TobyMac, Skillet

TobyMac & Skillet Join Forces for “Awake Tonight” Tour

In what many are already calling one of the best line up’s in the history of Christian touring, two of the industry’s biggest acts, Skillet & TobyMac, have joined forces for the “Awake Tonight” tour coming to Giant Center on Thursday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m.

“Every year people say this is the "must see" tour,” comments Awakening Events’ Dan Fife, who is promoting several shows on the “Awake Tonight” tour. “This Spring the TobyMac & Skillet pairing has created the ultimate concert experience. With two headliners on the same stage, that have this much energy to offer night after night, all I can say is go get a ticket. You don't want to be the unlucky person that spends the rest of their life wishing they were there.”

With all three of TobyMac’s solo projects receiving Grammy® nominations, and his live CD/DVD taking home a Grammy® award, the much-celebrated and acclaimed artist is now celebrating his fifth consecutive Grammy® nomination with his new single, “City On Our Knees” receiving a nod for Best Gospel song.

• The track will be included on TobyMac’s February 9th release, “Tonight," and has topped
  the sales and radio charts faster than any of his previous singles, spending 8 weeks at #1 on the Christian Audience Chart.
  

Along with sold out tour dates, back-to-back radio hits, being named the GMA Dove Award’s 2008 Artist of the Year, and R&R’s Christian CHR Artist of the Year in 2007, TobyMac was nominated for a 2007 American Music Award as Favorite Inspirational Artist.

His song “Ignition” was also chosen to play during the 2009 Superbowl as The Arizona Cardinals entered the stadium in Tampa, FL. Skillet’s latest, AWAKE, continues to propel the incredible momentum the rock outfit has going for them with a blockbuster debut at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200, selling over 67,000 units and peaking at No. 1 on iTune’s “Top Albums” chart and “Top Rock” chart.

AWAKE was Amazon.com’s best selling Christian CD of 2009, and boasts the No. 4 mainstream Active Rock single in the country with “Monster,” which was also AOL Music’s No. 4 mainstream rock song of last year, and the No. 1 Christian CHR & Rock single, “Hero,” which has been used all season long by the NFL in their, Sunday Night Football and NFL Weekend Kickoff promos.

Skillet has toured with the likes of mainstream megastars Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Seether and Flyleaf, and headlined a slew of major Christian festivals, all followed by solo tours that ranked within Pollstar’s Concert Pulse Top 50 Tours. Along the way, the two-time Grammy®-nominated alternative rockers also scored seven consecutive number one Christian radio singles, a 2008 GMA Dove Award for “Rock Song of the Year,” and a 2009 nomination for Artist of the Year.

Lord of the Dance

Lord of the Dance at Hershey Theatre
DATE: May 1, 2010
PRICE: $65.00, $60.00, $45.00, $25.00 Processing fees apply
TIME: 2:00 & 8:00 PM

More than 100 million people worldwide have seen Lord of the Dance -- the international Irish dancing extravaganza that has performed sold out shows at theaters, arenas and stadiums in over 67 countries. "Our success demonstrates the hunger people have," says Michael Flatley, "to wholly submerge themselves into a world where dancers interpret every nuance of classic good versus evil through modern Celtic music."

Lord of the Dance has an ability to connect with the audience and initiate and captivate a new generation. Adding to the visceral and emotional impact are costumes, lighting and staging that are cinematic in scope. "Make no mistake," adds Flatley, "Lord of the Dance begins where modern theatre ends." Flatley, who originated the role of the Lord, is the company's Artistic Director, a position he has held since the troupe's stunning 1996 debut in Dublin.

Twelve years later, his influence continues to resonate throughout every aspect of the production. Irish dance lovers and music fans alike will get a chance to experience the engaging, rhythmic adventure that has helped catapult Celtic dance mania and Irish dancing into the global spotlight.

