Italian American Club

Italian American Club
21
JULY 2013
News from the Italian American Club
Our History and Mission
The Italian-American Club
of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit
organization, was started in April
1960 by local Italian-Americans
in order to celebrate our Italian
heritage, to help the large number
of Italian-Americans moving to Las
Vegas, and to have fun.
For the past 53 years, the
Club has achieved much and has
been visited by a long list of famous
and influential Italian-Americans,
including Frank Sinatra, Dean
Martin, Jimmy Durante, Perry
Como, Rocky Marciano and Joe
DiMaggio, and so many others. We
operate the oldest Italian restaurant
in Las Vegas. Our members shape
Las Vegas and help make it into one
of the seven great cities of the world.
2013 is a year of great opportunity as we look to our next 50
years. Our goals are to increase
membership to over 1,000 and
maintain our newly renovated “vintage-Vegas” clubhouse. Because
Las Vegas is visited by almost 40
million people, we are uniquely
qualified to become one of the leading voices in the Italian-American
community.
The Club and lounge are
open from 5pm Wednesday through
Sunday. Join us for an evening
of good food, entertainment and
fun. At only $10 per month for
membership, there’s no reason not
to join. For more information or to
enroll, please go to www.iacvegas.
com.
Aliza Giammatteo
July Speaker
Wednesday, July
3rd General Monthly
Membership Meeting
Special Guest Speaker
and Italian-American
Club member, Aliza
Giammatteo
Aliza is the owner and
lead researcher at Roots in the
Boot, an Italian genealogy firm
headquartered in Las Vegas, NV,
with researchers throughout the
U.S. and Italy. She has written a
regular column in La Voce for two
years, and is a columnist and feature
writer for other Italian-American
publications across the U.S. Since
the company’s official launch in
2008, Roots in the Boot has grown
into an internationally respected
genealogy firm that helps tell the
family stories of paesani from
America to Argentina to Australia.
In 2012, Roots in the Boot was
honored to have been selected as
the exclusive genealogy partner
of the National Italian-American
Foundation. Aliza will share some
expert family history hunting tips
and answer questions.
As always, the evening
starts at 6pm with our special
Italian buffet ($10.00).
The
general meeting will begin at 7pm.
Everyone interested in joining is
encouraged to attend. RSVP is
NOT necessary. Join us and enjoy
our newly decorated facility, and
stay after to enjoy live music.
IAC Menu and Upcoming
Events
Our executive chef Memo
prepares all dinners fresh to order,
including homemade sausage and
meatballs. A small sample of our
menu includes salad caprisi, fried or
sautéed calamari (alla Joey Tegano),
escarole and beans, polpettone, a
baked JUMBO meatball filled with
ricotta, topped with marinara. Fresh
fish is flown in everyday, including
salmon and our top seller sole
parmigiano, which is a tender fillet
of sole, pan fried with a parmesan
crust with a rosemary-caper sauce,
served over angel hair pasta “alla
checca”.
Linguini pescatora,
spaghetti
carbonara,
rigatoni
putanesca, shrimp fra diavolo, all
milk-fed, hand-pounded veal dishes,
including marsala, picatta, or veal
milanese. We also offer chicken
francesca, roasted lemon chicken,
milanese, parmigiano,
picatta,
or marsala. For dessert, we offer
tiramisu, homemade cheesecake,
cannoli, tartuffo, spumoni, creame
brule. We also have a great selection
of assorted wines by the glass or
bottle, and all reasonably priced.
In our lounge we feature
great music nightly starting at
7pm. Wednesday and Thursday,
David DeCosta performs as Frank
Sinatra;
Friday and Saturday
you can enjoy great sounds and
dancing with Maria; and Sunday’s
Jazz features Ghalib Ghallab.
Please visit our new website, www.
iacvegas.com.
this show over and over!
The show starts at 8pm,
($5.00 donation at the door). Call
for dinner reservations prior to the
show and get guaranteed seating for
the show.
Déjà Vu Dance and Show
Band Friday Night Dance
party July 12th 8pm
We welcome the Déjà Vu
Dance and Show Band of Las Vegas,
NV. They will take you on a musical
journey filled with sound, song,
and dance. You are encouraged to
dance through the decades of your
favorite oldies, disco, rock ‘n roll,
and country!
