Zeiterion Performing Arts Center is pleased to present one of Portugal’s most famous fadistas, Camané, for a beautiful evening of fado on Saturday, May 4, at 8:00 p.m. He will be joined by Ana Sofia Varela, a rising star in the genre, immediately following Viva Portugal, a free, family-friendly festival featuring Portuguese food, music and culture. Tickets for Camané’s performance range from $39 to $59 and can be purchased by calling 508-994-2900, online at https://zeiterion.org/, or at the Zeiterion Box Office at 684 Purchase Street in New Bedford. Group sales of 10 tickets and more are available by calling 508-997-5664 x1233.

Camané is the leading male singer of the new generation of Portugal’s native urban song, fado, ever since his first album came out in 1995 – and one of the few men working within this most tricky field. He is also one of the most outstanding Portuguese singers to have come out of any generation; a voice so smooth and soulful, so passionate and yet controlled, that you wonder how such wise and weary vocal stylings could belong to someone so young. Camané replaces Carlos do Carmo, who is unable to travel to the United States due to health concerns.

In addition to songs from the scope of Camané’s career, the performance will feature special guest Ana Sofia Varela. Varela started her musical career singing at age 10, and she has since risen to stardom within fado. Joining the fadistas on stage will be Carlos Manuel Proença on classic guitar, Luis Guerreiro on Portuguese guitar, and Marino de Freitas on bass.

Preceding Camané’s performance will be Viva Portugal, the free, family-friendly festival outside the Zeiterion from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event is held in conjunction with several local Portuguese-American organizations to bring the tastes, sights and sounds of Portuguese culture and heritage to downtown New Bedford. The event will feature food and craft vendors, cooking demonstrations, a performance by The Portuguese Kids comedy troupe, and much more. No ticket or reservation needed.

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The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to provide New Bedford and the region with performing arts programming of excellence that inspires, educates, engages and entertains. Tickets are available for purchase at www.zeiterion.org, by calling 508-994-2900, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase Street, New Bedford, Mass. Zeiterion Box Office regular hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and two hours before each performance.

Another defendant listed on the Bristol County District Attorney’s Most Wanted Fugitives List was arrested this morning in Revere, District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Robert Goodrich, 56, formerly of Fall River was arrested on several open arrest warrants, one of which is an indictment out of Fall River Superior Court charging him with larceny of a motor vehicle—habitual offender and larceny over $1,200 by false pretense—habitual offender.

The defendant is accused of conning a Fall River woman he had recently met into allowing him to be the middleman for the purchase of a used car. The defendant is accused of stealing the car the woman was going to trade in for the new vehicle, stealing the title to the old car, and stealing $8,500 from the woman which was to be used to purchase the new vehicle. These incidents are alleged to have occurred in February, 2019.

After his arrest, the defendant was transported to Fall River Superior Court, where he was arraigned late this afternoon and ordered held without bail. He is next due in court April 25 for a bail hearing.

The arrest was made after an intensive investigation by members of District Attorney Quinn’s State Police Unit, the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, the Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force, the US Marshals and the Revere Police Department.

“I was ecstatic to hear that this defendant was tracked down and arrested in Revere with the assistance of our state police unit and other law enforcement agencies. Based on his history, this defendant would not have come into court voluntarily,” District Attorney Quinn said.

For more information on the Bristol County District Attorney’s Most Wanted Fugitives List, log on to either facebook.com/bristoldafugitives or bristolda.com/fugitives.

Prepare to party like it’s 1999 – The Coalition for Animals of Greater New Bedford is celebrating the 20th anniversary of our popular Pet Fest and Walk for Animals and everyone is invited!

This event has grown in popularity and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year of fundraising to help injured, sick, homeless, abandoned, and neglected animals in our community.

The 20th Annual Pet Fest and Walk for Animals will take place Sunday, May 5th, at Buttonwood Park (next to Lawler Library, 745 Rockdale Ave) in New Bedford from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., rain or shine. It’s a fun-filled day for people and their companion animals to come and join us for a 2-mile fundraising walk around beautiful Buttonwood Park, as well as see lots of entertainment! Animal lovers without dogs are also welcome to participate!

We need your help to raise funds to support the Coalition’s animal welfare and educational programs.
There is a $15 registration fee to participate in the walk, but please help us raise as much as you can by asking friends, family, coworkers and neighbors to sponsor you for the Walk for Animals. Check to see if your employer has a Gift Matching Program. We have great prizes for kids raising the most amount over $200 and adults raising the most amount over $500!

Last year, the event was attended by approximately 800 people and 300 dogs! This year we are expecting over 60 vendor and information booths, including rescue groups, shelters, face painting, raffle items, and other fun activities. Come to the Puppy Kissing Booth and get a smooch for $1! Get a pet ID tag at Mellisa’s Pet Depot booth. Check out the Raffle tables with all the awesome raffle baskets and items. Center ring demonstrations will be offered by Buttonwood Park Zoo, New England Reptile and Raptors, the New Bedford K-9 Police Unit and Harmonious Hounds dog trainers, which are just part of the day’s entertainment. There will also be awesome music, refreshment and food vendors!