No wonder Lord of the Dance has jettisoned its ticket sales to more than $800 million worldwide. Internet sales of Lord of the Dance gift items has surged, with fans flocking to the site for "LOD" gifts and memorabilia. During its highly profitable four-year residency in Las Vegas, an estimated two million people danced along in their seats.

• For more information on Lord of the Dance, click here.
• To see all the productions at Hershey Theatre & to purchase tickets, click here.
• Stay at Annville Inn during your time in Hershey. See our country estate B&B, minutes from Hershey, and book your reservation by clicking here.
  

Broadway Grease

Nominated for 2008 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

DATE: April 20 - 25, 2010

• Plan now to book your weekend at Annville Inn, and top off your experience here with a night at the incomprable Hershey Theatre thrilling to the "over the top" energy and the sensational music and dance that has made Grease an American icon.


• Josh Franklin Joins Cast
  The producers of the new Broadway production of GREASE are pleased to announce that Josh Franklin has joined the cast as "Danny." Josh Franklin replaces Ace Young who will be joining the Broadway cast of HAIR. Josh Franklin is an actor/singer/songwriter originally from Colorado. He just completed a year with the national tour of Jersey Boys, as Bob Gaudio. He returns to Grease after being a part of the Broadway production (u/s Danny, Teen Angel, Vince). His other credits include Legally Blond (u/s Emmett) on Broadway and the national tours of All Shook Up (u/s Chad) and Disney's On The Record. "


• Taylor Hicks is "Teen Angel"
  American Idol" Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks continues to star as "Teen Angel." Taylor Hicks made his debut on Broadway in the role. He achieved widespread fame in 2006 as a contestant on the hugely successful FOX singing competition "American Idol."


• The Story...
  ...After spending a hopelessly devoted summer with Sandy Dumbrowski, the new girl in town, Danny Zuko's world is thrown upside down when Sandy appears at Rydell High on the first day of school. What follows is a rock n' roll celebration of growin' up, cruisin' with friends and goin' steady.


• The Music!
  The new production of GREASE features songs from the smash hit 1978 motion picture for the first time ever in a Broadway production including "Sandy," the Academy Award nominated song "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Grease" and "You're the One That I Want" - both of which were #1 hits on the Billboard Top 100 list. These songs will be heard in addition to the Jacobs/Casey songs made famous by the original stage production: "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin'" and "We Go Together."


• Information You Will Need:
  PRICE: $80.00, $75.00, $70.00, $65.00, $60.00, $25.00 Processing fees apply
  GROUP DISCOUNT: $5.00 ** Call for special senior discounts ** Group discount not available for Grease on Saturday evenings and Sunday matinee.
  TIME: Tuesday-Thursday: 7:30 PM Friday: 8:00 PM Saturday: 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM Sunday: 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM
• Hershey Theatre m hersheytheatre.com m 15 Caracas Avenue m Hershey, Pa. 17033-1412 m 717.534.3405

Garden Scale Model Trains

The HERSHEY-ANNVILLE RAILROAD, Annville Inn's Garden Scale Train Project, suffered a major setback when our brass rails got buried in two feet of snow throughout most of the layout, to over 3.5 feet where a major drift crossed the Garden Scale RR tracks.

It took some time, but eventually the track crew, the signal maintainers, and other work gangs sliced, lifted, brushed and scrubbed away snow. Engine No. 3874 also helped, it kicked snow away off the track with its "cow catcher," located out in front of the engine. The cow catcher really serves a purpose, and it was fun to see it blast a snow boulder off the tracks, plowing on ahead.

In these photographs, the train is running with only a partial "consist," meaning it is not made up of many cars. This is done to make sure the track is workable.

It is a lot easier to re-align three derailed cars than it is to re-assemble seven or eight cars during a snow storm.

Sure enough...after the tracks were cleared and scrubbed, after Hershey-Annville No.3874 plowed around the tracks, and after all systems were operating beautifully, a new snow storm hit us. The snow started coming down and at one point created a near white-out. Yet, good ole #3874 kept on going, oblivious to the snow. The train is heavy enough to crunch down light snowfall and keep right on going.