You’ll hear the best of
Elvis, Donna Summer, Pat Benatar,
Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin... the
lists goes on and on in this highenergy show, featuring the dance
hits you remember and want to
hear. You will want to experience
F.I.O.R.E. Special Guest Speaker
Former Las Vegas Mayor
Oscar Goodman
Special Date…F.I.O.R.E
Evening Dinner and Show,
July 11 @6:30pm
Our semi-formal event
will be celebrating the 9th year anniversary of Fun Italians Organizing Ridiculous Events. Enjoy a
Continued on page 24
Message from President Angelo A. Cassaro Ciao Paesani,
Assimilate; 1. to take up and make part of itself or oneself. 2.
to compare of liken. 3. to make like of alike... 25 some years ago,
I was being interviewed by Professor Alan Balboni of the Community
College of Southern Nevada as part of his research for his now famous
book Beyond the Mafia. 1988 was my first term as IAC president. As
Professor Balboni reports in his book, I was the youngest president
of the Club in over 20 years.
I was very pleased, yet cautious
because the membership had entrusted me to lead the future of the
Club. The Club had its problems back then, I guess like most nonprofit private, or ethnic volunteer organizations.
There were many
challenges to keep the Club membership and the Club business alive.
That’s another story.
It was that first interview I learned the words assimilate, or
assimilation.
Dr. Balboni explained the meaning and definition and
how it was probably our biggest challenge to overcome in order to not
only maintain our Club, but to grow the membership. Fast forward 25
years, and I finally get what he was trying to tell me. As we are
into the third and fourth generation of Italian-A mericans, we really
need to make every effort to encourage the younger, or “now” generation to keep our Club and our heritage distinguishable, because we are!
At last months membership meeting, Club member, La Voce publisher,
and prominent attorney Dominic Gentile talked about the importance
of getting the “now” generation involved with the Club. La Voce has
been extremely helpful in attracting new people to our Club, and for
that we are very grateful.
Here’s the real message: since early M arch, because of our remodel, our new management team, new menu and new entertainment, we
have nearly a 150 NEW members. A great percentage of these new members are 25-45 years of age. Please don’t take this the wrong way,
we love our older generation and members and guests, but now that I
am that generation, I look forward to enjoying our newer and younger
members, enjoying us and our Club.
Tell your kids, nieces, nephews
and grandkids, the Club has something for them and we need them for
our Club’s future.
Last, please keep our dear friend, the beautiful Denise Clemente,
in your thoughts and prayers as she is experiencing a very serious
health condition at this time
Sincerely,
Angelo A. Cassaro
24
JULY 2013
News From the IAC
News from the ItalianAmerican Club
Continued from Page 21
fun night with President Nelson
Sardelli as emcee, and special
guest speaker, former Las Vegas
Mayor Oscar Goodman. Also
featuring live music by the Gary
Anderson Ensemble, it will be a
night full of entertainment. We
will also be serving a beautiful
Italian buffet for only $25.00 per
person. RSVP is required to
[email protected].
Please note this is a special time
and event. Normally F.I.O.R.E
meets the second Thursday of
every month at 11:30 AM for
luncheon.
Jazzin’ Jeanne Brei and
the Speakeasy Swingers
July 18th, 7-10pm
Special Date
Dining and dancing
to the smooth sound of the
Legends Hall of Fame play, “The
Swanky Supper Club Soiree,” on
Throwback Thursday. Come
see legendary 91-year-young
Don Hill (the Treniers), Charlie
Shaffer, Bill King, Bobby Scann,
Paul Testa & Dick Jones!
Enjoy dinner while
experiencing this great evening
of swing and ballroom dancing.
Admission is FREE. Call for
dinner reservations ((702) 4573866), or visit our website (www.
iacvegas.com).
Mark Your Calendars
On August 11th, the Welcome Home Dondino Show, and
on September 8th, Lena Prima
returns to Las Vegas for a special
show at the Club.
More details will be posted on our website at www.iacvegas.com.
Membership Committee
News
Our streak continues!
June was another great month for
memberships. The great food,
entertainment and camaraderie
are a hit.
I am very pleased about
two new benefits of membership: First, beginning this month,
members may invite a guest to
our monthly dinner and that guest
is free. Restrictions apply (you
must make a reservation on the
website by the last Wednesday of
each month so that we can make
adequate preparations for everyone, or you can call me at (765)
537-8480). We are confident that
when Italian-Americans visit our
Club, meet other members and
enjoy the food and entertainment, they will also become a
member. And, second, we will
be featuring Meet-up events (see
below for more details).
Our membership goal of
1,000 by year end 2013 is in sight.
