Page 47 - MIN,TTC APRIL 8,2015

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THE MILL RESORT PRESENTS MARCO POLO. The Mill Re-
sort & Suites continues to make improvements, says General Man-
ager Sharitza Vrolijk, as she introduces Marco Polo, the former gar-
den restaurant now enclosed in glass and air-conditioned. Marco Polo
restaurant serves breakfast every day, both buffet and a la carte and
is open for lunch and dinner. The lunch menu is new and delicious.
Two specialty nights, a traditional Island BBQ on Wednesday and
a Pasta Italiana night on Sunday, are both offered with live enter-
tainment, in an all you can eat format. With renovated rooms and an
upgraded restaurant Sharitza is happy to report that the resort is very ously gave of his time, and his resources. Along the way he earned a royal
busy. Apparently, veteran Boy Maduro is now on the team, as sales
and marketing consultant, and he makes sure every vacancy is filled,
especially from the South American markets, which are his specialty.
Also on board Conny Kiers, and John Samson, at the front desk and
the food & Beverage department respectively, which is very effective,
because all Sharitza needs, is a little help from her good friends.
ERIC WENTE, A DOWN TO EARTH CELEBRITY. Over the
last years Eric Wente has personally helped raise a significant amount
of money for charity on the island. He does that by partnering each
year with the Ellis family of Papiamento restaurant fame and Govert
V/D Hout and the Arion Wine Company. Together they present a
detail-oriented golf tournament, which is meticulously organized and
superbly attended. This year the organization included three excel-
lent events, a cocktail party, great golf and an award ceremony and
Eric Wente was the star anchor of all three, ever-present, shaking
hands, engaging in conversations, and in general present in the here-
and-now. As the Chairman of the Board at Wente Vineyard he also
serves as the brand ambassador, and tirelessly crisscrosses the world
to promote his palate-pleasing, quality wines. Wente Vineyard, he is
happy to explain, California’s oldest, continuously operated, family-
owned winery, is lead today by the fourth and fifth generations of the
Wente family, marking its 132nd anniversary. Promise you’ll try their
well-liked Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots or Sauvignon
Blancs, in the near future?! The brand deserves our support.
VALE CROES WAS ALWAYS A GREAT SOURCE OF HILARI-
TY. Comedian Vale Croes was born with a romantic name, Rudolph
Valentino, which by itself is very funny when you looked at his body
language, his rotund shape, his trimmed moustache, and the glasses/
hats he used as accessories, comfortably sitting on stage, slowly and
deliberately recounting twisted tales, focusing on respectful and not
so respectful episodes regarding imaginary local personalities. Ev-
erything about his pronunciation, his diction and accent was funny,
and he used his voice expertly, to mesmerize audiences. To this day,
he is the only person from Aruba to have enjoyed a lifelong career as
a standup comedian, with his own one man show, in several editions
over many years, commanding attention by the way he moved his
hands and twitched his brows. He started as a singer, I understand
with Sensation del Caribe, and told jokes to band members between
breaks, from there he continued to spin his story-telling abilities
through the Antillean islands and the Netherlands, giving people a
break, an escape from their ordinary life, by mean of laughter, and
slapstick. Family members were planning a tribute show this sum-
mer for his wedding anniversary, but did not make it. Very much like
Charlie Chaplin, Vale Croes was a comic actor, an all around artist,
and a talented musician. I don’t want to hear that you don’t like my
materials, he used to lecture ticket holders, you paid Awg 25 for your
DIARIO DIARANZON 8 APRIL 2015
seat and you WILL love the show!
JOHN MANSUR GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. I met John Man-
sur when I was soliciting adz for the year book of the International School
of Aruba, light-years away. Seguros Mansur came on board with a full page
ad, and we have been friends ever since. He was gentle, loving, apprecia-
tive and kind, and most of all he was an awesome father, proud of his son,
and always sharing his amazement of his creative genius, Fernando, when
I met the family brunching or lunching together, always together. An active
Rotarian since 1982, John belonged to many civic organization and gener-
Dutch decoration, and island-wide respect, which showed in the long lines
wrapped around his home when people from all walks of life came to pres-
ent their condolences to Marjory, Fernando, and little Shila, who read a
poem for her opa at the memorial. May John Mansur rest in peace.
MINI WENT TO DOG HEAVEN. My little dog of sixteen years went to
dog heaven last week, on April’s Fools Day, not a good joke. A few days
before, she stopped eating, apparently her kidneys and liver malfunctioned,
and from then on, all she wanted to do it rest, sleep, her head lying on her
front paws, praying for the big dog in the sky to take her. Could I have
done anything differently? Could we have kept her among the living for
some more time? When the vet came into the office with the final needle,
the liquid he injected into her IV bubbled, and her head slumped, just like
that, in one split second. We built her a comfy afterlife nest, and I will plant
wild-colored Magdalena flowers on top. Her life was very good and joyful,
and I will think about her every time I watch TV, in the late evening hours.
She especially loved Anderson Cooper.
JEMM REVIVALS. Fans of the iconic band congregated at Casibari and
Chaos cafe for an encore of the musical ensemble that used to rock the
funky Cellar Bar with its peeling, bruised yellow walls, while we hung out
throwing B-52s back, more than 20 years ago. The band got together in
1993, and played thru the Millennium. Mirugia de Cuba, Eric Jan Eman,
Martin Buitenweg, Jose Herrera, were the core, the founding fathers and
mothers, together with the original M, Monique Moon Baker, who later
came back for the Jazz Festival, as a professional singer. Then many people
came and went, some memorable -- Hildward Croes, some not, until baby
Jeremy Bonarriba settled in as the band’s drummer. Originally, they had
none, and Jose multi-tasked and operated a drum machine. Patrick Ber-
nasco was the bar manager working for Joop Rooijakkers. We were all
young and gorgeous back then, and Eric Jan laughs a little when he notices
how much older we are now. For the Jemm revival, the band was joined by
Dave Cousins, Jairo Alvardo, and others, remembering the good ol’ times.
Eric Jan also laughs a little more when he thinks about the band’s musical
root as Trio Herrera, and the Coco Loco band. Like fitting a round peg in a
square hole, he says, we couldn’t deliver Coco Loco, the audience wanted
JEMM, and that we delivered very well. RC@visitaruba.com