Batavia music performance not one to miss

Daily Herald columnist Sammi King of Batavia will play the role of the proud mom during the Batavia Historical Society's 50th anniversary celebration Saturday.

A prolific singer in her youth, Sammi thoroughly enjoyed watching her son Gregor King reach his own heights as a vocalist at Batavia High School when he had lead roles in “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Les Miserables.”

Gregor, who graduated from Millikin University last spring, will join with talented guitarist John Ivan to perform popular songs from the 1950s during the anniversary from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday in the gymnasium of Bethany Missionary Center (the old McWayne School) at 326 W. Wilson St.

“When I was in my 20s, I sang a lot in the area, and I really enjoyed it,” Sammi said. “But I must admit, it is much more fun to sit and listen to Gregor.

“It's great to see him get the audience singing on a song like ‘Brown Eyed Girl' and then look around a restaurant when he sings a ballad like ‘Unchained Melody' and the people are hanging on every word.”

Ivan gets rave reviews for his guitar skills as well, so this should an enjoyable afternoon.

Stopping the abuse

Former St. Charles police officer Jim Kintz was honored last week with the Barth Award for Human Services by TriCity Family Services for his many years of work on behalf of domestic violence victims.

While he wasn't directly involved in forming the county's new domestic violence pretrial diversion program, Kintz thinks it will work because it provides an incentive for couples to get real help and wipe the slate clean.

“It's being operated in the proper manner and I understand the reasoning behind it,” said Kintz, referring to the fact that many abused women won't press charges or will allow the abuser to plead guilty to a lesser charge and the real problem of abuse is never addressed.

Kintz, 76, has helped many abused women and used his law enforcement experience to raise public awareness of this serious crime.

We congratulate him again on the recognition he deserved with the Barth Award.

A yoga mindset

There aren't many, if any, local yoga instructors who spread their knowledge of this great exercise regimen around the world on a regular basis.

Linda Karl of Batavia, a meta yoga instructor, has done it several times and she's planning a yoga retreat next spring to the Indonesian island of Bali, between the Java Sea and Indian Ocean.

“People go see a movie like ‘Eat Pray Love,' and they think how nice that would be to do something like that,” Karl said. “ ‘Eat Pray Love' travel tours are the thing right now, and here I am offering it in the Fox Valley. This is the trip, this is their chance.”

There are some decent discounts for the trip, if participants pay before the year ends. Information is available on Karl's website at http://lindakarl.net/bali-yoga-retreat/.

It looks to be a fascinating trip to a place not on the radar of most tourists which means it should be perfect for a yoga retreat.