(NewsUSA) - There's something to be said for the media gurus who immerse themselves in the whole industry. Multi-media mogul Armstrong Williams began as a South Carolina high schooler with an aptitude for public speaking and wound up hosting a daily radio show and nationally syndicated TV program, "The Right Side With Armstrong Williams."

(BPT) - Few things are more disappointing than turning on your new TV for the first time only to discover the picture doesn’t look as good as it did in the store. Or the audio balance is so far off that you feel like you’re listening from inside a tunnel.

Following the opening of several musical classics on local community theater stages (see last week’s Queens Chronicle for Part I of this article), the second half of the spring theatrical season seems destined to be remembered for something completely different, as producers take chances on an array of unusual projects — including one by this writer.

In a stark departure from its usual fare, Theatre Time Productions will present “Once More, With Feeling,” billed as a musical concert, beginning April 13.

The power of the local press was on full display in the tight 2009 City Council race between Democratic nominee Kevin Kim and Republican Dan Halloran.

Halloran did not allow Multi-Media’s role in the race to go unnoticed. In September 2009, the Tribune ran a story originally headlined “Democratic Victor vs. Pagan Lord” that detailed Halloran’s unconventional religious practices.

Queens politics in 2012 brought new districts, a historic election in the 6th Congressional District and enough cloak-and-dagger intrigue to fill a Robert Ludlum novel.

But when Hurricane Sandy struck in October, killing 12 people in Queens and more than 40 in the city, devastating the Rockaways, Howard Beach, lower Manhattan and Staten Island, the people of central Queens, who were largely spared the storm’s wrath, rallied to the cause of those worst hit.

Politics in middle and southwestern Queens was the favorite sport outside of Citi Field in 2012, and the worst storm to hit the region in 74 years devastated some while causing others just a few flickers of their lights.

JANUARY

As the year began, the city filed an appeal of a ruling by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufus that found discrimination on the part of the FDNY against African-American firefighters in the testing and hiring process.

With the announcement this past weekend that The Village Voice is being sold came word from the new owners that Backpage.com would not be among the properties included in the deal.

The owners had been under increasing pressure to shut the site down, with critics saying the site advertises prostitution and sex trafficking.

The Queens Botanical Garden presents the Jamaica Estates Association Art Show “The Artist Within: The Urge to Create” on view through Sept. 30, Tuesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Gallery of the Visitor Center and Administration Building, 43-50 Main St., Flushing.

Saying that she is the best choice for the job, retiring Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-Queens, Nassau) endorsed Flushing Assemblywoman Grace Meng for the newly created 6th Congressional District seat on Tuesday outside the Pomonok Senior Center.

Although the new district only covers 37 percent of Ackerman’s domain, his support is seen as important. Since Meng has the backing of the Queens Democratic Party, virtually every other elected Democratic official has already endorsed her.

Sixth Congressional District candidate Grace Meng says the American public doesn’t want to hear excuses from politicians, it wants action, and she believes she can deliver.

During an extensive interview at the Queens Chronicle’s Rego Park office on Friday, Meng laid out her plans if elected. She faces a Democratic primary against Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows), Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) and Dr. Robert Mittman of Bayside on June 26. The winner will face Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) in the fall general election.

Over the past few weeks, the Queens Chronicle has written an editorial, blog post and three articles about the Queens Tribune running “adult services” ads and the hiring of Multi-Media, its political consulting affiliate, by Grace Meng for Congress.

Dear Editor:

Your article “Meng knew firm’s ties to adult ads” (May 3, multiple editions) about the Queens Tribune newspaper printing ads promoting “Adult services” while having a consulting and printing firm, Multi-Media, had important information missing. The information that was missing was that Congressman Gary Ackerman is a part-owner of the Tribune.

There is certainly something wrong with this picture. While Meng and others were testifying in front of Congress to pass a bill that would end the exploitation of non speaking women, trafficking, and prostitution, the congressman’s newspaper “featured 37 ads promoting adult services, including 23 promoting the use of Asian women.”

The congressman started the Tribune in the 1970s and continues to have a stake in it. Would publishing those ads be called procuring?

Here is just another example of a congressperson putting monies before morals and the protection of women.

When she called on Congress to pass an extension of the Violence Against Women Act last Thursday, Ann Jawin of the Center for the Women of New York singled out “one English language newspaper” for running ads that promote adult services.

“Those ads say ‘Lovely Latinas’ and ‘Hot Asian Girls,’” Jawin said. “But they promote prostitution. And when you have more customers, you need to get more girls.”

Yesterday Assemblywoman Grace Meng skirted the issue of financially supporting a political consulting firm whose close affiliate both profits from and promotes the world's oldest profession.

When she called on Congress to pass an extension of the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday, Ann Jawin of the Center for the Women of New York singled one “one English newspaper” for running ads that promote adult services.

The congressional campaign of Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) has denied allegations from Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) that it has encouraged Jeff Gottlieb to enter the race for the Democratic nomination in the 6th Congressional District.

Lancman has alleged that the move was made to dilute the district’s Jewish vote in the June 26 primary. And the news website City & State on Wednesday ran a story saying that Meng advisor Michael Nussbaum has a history of planting such candidates dating back to 2009, when Nussbaum’s company, Multi-Media, was a consultant for Council candidate Kevin Kim.

The announcement over the weekend that Jeff Gottlieb, who is Jewish, has entered the Democratic primary race for the 6th Congressional District had drawn outrage from the other Jewish candidate, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, over tactics by the county Democratic Party and another of his opponents.

Lancman discussed what he called the “complete sham candidacy” of Gottlieb on Monday, adding: “It’s an outrageous and cynical tactic. And I think it will backfire badly.”

The Queens Chronicle is not in the business of knocking our competition, as regular readers know quite well. We’ve only done it twice.

Once it was to admonish those papers that carry ads for “massage parlors” and “escort services” that are really thinly disguised fronts for prostitution.

   Something different is drawing crowds to the famed Thalia Spanish Theatre in Sunnyside these days, and it’s called “No Problemo Amigo.”

   Billed as a total theater comic experience, the 90-minute intermissionless multi media show, written by 30-year-old Colombian native Jaime Espinal, incorporates music, dance, comedy and, most effectively, screen projections. All the elements somehow come together to make an entertaining and sometimes biting statement about the plight of immigrants in this country.

   In an effort to better communicate with his increasingly Internet-savvy constituents, City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St.Albans) has launched a new website, leroycomrie.com.

   The site allows residents to interact with the lawmaker’s office digitally and learn about resources and events that are happening throughout the city and borough as well as the southeast Queens community.

   The Communications Arts Academy at August Martin High School in Jamaica unveiled its upgraded state-of-the-art multi-media studio on Friday, made possible through more than $1 million in funds allocated by the late City Councilman Tom White Jr., for whom the space is named.

   Studio 316, also known as the Honorable Thomas White Jr. Media Center, features numerous high-definition cameras, a teleprompter, an editing suite equipped with the Final Cut Pro program, X-Serve Video Server, a multi-format live switcher, digital mixing console and upgraded studio lighting.

Carl Goodman has taken over as director of the Museum of the Moving Image, the Astoria cultural institution announced Tuesday.

EXHIBITS