week with more game-changers that are separating the shows he represents from the sea of exclamation points and quotation marks that are the bread-and-butter of theatrical advertising.

Start with Rocky, which got middling notices on the whole but acclaim for Rockys championship fight with Apollo Creed. The ad for the show a gritty photo of that climactic match explains how the sequence was designed for maximum realism. A line from the photo leads to a box telling us, for example, that custom-made gloves were designed to allow the actors to land full punches without hurting each other.

Remember how Penn & Teller would open their act by telling us how magic tricks were done? It didnt wreck the show. The same logic applies here.You have to remind everybody how you are not like the others, Hodges told me this morning at the midtown Manhattan offices of his company, SPOTCO. Here, its not like were giving away a secret. The question is, Does the ad make them want to see it? Well, knowing things beforehand heightens the experience.

Hodges and his group worked with Rocky director Alex Timbers to narrow down which effects to fit into the ad. Alex gave us 20 ideas, and we may do another. Its about the reality of the show, and people are loving that scene. The point is to freeze the moment.

Producer Scott Rudin, whos not connected with Rocky, sent Hodges a note calling it the best ad of the season.

And no-one does shock and awe like Scott, Hodges said, relishing the hat-tip.

Hodges had a different challenge with last years Tony best musical winnerKinky Boots: How to keep interest up when all the attention is being focused on new shows. Cue James Earl Jones, Josh Groban, celebrity chef Mario Batali, tennis legend Martina Navratilova and a few other bold-facers, all outfitted in the shows ubiquitous thigh-high boots, under copy reading Just Be Who You Want To Be.

Each of the stars is promoting a favorite charity; click on the image and you see the photo shoot and a discussion of the cause.

Rocky came together in three days, Hodges said. The Kinky campaign was probably our longest ever in planning, a year since we thought, Wouldnt it be great to get well-known people into those boots? We see this everywhere else, using celebrities to promote a cause and a product, but not on Broadway.If you dont define what is the event of your show, it will define you, he said. We didnt want Kinky Boots to be seen as Priscilla 2. I hope to get the fire department from Hempstead, Long Island into the boots. The brand is big enough now.

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Kinkys Booty & Rockys Knockout Punch Raise Bar In Broadway Ad Landscape

By STEVE KAUFMANContributing Writer

The Spring weather has finally settled in. Temperatures are modulating, grass is growing, most early flowers are blooming and the April showers have made their presence known.

Is it too late, then, to plant for this season?

Not at all, says Bradley Barz, landscape designer and project manager with Frank Otte Nursery. Actually, he says, Mothers Day (which is a week from Sunday, on May 11) is a common rule of thumb for beginning new planting because the chances of any freeze are practically gone.

But that doesnt mean just go out, buy your plants and get them into the ground. Barz is a strong advocate of first taking a look at your property and assessing it, then making sure you take the right steps to head off problems.

Or, as he puts it, plan, dont plant.

Flower beds and shrub areas that were a problem last year are likely to be the same problem this year. And areas that have done all right in the past may be problem spots this year.

The reasons, he says, are the triple-headed monster no home landscaper can avoid: water, heat and shade.

So, here are some of his tips for a more successful landscape this year.

Pay attention to drainage and moisture. Are drainage problems washing out your plant and flower beds?

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Plan, Dont Plant

By Dan Moran dmoran@stmedianetwork.com | @NewsSunDanMoran April 29, 2014 6:04PM

Rain-soaked bags of yard waste without the recently required required disposal stickers sit along a street north of downtown Waukegan. City officials are trying to inform residents about new procedures for disposal of items like grass clippings and brush. | Dan Moran/Sun-Times Media

storyidforme: 65640566 tmspicid: 23477225 fileheaderid: 11468250

Updated: April 29, 2014 6:04PM

Walnut Street resident Marcia Schlitz says her home lost 50 percent of its assessed valuation between 2008 and 2012, and now I get to pay for my own yard waste while her property taxes have remained almost the same.

Schlitzs comments before the City Council on April 21 echoed complaints heard around Waukegan as residents adjust to a new waste-disposal contract that does not include blanket pickup of things like grass clippings or tree trimmings.

According to Schlitz, when the city made the decison late last year to save money by making yard-waste collection a per-bag service, who was going to go door-to-door to (tell) all of these people who have leaves raked to the street and bags piling and piling up on the parkways?

Each ward has at least one block with yard waste waiting to be picked up, because now (bags) need to have stickers, she said. I dont know if it was a communication issue, but not everybody gets (the newspaper), not everyone is attached to the hip with Internet and media, so someone needs to stand up to the table and say, Its our responsibility to deal with this.

Several aldermen agreed with Schlitz, including 6th Ward Ald. Larry TenPas, who said that even after information campaigns including letters sent home with Waukegan Public School students some residents still do not know that the city doesnt pick up yard waste.

