paul chaderjian

by Paul Chaderjian     GLENDALE, Calif. – Like all filmmakers, Gor Kirakosian has to control the choreography inside each frame. At 30 frames per second, the discipline of controlling every detail captured with the lens of a high-definition camera sometimes spills out of the frame and into real life. At one of Glendale’s most popular Armenian hangouts, the all-American Conrad’s diner where we meet for our second interview, Kirakosian tells the aging Vietnamese waitress that he wants a green salad, finely chopped and evenly tossed with ranch dressing. “You really know what you want,” she says, and she’s right; Kirakosian wants to make people laugh. How a salad is tossed to please the palate of a comedy filmmaker may seem like a trivial detail to ponder, but making his first feature, Big Story in a Small City, Kirakosian has had to think about the most hard-to-please audiences by being precise about everything, including directing the waitress during an interview to p...

Poet, musician, artist, Karin Tatoyan sings about her emotions by Paul Chaderjian HOLLYWIERD, Calif. - And a gray-haired Black man walking through the patio of the Coffee Bean with a ghetto blaster on his right shoulder grabs our attention. We all turn to look at the commotion. His stereo is blaring an 80s pop tune from Madonna. The music is so loud, you can't hear yourself think. For a second, on this fifth day of 2007, we all flash back to 1983. “Holiday. Celebrate,” echoes from the cafe; at the corner of Sunset and Vine. “If we took a holiday, took some time to celebrate. Just one day out of life. It would be, it would be so nice.” Karin laughs. It's a sweet laugh. Wise laugh. An insightful one. “How did you find out about me,” she asks me, the interviewee interviewing the interviewer. Oh, excuse me, dear Reporter readers. Let me introduce you to Karin Tatoyan. Singer. Poetess. Musician. Performer. Artist. Armenian. That's why you're reading thi...

Dr. Arnold and Diane Gazarian invest $1.5 million in Fresno State and the new California by Paul Chaderjian ARMENIAN REPORTER FRESNO, CA - Though Native Americans lived here as far back as 6,000 years before Christ, this story begins in the mid-1800s, when a railroad baron established a depot here - setting modern day development into motion. Spanish explorers had deemed the empty, arid desert uninhabitable, and passed through it, as did the Gold Rush-era '49ers. But when a labyrinth of irrigation canals was built on this mostly-flat terrain, the region's Mediterranean climate allowed waves of immigrants to turn the southern San Joaquin Valley into the most agriculturally bountiful area in the world. Now this region, dubbed by the media as the “New California,” is home to a booming population of more than three million people. It is the raisin capital of the world, produces more than 250 crops, and provides a quarter of the food eaten in the U.S. The Souther...

Old Armenian Town will include five of its original homes by Paul Chaderjian FRESNO, Calif. -- Five homes described by local preservationists as historic and removed from a 10-acre downtown Fresno neighborhood known as Old Armenian Town may now become part of a new multi-million-dollar, mixed-use, high-rise redevelopment project called . . . “Old Armenian Town.” A court ruling this week determined that a previous agreement between two Fresno-area preservation groups, the Fresno City Council, the Fresno Redevelopment agency, and developers Gunner-Andros still stands, and the homes owned by the City of Fresno cannot be located outside the new development, as proposed recently by the developers. “The Armenians are very important here,” says president of Heritage Fresno Midge Barrett. “We have no problem with the development. We don't find a problem with urban renewal. The problem is that we believe the old can exist beside the new.” Armenian develop...

myspace.com/mosaic_concert Retrofitting the Tapestry of an Ancient Culture for the 21 st Century - Pieces of a cultural and historic puzzle fall into place through music by Paul Chaderjian GLENDALE, Calif.—Had Armenian culture been inactive and unaccommodating to global influences, it would perhaps have been lost in the dying memory of its dwindling preservationists. However, the culture’s openness to world dynamics and ability to embrace change while holding on to its roots has allowed it to adapt and survive. This uncanny and evolutionary ability showed its prowess musically on stage Sunday night when the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural and Educational Society presented its Mosaic Concert. On stage at the 1450-seat historic Alex Theater, were voices echoing from the distant past through the postmodern future. Within the framework of one concert and four hours, the cheering audience heard in perfect pitch the historic lyrics of village women making squash stew,...

    by Paul Chaderjian  (special to the “Armenian Reporter”) GLENDALE, Calif.--Commercials about the “Armenian Music Video Awards” in Hollywood created some confusion in the Armenian community over the past few months. After all, the 8th annual Armenian Music Awards had just taken place in Hollywood in May. Legal measures, which the producers of neither the original music awards nor the new music-video awards would discuss, resulted in a change in the name of the music-video awards to the M Club Annual Music Video Awards. “We had the 8th one back in May at the Hollywood Palladium,” says Peter Bahlawanian, who created the Armenian Music Awards in 1997. “I could say the Armenian Music Awards single-handedly redefined the music industry, within the community and out. We've had major superstars like Stewart Copland , John Densmore, and Serj Tankian and major world labels like Real World, Sony, BMG participate in the show.” Bahlawanian says he created th...

    by Paul Chaderjian (special to the “Armenian Reporter”) HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--Tickets to the sold-out Christmas weekend “M Club Annual Music Video Awards” show at the Kodak Theatre here were apparently so hot that they were being auctioned at five times their face value on eBay, the Internet auction site. From hard-to-score tickets to a star-studded program with performers featured in the hottest Armenian music videos of the year, the second annual “M Club” awards show was media hype in hyper drive. Everyone came with an agenda. Some wanted to be entertained by stars like Andre, Sirusho, Andy, and Armenchik; others had driven for hours to experience the Armenian version of the Oscars, Grammies, and People's Choice Awards. The broadcasters wanted sponsors' dollars, the producers of the show wanted an entrance on a new network, the Internet techies wanted to prove their talent, the talent wanted to sell records, and the socialites simply wanted to be...