• Thanks to son, Michael, for giving Dad the train for Father's Day a couple of years ago. Each year the railroad system expands.

Last year, Craig demolished the previous railroad and built from scratch a completely new system with the help of the farm boys down the road. Joel and Jordan have earned the title of "Section Foreman" on the Hershey-Annville Railroad.

The railroad is planning on expansion this spring. We have plans for a switch and siding this year if all goes well.

• The railroad is representative of a railroad that once ran from Hershey to Lebanon to bring workers from Annville and Lebanon into Hershey, and carried milk to the factory.

• Guests in the Secret Room have a deck that extends out over the Hershey-Annville RR, and often sit and enjoy watching the train from above. Late last year, we added electrical lights to the layout so it can operate after dark. Come see our train!

HARLEM GLOBTROTERS Here Friday Night !

H A R L E M
G L O B E T R O T T E R S

Harlem Globtrotters at Giant Center
February 18th
Time: 7: p.m
Tickets $23.00 to $105. for court side


The Harlem Globtrotters are coming to Hershey during the most successful year in the franchise's astonishing history. They have racked up a record-breaking 62 box office record and more than two million smiling fans. The iconic Harlem Globetrotters will showcase their eye-popping 2010 World Tour at the Giant Center with the wholesome family entertainment known worldwide for thrilling fans young and old and making cherished family memories.

Currently in their 84th consecutive season of touring the world, the Globetrotters' high-flying show features some of the most extraordinary athletes and entertainers on the planet – including Big Easy Lofton and Flight Time Lang, who are starring in the Emmy Award-winning CBS reality hit, "The Amazing Race;" the always hilarious Special K Daley; dribbling magician Scooter Christensen; and ball handling wizards Handles Franklin and Ant Atkinson.

The Globetrotters have performed for legions of people including leaders from Presidents to Popes, they have set numerous world records in the genre of sports.

Although there are lots of laughs, they are accomplished, record-breaking professional athletes of exemplary skill.

The Original Harlem Globetrotters have played in 120 countries on six continents, entertaining over 130 million fans and crossing barriers between cultures, societies and people from all walks of life.

For more details, photographs and videos, an on-line gift shop and more, check out: harlemglobetrotters.com.

LEWIS BLACK HERE FEBRUARY 20th

LEWIS BLACK COMING
TO HERSHEY THEATRE
Date: February 20, 2010
Time: 8:00 PM

Comedian Lewis Black is returning--by popular demand--to Hershey Theatre.

Mr. Black is one of America's most prolific, popular performers working today. According to Hershey Theatre's Web site, "He executes a brilliant trifecta as a stand-up comic, actor and author."

He performs more than 200 nights out of 365 a year. His audiences throughout Europe, New Zeland, Canada and the USA regularly sell out. He is one of the few performers, in fact, to sell out multiple theatres including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City Center, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Hershey Theatre!

So...don't be left out, go to the Hershey Theatre Web site today and order tickets:

http://www.hersheytheatre.com/performances_events/details.php?id=10516

It has been said, "Lewis' live performances provide a cathartic release of anger and disillusionment for his audience. Lewis yells so they don't have to. A passionate performer who is more a mad optimist than a mean-spirited curmudgeon, he has perfected expressing what the rest of us cannot say in polite company. Lewis is the rare comic who can cause an audience to laugh themselves into incontinence while making compelling points about the absurdity of our world."

We are looking forward to Mr. Black's performance, it will give us all a chance to shed off "cabin fever" due to being snowed in so much here of late. We are already getting calls here at the Inn from folks looking to stay the weekend at Annville Inn and punctuate their experience here by driving a few short miles into Hershey to see Mr. Black at Hershey Theatre. Do book today, Mr. Black sells out very quickly. Rosalie can help you with all your arrangements!