Once you give people a service, its difficult to take it away, and the education process has not been very good so far, TenPas said. Ive got bags sitting all over my ward waiting to be picked up. ... Ive got leaves all over the curb, but its hard to tell if theyre from this year or last (fall).

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Confusion, complaints about Waukegans yard-waste disposal

JEFFERSONVILLE When the Kennedy Bridge was constructed in the early 1960s, Jeffersonville was very different than it is today. And another bridge nearby was still in use.

The Big Four Bridge, at the time, was still used as a railroad span. The railroad river crossing has long-since ceased operations, but is tied to the construction of the new bridge work because it is providing pedestrian access to area residents.

I remember as a little kid, I saw trains going over it, said Jack Vissing, Jeffersonville attorney and member of the citys redevelopment commission, of the Big Four Bridge.

In the late 1960s the trusses were removed and the bridge became inactive, until recently when Louisville opened its access to the bridge.

Early plans for a new downtown Interstate 65 span called for a pedestrian walkway, as required by the Federal Highway Administration. However, because plans were in the works to convert the former bridge to nowhere into a bicycle and pedestrian crossing, it allowed bridge planners to cut the pedestrian access out of the new downtown corridor. Pedestrian access is still required, and is still part of the plan for the east-end bridge.

That railroad and the interstate bridge running through downtown made Jeffersonville a different place than what exists now.

Vissing said the location of the Mountjoy, Chilton, Medley LLP the former McCauley Nichols building off of Court Avenue, between the Clark Memorial Bridge and I-65 was a railroad yard where the cars were switched out.

It was a nasty, noisy dirty kind of place down there, Vissing said. It was really an industrial site. It was an undesirable place to live.

The residents in the area, comprised largely of low-income and minority populations, were displaced when the I-65 bridge was built.

With many residents displaced near the riverfront, the area remained largely an industrial center and the population of city moved farther away from the river and bridges.

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Jeffersonvilles changing landscape

The Kingwood Garden Club is proud to select the lovely yard of Barney and Cecily Ryan as the April Yard-of-the-Month.

The lovely garden is located in the Kings Crossing subdivision at 2818 N. Strathford Lane. Cecily shared, Since reorganizing my front garden last year, Ive taken a new position on gardening use annuals for lots of color and use perennials as filler. Trial and error has directed me many times, and now I stay with what works.

Her landscape combines hardscapes with the softscapes. The rock bordered beds are flanked with dusty miller and planted with pots in the beds containing tightly packed annuals (impatiens), bulbs, nerines, amaryllis, anemones, gardenias, variegated flax, camellias and blooming trees (bottlebrush). She has also added individual pots and hanging baskets shadowed by ironwork fixtures. Cecily shared, Gardening is social for me, as I meet all my neighbors who stop and chat. Finally, at the end of my day, my daily meditation consists of dead heading a wonderful way of winding down. Go by, take a stroll and see her lovely meditation garden its simple and social.

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Kingwood Garden Club April Yard-of-the-Month

Top Ranked Landscaper In Appleton WI
Top ranked landscaper in Appleton WI. Are you looking to have landscaping done? If you want commercial landscaping or need residential landscaping it can be quite a task to undertake, that...

By: Appleton Local Businesses

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Top Ranked Landscaper In Appleton WI - Video

Waco, Texas (PRWEB) April 23, 2014

It is getting to be summer time and that means updating the yard. Let the landscaping reflect your personality. Increase curb appeal and enhance the look and feel of an entire neighborhood with these simple tips from The Grounds Guys.

Rocks A simple idea to updating your landscape is to create a rock garden. They are easy to maintain and can be done in a variety of ways. Rock can be colorful or traditional in color. Rock gardens are common in dry climates like those found in the Southwest.

Flowers Pollinate your yard. Flowers are fragrant and bright. Flowers like marigolds and zinnias can add personality to your landscaping designs.

Lighting Lighting is an important part of landscaping. Whether you are lighting a deck, walkway or patio area, lighting can enhance your landscape.

Yard art From garden gnomes to butterflies yard art can bring your landscaping desires together. Consider matching the colors of your house with the yard art of your choosing.

These are just a few ideas from The Grounds Guys on how to enhance your curb appeal and landscaping. However you choose to enhance your yard, make sure it shows your personality.

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Simple Tips to Enhance Landscape and Curb Appeal: The Grounds Guys Has Ways to Landscape a Home or Business

By Janice De Jesus Contra Costa Times

WALNUT CREEK -- Sarah Sutton's no stranger to the relationship between healing and nature. Growing up on the Peninsula, Sutton and her sisters appreciated the wonders of nature -- forests, landscapes, beaches and gardens. Then and now, Sutton had always regarded the earth's treasures as a natural art form that helped to calm the mind, body and spirit.

"Our Dad would take us out to be immersed in nature, whether it was hiking in the forest, walking in Huddart Park, the beaches along Half Moon Bay," said Sutton. "We were three little girls tidepooling."

