It was February of 1974 when a completely unknown young gymnast, Kirk Mango, made a choice that would change the direction of his life and send him on an intense journey of self-discovery and accomplishment. His efforts would culminate in a State Championship, a high school All-American award and a full scholarship to compete in gymnastics at the NCAA Division I level for Northern Illinois University. What was most surprising and unbelievable about this was not only the achievement itself, but the fact that he did it in just one year-something nobody thought possible. For Kirk, it was the starting point of a career that has brought him numerous other awards and honors, first as an athlete, then as a coach and teacher.

In 2000, he was selected to the Northern Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame; there, his photograph hangs on the wall with some of the most prestigious athletes ever to attend and compete for Northern Illinois University. His most recent accolades include being chosen in 2009 as No. 8 of the Top 50 Athletes of All Time competing for NIU, induction into Willowbrook High School’s Inaugural Hall of Fame (with professional athlete greats, former Chicago Bears Tom Hicks, Cleveland Browns Matt Roth, former Philadelphia Phillies World Series pitcher Dan Schatzeder, and Milwaukee Brewers Jody Gerut), and induction into Northern Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame for a second time in October of 2010.

Kirk graduated NIU in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in education and in 1992 received his Master of Administration from Roosevelt University in Chicago. Now retired, he taught high school students for 34 years and coached student-athletes for 17 of those years.

J   O   E

P   U   E   R   T   A

BASSIST-SINGER-SONGWRITER

CO-FOUNDER

of CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS

A  M  B  R  O  S  I  A

In the year 1970, four young musicians from the South Bay of Los Angeles, came together to create a new invigorating style of music.

 Exploring the possibilities of progressive, classical and world influences, yet rooted with the soul of the blues and R&B, Joseph Puerta, Christopher North, David Pack and Burleigh Drummond created a new sound that was defined and recognized as “Ambrosia”. 

Originally labeled as America’s answer to the progressive invasion of such English acts as “Yes” and “King Crimson”, the group quickly proved it was all that and much more as it’s albums painted aural landscapes covering the gamut of musical styles and attracting the collaboration of such cultural icons as, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Alan Parsons. 

In it’s brief recording history, Ambrosia garnered 5 Grammy Nominations, 5 Hit Singles, Heavy FM Airplay and the admiration and respect of the musical community.  All this was in addition to Sold Out concerts around the world. 

Today, the band is more alive and compelling than ever.  With three of the original members in tact plus the addition of guitar ace Doug Jackson on electric guitar and backing vocals, Mary Harris contributing amazing keyboards and vocals, and the powerful and contemporary lead vocals and acoustic guitar of Ken Stacey…Ambrosia is exploring new musical territory and continuing to wow life-long fans and new converts alike!

Purchase Ambrosia:

Extended Versions

Live

At amazon.com

For more information about Joe Puerta

 and Ambrosia

visit

https://www.facebook.com/Ambrosiatheband ...Facebook

MONA GREEN

Mona Green is a speaker, life coach, and artist, who has worked with clients from all walks of life to help them become their best, authentic selves. Six years ago, she founded Namasme, a coaching company designed to help others self- realize and become more intentional and joyful contributors to society.

From former Olympic athletes, Hollywood entertainers, European royalty, Navajo Youth and environmental activists in Latin America, Mona has worked with people from all diverse backgrounds. As a certified Life Coach, ELI-MP, and Neuro-linguistic Programing (NLP) practitioner, she compliments her coaching practice with an open mind, sharp intuition, a no BS attitude, and a true passion for personal development.

As a speaker, she has had the opportunity to speak at the US House of Representatives, Harvard, and the US Department of State among others. She has been featured in publications from The Washington Post to Teen Vogue and was selected by the Obama Administration as a leading change maker in the fight towards gender equality.

Working at the intersection of personal development, service as activism, and art, Namasme isn’t a traditional coaching company; it was created to serve those who are ready to move on from mindlessly being in the grind and want to start living life in purpose, on purpose. For those who want to be active participants in creating a better, kinder future, not just for themselves but also their communities and the world at large.

Mona believes that personal development shouldn’t be a luxury and has designed her coaching practice accordingly – providing multiple access points to her offerings so that anyone seeking help can find a way to work with her. She’s had the blessing of calling 10 different countries home and speaks 4 languages.

LILY FANGZ

Lily Fangz is a passionate performer and activist blending genres of hip-hop, R&B, reggae, soul, electronic, and funk with layers of conscious content, and witty wordplay. Her show is high vibration wether solo or with her band the intention is focused on creating a feeling of community, female empowerment, relate-ability, and crowd participation.

Lily was nominated as Best Female MC in the city of Denver, has won many national poetry slams and has toured internationally inspiring in all types of environments. Most notably performing at Red Rocks Amphitheater and bringing equal energy to many festivals, community activations, private events, and motivational speaking seminars. She stands for fully engaging in the creative explorations of life, Chomping down, infecting those around with passion, perspective, and perhaps asking the questions that aren’t posed enough, repping Bless UP Chomp DOWN along the way, to remind all to bite into their gifts with hunger and gratitude.

Alex Shumaker was born May 16, 2006, he resides in Punxsutawney, PA.

Alex was interested in Classic Rock bands such as Journey, Foreigner, Reo Speed Wagon and Styx since age 4.