Back to Snow...Our previous blog entry focused on the snow storm last week. This week's near-blizzard on top of last week's has left the entire landscape looking as if it were drenched in whipped topping, applied luxuriously around the countryside, flocking trees, gracing the landscape with gentle, gliding lines of snow crests and peaks. Stunningly beautiful. We call our winter season through April, "Annville Inn's Secret Season." Come enjoy gourmet candlelit breakfasts, our theatre with a 68" high definition screen, the game room and pool table room, and this winter: lounging in the conservatory with its wood burning fireplace, sitting in over sized wooden rockers, surrounded on three sides by glass walls 9' high, gazing out over the snow scape.
If you--like us--enjoy games, one of our favorite activities is sitting before the fire in the conservatory, watching the snow and the birds, and at the same time...playing Scrabble! It is a winter snow tradition for us. Many of our guests have created a tradition: Visiting Annville Inn during our Secret Season. We hope you will join in the Secret Season pilgrimage to Annville Inn and the Hershey area.

SNOW!

S N O W ! ! !

Brrr...It was only 9 degrees this morning when we woke up to build a fire in our wood burning stove in the conservatory. When our guests this weekend (and all winter days) awoke and came to breakfast, they were greeted with a cheerful, crackling fire. Only problem today: It was 6: a.m. when Craig built the fire, and he discovered he was out of wood. That meant he had to go to the wood barn, traipse through a 4-ft. high snow drift, and make a half-dozen trips to fill the wood bin in the plant room. Our guests LOVE sitting in the big wooden rockers in front of the fire, especially on cold, snowy days. It is a memorable experience. (Craig likes to do the same thing, and Rosalie always finds him snoozing in front of the toasty fire.)



This view is due north from our property: As you can tell from the winter view, we have quite an expanse to enjoy. In fact, there are over 175 miles of mainly wilderness north of us and beyond the three mountain ranges. Corning, New York is the next community of any size north of us!

Look at our Garden Railroad. {Garden Scale, 1:28} You can't see much of it under the snow, but if you look closely, you'll spy an outline of tracks at its highest elevation, and a part of a bridge. The remainder is buried under about 11" of snow. There is a train hiding in the tunnel created by the log. We hope it is warm & safe in there!

Craig spent over six hours removing snow from our lane (and some of the neighbors' lanes, too!) yesterday. We had guests arrive the night of the blizzard from New York. They came by Amtrak, and they were very excited about coming to a country Inn during a raging snow storm (the snow flakes were falling horizontally due to the wind). They couldn't imagine anything more romantic. They immediately relaxed by one of our fireplaces on the main floor, and then snuggled by the peninsula fireplace (viewable on three sides) in their English Manor Suite.

Note the steeple with the Eagle wind vane on top--and its mirror image shadowed against one of our roofs. The steeple is fascinating, it actually has approximately eight feet of head room inside. Craig and one of our neighbors, Ray, have often stood in it. (Craig always hides Ray's Christmas present in the steeple and tells him to go check something or other up there. Ray by now knows to expect to find Santa's been in there for him!)

This drift has a perfect, beautiful, graceful curve crossing right over the Romance Garden's sidewalk at a 90 degree angle. We were amazed at its height, graceful curve, and razor-sharp ridge line.

Hard to believe the swimming pool was the site of people sunbathing and swimming a few months ago. You certainly wouldn't want to now!

A knee-high pathway leads to the front door. Snow thickly blankets all of our outdoor features. If you listen carefully, you can hear snowmobiles zipping through the hills and fields. This is the time for skiing, (we have great cross country trails here!), tubing, snow boarding, and of course watching those ubiquitous snowmobiles!

Front Door view after the storm. Note the imprint of the door on the snow drift wall.

More snow due next Tuesday or Wednesday. Come enjoy Annville Inn's SECRET SEASON!