From her father, Sutton learned the art of de-stressing in nature -- something she's cultivated as a landscape architect, ecologist and artist.

The author of "The New American Front Yard: Kiss Your Grass Goodbye" will be presenting "Healing Places, Restorative Spaces: Creating Landscapes and Gardens that Sustain Ourselves and the Planet." The book received a Silver Nautilus Award for Green Living/Sustainability and an Honorable Mention Award at the 2013 SF Green Book Festival).

At the April 30 event at The Gardens at Heather Farm, Sutton will show people how to regard home gardens and landscapes as much more than window dressing -- they can be sustainable, restorative healing places.

Sutton admits that while she grew up reading Sunset Magazine, which first instilled in her a love for gardens, she initially wasn't an avid gardener at the time. She thought about becoming a commercial artist but a college counselor pointed her toward pursuing a degree in landscape architecture. Suddenly, it all made sense--this career integrated her childhood love for nature with her love of art.

Sutton, who is also a Certified Natural Health professional, will discuss how garden designs and what you plant in your garden can help you create a healing sanctuary in suburbia. Topics will include how to holistically manage your garden, front yard foraging, regenerative landscape design and using Feng Shui principles in your garden.

While Sutton has painted oil and watercolor pieces, she considers the healing design projects she's helped create to be a different kind of art medium. She's applied holistic garden design principles to park plazas and gardens for family and friends.

Suzanne R. Schrift, a longtime colleague and a friend, said Sutton has a broad understanding of ecologically sound landscape principles and cutting edge practices, and is committed to teaching people how to think and act sustainably in the landscape.

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Turning gardens into healing sanctuaries: Walnut Creek to host landscape architect who believes in nature as 'de ...

Update: Police Make Arrest in Emmet County Murder Investigation Update: Police Make Arrest in Emmet County Murder Investigation

Updated: Tuesday, April 22 2014 7:12 PM EDT2014-04-22 23:12:17 GMT

910 News can confirm new details in a murder investigation in Emmet County.Back inearly March,deputies discovered Trenton Mallory's body in his home on Pleasantview Road in Center Township.

910 News can confirm new details in a murder investigation in Emmet County.Back inearly March,deputies discovered Trenton Mallory's body in his home on Pleasantview Road in Center Township.

Updated: Monday, April 21 2014 3:02 PM EDT2014-04-21 19:02:55 GMT

Some relief for schools tacking on days into summer vacation thanks to too many snow days. The state says as long as districts meet the required 174 school days...

Some relief for schools tacking on days into summer vacation thanks to too many snow days. The state says as long as districts meet the required 174 school days...

Updated: Tuesday, April 22 2014 1:07 PM EDT2014-04-22 17:07:29 GMT

If you're thinking of signing up to stream Netflix, now may be the best time to do it.

If you're thinking of signing up to stream Netflix, now may be the best time to do it.

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Melinda's Garden Moment: Attractive Landscape for Wildlife

Chico, CA (PRWEB) April 23, 2014

Outdoor Trunk officially launched its ecommerce store this week with the goal of changing how people think about outdoor spaces. Found at http://www.outdoortrunk.com, customers will find a creative and eclectic mix of high-quality products designed to help define or refine their personal style. Visitors will find a blog filled with ideas and inspiration on how to make their outdoor space an extension of their indoor living area.

A sister company of Melton Design Group, an award winning landscape architecture and planning firm with over 25 years' experience in commercial and residential markets, Outdoor Trunk is redefining the outdoor space market.

Our mission is to create connections between people outside, in their neighborhoods and communities, says Founder Christa Melton. Through our blog and inspiration gallery, we show customers how this can be done and how they can use the products we offer, mixed with their own, to create a space thats unique to their style and fits their own individual spirit.

Product offerings include items such as outdoor furniture for the yard, accents for gardens and eco-friendly items to give or get. All products are chosen by Christa and her design team who have over two decades of design experience in creating both indoor and outdoor spaces with a commitment to beautiful, sustainable environments. Outdoor Trunk is all about blurring the lines between inside and out, said Melton. So much of this country provides weather that allows us to be outside throughout the year Outdoor Trunk helps customers learn to maximize this precious space by providing resources to create an appealing gathering place for people to talk and connect. We call this social landscaping."

Outdoor Trunk considers education at their core offering emails with inspiration, how-tos, DIY projects to keep the outdoors fresh in their minds. One of the more popular topics is their Tipsy Tuesday feature which shares refreshing cocktail recipes featuring natural, plant based infusions and ingredients such as the Sweet Pea cocktail made with fresh peas, pesto, lemon and vodka.

Outdoor Trunk believes you should enjoy the sunshine. Melton adds, We need to get back to community. Its a big piece in creating harmony. Come join us. Watch Outdoor Trunk's newest video for more insight into the inspiration behind the company.

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"Social Landscape" is Focus of New E-commerce Site Designed to Bring People Together