The event will be hosted by WBSM legendary radio show celebrity Phil Paleologos, and music will be provided by the very talented Dave Antunes Sound Company. Registration will be between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. and the Walk will begin at 12:00 pm with a Blessing of the Animals.

We are proud to announce our very generous Pet Fest sponsors this year: Anchor Animal Hospital, BayCoast Bank, Blue Buffalo, Capt. Jack Peterson Dog Park, Domino’s Pizza, Mellisa’s Pet Depot, Harmonious Hounds, Merrick, Midwestern Pet Foods, Mr. Cesspool Sanitation Service, Natural Balance Pet Foods, St. Anne’s Credit Union, Top Shelf Bar and Grill, Vaz Construction, and World’s Best Cat Litter.

100% of all the proceeds from the event will be used to support our many programs, including the purchase of oxygen masks to assist first responders in saving the lives of pets. Thanks to these masks, a dog that would have otherwise died was revived last year in a fire in New Bedford.

This year’s event will also feature a tribute to Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon, a native of New Bedford, who was tragically killed April 12, 2018 in the line of duty. His canine partner, Nero, was also shot but survived.

The Coalition For Animals is an all-volunteer nonprofit charitable organization of individuals and local animal rescue groups dedicated to helping animals. Our mission is to create awareness in the community for the humane treatment of all animals, to help end the problems of companion animal overpopulation through spay/neuter programs, to promote the adoption of homeless companion animals, and to provide people with the educational information they need to help keep their animals safe and healthy. Visit our website at www.coalitonforanimals.com and ‘Like” us on Facebook!

The Pet Fest and Walk for Animals is a fun-filled ‘dog day’! It’s a great way to celebrate the animals in our lives and help local animals in need. Walk brochures and sponsor sign-up sheets are available at Mellisa’s Pet Depot in Dartmouth and Fairhaven, and at the larger parks throughout New Bedford, as well as online at www.coalitionforanimals.com. You can also register to walk and fundraise online at https://runsignup.com/petfest2019. The vendor booth and sponsorship applications are also available on our website. Check out our Facebook event page for more details www.facebook.com/events/377156409415257/

We can’t wait to see you there!

Each year hundreds of students from dozens of highs schools head over to Umass Dartmouth to compete in Junior Achievement of Southern Massachusetts’ Titan Business Challenge. This year’s event was held on March 12. Here’s a highlight reel of the even with the winners of this year’s competition.

Find out more about Junior Achievement of Southern Massachusetts here.

Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases, the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

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Dump a dime or quarter in the slot, get something. When I was growing up – in the 70s and 80s – vending machines were ubiquitous: you would find them in your pace of work, outside of many shops and stores offering an astounding variety of products. These days you might find them at work, but rarely, if ever, outside of stores and just candy bars, soda, and chips.

Talking with my mom and other family members about the vending machines of their generation it appears that they were even more common and offered even more variety. While the invention itself goes as far back as 200 C.E. in Ancient Egypt with the “Hero of Alexandria,” the 40s through the 60s were the contemporaneous Golden Era.

In the 1950s companies were mass producing vending machines and churning them out in record numbers. Some of the machines were one-off – so experimental or strange that they didn’t catch on. Which kinds are we talking about? Vending machines that dispensed beer, whiskey, cocktails, hot sandwiches or soup, cigarettes, eggs, coal as fuel, nylons, raw potatoes, pens, fresh milk from a tap, bikinis – yes, bikinis, loaves of bread, even car, home or life insurance.

There was even a Playboy vending machine where you could get a coffee, cocktail or beer for when you want to bounce back from your…ahem…exhausting extra-curricular activities. Sorry, no magazine in that machine, you had to supply your own.

Before the microwave entered American homes it was too expensive to own so there were machines whereby you could select one of the TV Dinners and use the machine’s built-in microwave. Some could shine your shoes or light your cigar or cigarette! It seems there was nothing that couldn’t be offered by these machines and they were as commonly found as the other fossil of the past: pay phones.

Imagine if they had some of those still today? Before every incoming snowstorm, we could race to the bread, milk and egg machines and worry about nothing!

One of my favorite machines I visited regularly growing up was the soda machine outside of
Magazine World’s right off of the Weld Sq. exit. I lived on County Street near the old Kinyon-Campbell School and walk there to peruse all the comic books. Since the machine was outside you would be tempted both before walking in and when leaving.

It was one where you would put the dime – yes a dime – in the slot, open the tall, slender service door and there would be a column of various brands of soda in glass bottles to choose from. You would see the bottle caps with their logo, grasp the neck of the bottle and pull it out, enjoy. They don’t make glass long-neck bottles like that anymore.