With the help of all members we
will achieve our goal by Columbus Day. Thanks to all members
for their support and for their encouraging their Italian-American
friends to join.
If you do not have your
membership cards it’s either because it has not been approved
yet (remember, unlike a grocery
store discount card, our Club approves every new member before issuing a membership card,
so, it could take a few weeks)
or because we do not have all
necessary information (to send
you the monthly newsletter, we
only need your mailing address,
but membership requires more).
Our goal is to approve memberships quickly, and send cards to
our members so they can start
enjoying the benefits of membership. Please visit our website at
www.iacvegas.com and complete
the membership application. It
helps us make the Club what we
all want it to be: a great place to
dine, celebrate our heritage and
have fun.
Membership can now be
paid at the rate of less than $11
per month. There are several
ways to register (or renew your
membership): at the Club, on the
website, or by phone to (765)
537-8480.
If you are interested in
joining the excitement of being
on the membership committee,
please call or email me at [email protected] or
(760) 547-4547.
Meet-up Groups
Beginning in July we will
be hosting Meet-up groups to introduce people to our wonderful Club. We will be providing
a pleasant and complimentary
dinner of pasta, salad and a glass of
wine. Look for an email with more
information. In order to attend you
must make a reservation through
Meet-up.
Our goal is to host many
different Meet-up events each
month, including ones for those
who like to speak and/or learn
Italian, wine tasting, and foods
of Italy. All are welcome.
New Newsletter format
In keeping with the success
of our Club, the August newsletter will be in a new format and
will be eight pages of Italian culture and Club events. Nina Fallico deserves special acknowledgement for the work that she’s
done for so many years.
Our newsletter may be
viewed on our website, www.
iacvegas.com.
D’Aquino Import News
As always, we are
proud of our relationship with
the largest importer of Italian
wines, D’Aquino Importing Co.
You may know of D’Aquino
from your local supermarket
or Costco. You should also
recognize their Vola brand of
red and white wines featured at
Trader Joe’s.
The D’Aquino college
scholarship has generated $100
in donations from coffee sales
so far. Please help out. Here are
the details: D’Aquino imported
espresso will be sold to Club
members for only $10 for a one
pound can (that’s less than the
cost of a pound of Starbucks
coffee).
$2.00 from every
can will be donated to a new
scholarship fund (the award, of
up to $3,000, will be used to pay
for a new laptop computer plus all
of the winner’s school books and
labs for one year). The winner
will be the college student most
likely to bring pride to our Club
as an adult. Members are invited
to submit nominations.
at the Cathedral each Tuesday,
and on the last Wednesday of
each month. Fr. Max is an
author and group leader. For
more information please visit
his website at http://www.
ethicsinthemarketplace.com/.
There will be an extra
drawing at this month’s dinner for
a signed copy of Fr. Max’s book,
Beatitudes for the Workplace.
There will also be an extra
drawing at our monthly meeting
and each meeting for the rest
of the year for complimentary
dinner for two, including
beverages and cocktails at
The Skyline Restaurant and
Casino, 1741 N. Boulder Hywy,
courtesy of Mr. Jim Marsh.
Club Book Store
The
Club’s website
will soon be selling books and
publications written by our
members.
The profits will
be donated to our Clubhouse
maintenance fund. Look for
books written by Professor
Balboni, Fr. Max Oliva SJ, and
La Voce board member, William
Bevilacqua.
Any member
wishing to have their published
books sold through the Club’s
website, please send an email to
[email protected].
Some of June’s New and
Returning Members
Linda Belew (Merluzzi),
Louis Della Ratta, Roni
Dewegeli, Randy Genovese,
Grace Gialitis,
Margaret
Guarini, Shirley Hurt, Lou Innis,
Ann Johns, Michael Lamendola,
Marvin Lashever,
Cynthia
Leigh, Christine Merluzzi,
Vincent Nitopi, Teresa Nitopi,
Elissa Pascarella, Tony Sacca,
Marisa Sanderson (Merluzzi),
Eddie Tulimero, Phil Valeriano,
and Rich Wandtke.
Feature YOUR
Business In The
La Voce
“Spirituality For Daily
Living”
Fr. Max Oliva, SJ, a
member of the Club, whose
family comes from Genoa, is the
only Jesuit in Nevada. Currently
he presides over the noon mass
Newspaper
A great way to reach
Italian-Americans
right here in
Las Vegas.
Call...
702-635-9868