While most 5 years were headed to the Toy section at Walmart Alex would ask to go to “look” at the CD’s. On February 10, 2012 while browsing the CD’s Alex found a DVD of the band Journey with their new lead singer Arnel. Alex became fixated on drummer Deen Castronovo, he went and got an exercise ball and put it in front of the TV and grabbed some kitchen utensils for his make shift drum set. He watched the video over and over again and broke every kitchen utensil his parents had so when his dad came home from work he cut a pair of plastic coat hangers for him to use.

That evening Alex’s mom posted a picture of his drum “kit” on Facebook with the heading “you gotta do what you gotta do when your parents won’t buy you a drum set!” The phone soon rang and it was Alex’s Nana wanting to speak with him. His parents weren’t all that thrilled when he started screaming “Nana and Papa are buying me a real drum set on Saturday”. Alex received that little drum kit and played it for hours on end, at least 3-4 hours a day watching the Journey DVD over and over trying copy Deen’s every move.

Every time Alex went to Walmart he got a CD. One day another DVD appeared, this time it was the band Foreigner with then drummer Brian Tichy. Alex became obsessed with Tichy’s theatrics of stick throwing/bouncing.

After a few months of playing Alex’s parents enrolled him in drum lessons once a week with teacher Brian Rowan with whom he is still under the instruction of.

To date along with Castronovo and Tichy the most influential drummers for Alex have been: Todd Sucherman of Styx, Brian Hitt of Reo Speedwagon, Chris Fraizer of Foreigner, Peter Criss of Kiss, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Neil Peart of Rush, Sean Fuller of Florida Georgia Line and Rich Redmond of Jason Aldean, Lucky Lerner of the Circle Jerks, Glen Sobel of Alice Cooper, and Troy Luccketta of Tesla to mention a few.

Ami was born January 8, 1969 at 7:05 am, in Burbank California. Her parents brought her home the next day. Micky's mother, Janelle Scott, was there to help the new parents.

When Ami was five months old, Samantha took her to England. Samantha was still a British subject - but Ami was an American citizen, so she had her own passport. Samantha and Ami stayed in England for nearly a month, then returned to California. Ami's grandparents, Lesley and Phyllis Slater, returned with them.

Ami was an active baby. She crawled at seven months, and was running by ten months. Samantha had to put bells on her shoes, so she could find her!

Ami's grandparents adored her, and were a great help to her parents. Lesley and Micky were always building something. Phyllis help Samantha with her shop "One of a Kind." They had planned to buy a house, but Micky insisted they stay with them.

Ami lived with her parents and grandparents in their converted mountain lodge home in Laurel Canyon until 1975. Ami's parents separated at that time, and Ami moved to a large town house with her mother and grandparents. They lived there for a year, then moved to Acapulco, Mexico, where they lived for four years. Ami's grandfather passed away while they were living in Mexico. She was 12 at the time. Micky was visiting them when it happened, so he was able to comfort his daughter during this sad time.

In 1980, Ami, her mother and grandmother moved back to their townhouse. Ami attended a private school nearby, and made lots of friends, many of them remain her friends today.

Ami visited her dad each summer in England, where he was living with his second wife and their babies. ( Ami has three younger sisters: Charlotte, Emily, and Georgia). Ami usually brought a friend with her. Micky arranged his work schedule around Ami's visits, so they could spend as much time together as possible.

When Ami was 15, she told her parents she needed to have a lunch date - all three of them together - because she had something very important to discuss with them. They didn't know what to expect!

During lunch, Ami announced that she had decided to become an actress. Her parents were not thrilled. It can be a very hard life, with lots of rejection. Micky told Ami that she would have to do it on her own. Her parents agreed that if she could get an agent, she could give it a try.

Her parents arranged for Ami to talk about acting with a friend of theirs, who was in the business. The friend spent two hours with Ami, talking to her about how difficult it is to get an agent, how hard it is just to get an appointment, and how many she would have to see, with no guarantee she would be signed-up by anyone. Ami left with a list of agents to contact.

She prepared her monologue, She had been working on this in her acting classes at school. She called the first agent on the list, and was granted an interview.

Samantha took Ami to the appointment, thinking this would probably be the end of it. Ami went in to meet the agent, and preformed her monologue. She came out five minutes later, saying, "He needs to talk to you, Mom. He wants me!". From that moment on, Ami's life would never be the same.

Ami's agent taped her performing her monologue, and submitted it to "Junior Star Search." There were over 1,000 tapes submitted, and Ami's was one of the very few accepted for the competition. Ami won the competition, and went on to win in the junior actress division for the year. This helped launch her career.

Ami's early acting days were spent as a guest star on many sitcoms, such as: Growing pains, saved by the bell, and Murder She Wrote. She had a feature role on General Hospital when she was only 17. At that time she made a decision she now regrets - she dropped out of high school. She wanted to focus on her career, and there are many pages of dialog to memorize for a soap character. (She is now working with a tutor to complete her high school education. She recommends staying in school rather than finishing up later, it is much easier to do it while you are there!). It was like she was on General Hospital that she landed her first major role - "She's Out of Control."

She was also a co-star in many other films, including: "Can't buy me love", "Faith", Rescue Me", and several horror films, such as: "Children of the night", Ticks", Witchboard II", and Pumpkinhead II". On the lighter side, is "Stepmonster", a very cute movie about a kid that is sure his stepmother is a monster.

"Miracle Beach" is the movie most often mentioned by her fans as their favorite. She still has the genie costume from the movie.

Patrick Neville is an American politician and a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 45th District, which includes much of Douglas County. A Republican, Neville currently serves as the Minority Leader of the House, having been elected to this position at the beginning of his second term in January 2017.