Chords of Christmas to perform at church

Chords of Christmas to perform at church

LIBERTY — Chords of Christmas will perform a concert featuring music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra at 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at Church Hill United Methodist Church, 189 Churchill-Hubbard Road. Admission is free but an offering will be collected to benefit HandsOn Volunteer Network of the Valley (formerly Volunteer Services Agency) and to offset show expenses. A reception in the church hall will follow the concert.

Chords of Christmas was founded in 2004 by Alex Milne and includes Frank Adams, J.J. Zetts, Mike Adams, Marie Adams, Chuck Metzger, Ken Adams, Heidi Davis and Sue Prosser. In addition to the music, the group’s narrator, Ron Rinaldi will recite an original Christmas story written by Milne entitled, “A Christmas Dream.”

To learn more, go to chordsofchristmas.com.

Game of Hope Classic to benefit ill children

YOUNGSTOWN — The Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and Accent Media will present the fifth annual Game of Hope Charity Classic at 4 p.m. Jan. 24 at Beeghly Center on the Youngstown State University campus.

The classic is a celebrity basketball game that benefits the children of the Mahoning Valley who are chronically or terminally ill. The game will be taped and broadcast at 5 p.m. Feb. 8 on FOX 17/62. Donations are now being accepted online, by mail or in person at any Home Savings and Loan branch.

To nominate a player for the game, go to thegameofhope.com. Deadline is Jan. 6.

Historic town will ring in new year German-style

HARMONY, Pa. — The Harmony Museum will offer tours, a traditional New Year dinner, a comic British film that’s a popular year’s-end entertainment in Germany, and the opportunity to have a hunk of metal provide a personal prediction for 2009 as the borough hosts a New Year’s Eve celebration on German time.

The community welcomes the new year at 6 p.m. Dec. 31, as Germans are cheering 2009’s arrival at midnight Western European Time. A year ago, several thousand celebrants were wowed by the town’s inaugural Silvester party reflecting its German roots.

There are many legends about fourth century Pope Sylvester, but few facts are known about him. He died on Dec. 31, 335, and eventually came to be recognized with the feast day of St. Sylvester on the last day of the year. In Germany, New Year’s Eve is commonly called Silvester or Silvesterabend.

Harmony was founded in 1804 by pacifist Lutheran Separatists from Stuttgart, Germany. The historic town still looks much like a typical German village.

The Silvester New Year’s Eve party begins at 2 p.m. with a 5-kilometer run and ends four hours later when celebrants welcome 2009 with the descent of a lighted ball and a spectacular Zambelli fireworks show. German music and other entertainment will be presented on a town square stage and elsewhere, and Harmony’s specialty shops will offer year-end bargains.

Harmony is at Interstate 79 exits 87-88, 30 miles south of Interstate-80.

Hot property

LOS ANGELES — Timothy Busfield is one of those ensemble-cast actors whose characters stick in the public’s consciousness long after the series ends.

Remember “The West Wing’s” ace reporter Danny Concannon, who winds up marrying the former White House chief of staff? Or “thirtysomething’s” Elliot Weston, married with two kids and still wrestling with his adolescent demons? Yup, both Busfield.

The actor has listed his three-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Malibu at $1,995,000. The modern, multilevel wood-and-glass home with ocean and mountain views has 2,396 square feet.

Actor Christopher Masterson can exhale now. The ink just dried on the sale of his home in L.A.’s Los Feliz section. Masterson and co-owner actress Laura Prepon fetched $2.28 million for their 1939 traditional-style house. It originally was listed in the spring at $2.99 million.

Masterson is best known for playing Francis — the ne’er-do-well eldest brother who was shipped off to military school on “Malcolm in the Middle” (2000-06). He separated from his live-in girlfriend, Prepon, who starred on “That ’70s Show.”