Thank you for reading our blog entry about our snow storm. Those of you that have been here before will know about areas we spoke of here, but they may look unfamiliar to you if you visited us in the summer! Remember Annville Inn B&B as your place for rest, relaxation, inspiration, recharging your batteries. We are already booking for spring and summer, but there is also ample time to book for our SECRET SEASON now through April. We'll see you soon! Rosalie George, Your Innkeeper

Bon Jovi comes to Hershey! New art for our GSW Room!

Bon Jovi’s 2010-2011 “The Circle World Tour” Coming to HERSHEYPARK Stadium


Following Bon Jovi’s extraordinary fan-voted performance at the 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony, the band announced that their 2010-2011 “The Circle World Tour,” will arrive at Hersheypark Stadium on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 for a 6:00 p.m. show.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, February 6 at 10:00 a.m.

The legendary band will spend much of the next two years on the road, performing 135 shows in 30 countries. “The Circle World Tour” follows hot on the heels of Bon Jovi’s 11th studio album, The Circle, which was released November 10, 2009 and promptly sailed into the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart.

The new album's success--which includes #1 chart debuts in Japan, Canada and Germany, and a #2 debut in the UK--is fueled by the band's current worldwide single, "We Weren't Born to Follow." Bon Jovi performed the song live at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on November 9th, at the gala 20th Anniversary commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. "We Weren't Born to Follow" has reached the Top 10 at Hot AC radio formats, and the video has scored a spot on the VH1 Top 20 Countdown for several weeks.

Hersheypark Concert Deal: Ride the day away at Hersheypark before you rock and roll all night! Hersheypark offers a special discounted admission price of just $33.95 to concert go-ers when using a Park ticket the day of, and/or the day after the concert.

Concert-goers may purchase one Park ticket per day during those three days. Just present your concert ticket at the Hersheypark Front Gate on each of the days to receive the discount. Purchase Park tickets at Giant Center Box Office when you purchase your concert tickets.

More Details: Bon Jovi: http://www.bonjovi.com/
Hershey Park: http://www.hersheypark.com/
Hershey Park Stadium, venue for the show: http://www.hersheyparkstadium.com/


New Art on Display in
Annville Inn's Great Southwest Room!


Imagine our surprise when a package arrived at the Inn yesterday from Oklahoma City, and upon opening it, we found that two recent guests of Annville Inn Bed and Breakfast had sent us two amazing works of unique art from one of our favorite galleries in Oklahoma City!


Our guests, Kristopher and Fiorella, had a wonderful stay with us last month. During part of one of our conversations, while discussing the Southwest, we casually mentioned many of the items decorating our Great Southwest Room came from a particular gallery in Oklahoma City...and they remembered that gallery!


The buffalo is carved of Ironwood from the Sonoran Desert, which is located in Arizona and Northern Mexico. Ironwood (Olneya Testota) is a very dense and heavy wood of intriguing orgin.


Before it can be carved, Ironwood must be exposed to years in a hot, dry environment, which causes the natural resins to collect, condense and cure. The U.S. Government has disallowed harvesting of living Ironwood trees. Artisans must search exclusively for naturally fallen trees.


Carving requires long hours of sculpturing using very simple tools, hand sanding and polishing and a creative, artistic approach to illuminate the beautiful burl and distinctive grain of Ironwood.


This unusual art form originated with the Seri Indians, a small nation whose members have lived in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years. These carvings are becoming difficult to find due to limited supplies of Ironwood and a diminishing number of Native American carvers who carry the sculpture discipline from one generation to the next.


The Great Southwest Room also features unique pottery and even textiles indigenous to the Great Southwest. We were delighted with the new pottery piece to add to our collection, some of which is presented in the Great Southwest Room. This new piece from Kris and Fiorella will be a highlight of our collection. When we bought the house and converted it to a Bed and Breakfast, Craig got to have a big hand in decorating one room. Rosalie, the ultimate interior decorator, managed the rest of the property's decorating. Craig is from Oklahoma, and wanted one room to reflect his "native roots," thus the Great Southwest Room.


Thank you Kris and Fiorella, for two gifts that we will cherish the rest of our lives!