While America seems to have lost the variety and turned to limited vending machines specializing in sugary drinks, chips, cookies, and candy bars the rest of the world has a love affair with them. In fact, places like Japan are living in their version of a Golden Era and there is nothing they won’t put in vending machines, including “used underwear.” Disgusting.

Some of these can get odd or downright strange:

• Live crabs and lobsters.
• New and used books.
• Live bait for fishing, e.g mealworms, maggots, minnows et al.
• Lettuce, whole pizzas, caviar, French Fries, mashed potatoes, gourmet cupcakes, canned bread.
• Small versions of famous art paintings.a
• A variety of gifts already wrapped.
• Just bananas, sealed and wrapped.
• Toilet paper.
• Restaurant: there are a bunch of tables and a vending machine wall where you have a full menu to choose from. No staff. Heat, sit down, enjoy.
• Rhinoceros beetle. As a pet or to make them fight? Who knows?
• Underwear and bras.
• Pregnancy tests and contraceptives.
• Marijuana and edibles.
• Pornography with a “modesty curtain” for privacy on the genre you are picking.
• Legos.
• Stray dog and cat feeder.
• Swap-O-Matic: place a random item in, get a random item.
• Cryptocurrency: exchange real money for some bitcoins or similar currency.

Now, if they could come up with a vending machine that does your job for you while you go fishing, shopping, or just nap, that would be something.

Eileen M. Danahey, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of St. Anne’s Credit Union, along with its Board of Directors, are pleased to announce the promotion of Jody Lauzon to Commercial Loan Officer. Ms. Lauzon has been with St. Anne’s Credit Union since 2005, most recently serving as Credit Analyst/Portfolio Manager where she facilitated comprehensive credit analysis, collaborating with the Commercial Lending team by providing superior service to the members that receive commercial financing from St. Anne’s Credit Union. In her new role, she will continue to expand the Credit Union’s portfolio of commercial loans, helping borrowers achieve their financial goals by tailoring the Credit Union’s available business product and service suite to the members’ defined strategic objectives.

Ms. Lauzon earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth and has 16 years of experience in the financial services industry, predominantly in commercial lending roles at St. Anne’s Credit Union. Throughout her career at St. Anne’s she has made many advancements, holding the positions of Credit Analyst/Portfolio Manager, Business Loan Specialist, Quality Control Analyst and Member Service Representative preceding this latest promotion.

“We are pleased to expand the Commercial Lending team to keep up with our increasing growth and promote Jody to Commercial Loan Officer. As we continue to place strategic emphasis on providing high-quality services facilitated by seasoned personnel, Jody is well-prepared to take on the additional responsibilities that come with her new position,” said Carlos DaCunha, Senior Vice President and Chief Lending Officer of St. Anne’s Credit Union. “Jody is committed to providing valuable support and service to our members and their businesses while contributing to the Credit Union’s overall success and will continue to help move this organization through our next phase of growth.”

Who loves fresh octopus? Here’s a look some octopus at Cafe Mimo in New Bedford.

Eileen M. Danahey, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of St. Anne’s Credit Union, along with its Board of Directors, are pleased to announce the promotion of Kerri Rivest to Assistant Vice President of Loan Servicing.

Ms. Rivest has been with St. Anne’s Credit Union since 1999, starting as a Teller and subsequently holding several positions of increasing responsibility within the Loan Servicing and Quality Control departments. Most recently serving as Loan Servicing Manager, she has supported all facets of the Loan Servicing department including management of the Credit Union’s loan assets and daily operations of the department to ensure accuracy and timeliness of processing and unparalleled service to members.

In her new role, Kerri will be responsible for the total quality management of the servicing of all mortgages, commercial and consumer loans, continuously improving upon processes in order to contribute directly to the overall growth, stability and profitability of St. Anne’s.

“We are proud to recognize Kerri’s contributions to our institution’s success with this promotion”, said Eileen M. Danahey, President and CEO of St. Anne’s Credit Union. “We are confident she will be even more effective in her new role as St. Anne’s continues to grow and add value for our members as for 20 years she has continuously demonstrated her commitment to the SouthCoast community, doing her part to help individuals and businesses succeed.”

At 7:21 pm on Thursday, April 11, New Bedford police officers executed a search warrant at 259 North Front Street, Apartment 3. New Bedford police officers seized 16 grams of suspected crack cocaine and $400 cash.

29-year old Christopher Grant was arrested and charged with possession to distribute a Class B drug (crack cocaine) which is his second offense. Grant was arrested an charged with possession to distribute a Class B drug on 8 June, 2017.

There were three drug overdoses on Thursday, April 11.

According to New Bedford police, an argument between two people turned violent when a driver used his vehicle to strike another person in front of 37 Bullard Street. The incident occurred at 10:15 am on Thursday, April 11.

Police are charging 44-year old Manuel Perez of New Bedford with Assault and Battery with a dangerous weapon.

The victim was conscious and alert when first responders arrived and was transported to the hospital.