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So How Cool is Gary Sinise? By: Michael Starr – New York Post

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“CSI: New York” star Gary Sinise will launch The Gary Sinise Foundation on July 4 in conjunction with a documentary about his band, The Lt. Dan Band, which has entertained US military personnel worldwide.

So how cool is Gary Sinise?
The “CSI: New York” star, who’s headlined the CBS series since (believe it or not) 2004 now, is devoting a lot of time and attention to The Gary Sinise Foundation, which officially launches July 4 with the mission to “Serve Our Nation by Honoring Our Defenders, Veterans, First Responders, Their Families and Those in Need.”

As part of that mission, Sinise’s foundation helped raise money to build The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in KeySpan Park — honoring those who both risked and gave their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks — and helped raise funds for The Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, County, Va., dedicated to the 184 people killed in attack on The Pentagon on Sept. 11.

The launch of Sinise’s foundation will coincide with the release of “Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good,” Jonathan Flora’s documentary about Sinise’s band (named after his “Forrest Gump” character), which has entertained military related organizations worldwide (among other groups). Flora’s doc will be released online for 30 days (ltdanbandmovie.com); when someone streams the movie, one out of every four bucks will go to The Gary Sinise Foundation to support its many programs (including relief for wounded warriors, school supplies for children where US troops are deployed and scholarships for veterans).

Sinise, by the way, is also the spokesman for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, which broke ground last November in Washington, DC.

* * *
Either I’m getting old(er) now, or I’ve just about had it with cutesy marketing terms (probably a little bit of both), but a new one crossed my desk yesterday: “bookazine.”

Don’t know what that is? Neither did I when the news was sent to me touting an “exclusive ‘MasterChef’ bookazine” in a partnership between Taste of Home magazine and “MasterChef” producers Shine Group and Reveille. Turns out a “bookazine” is “A publication combining elements of books and magazines,” according to Wiktionary. Good to know.

Anyway, the MasterChef bookazine, which is launching the first week of July, will be 147 pages in length and includes over 60 recipes featured on the Fox show and interviews with show judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot. Monday night’s “MasterChef,” by the way, tied ABC’s “The Bachelorette” in the top-rated slot for adults 18-49.

The bookazine (there’s that term again) will retail for $9.99 and will be available at major retailers, grocery stores and Mario Batali’s restaurant Eataly (200 5th Ave.) for two months.

In a related vein, after doing this for many years, and reading plenty of ratings releases, I think I can say with some authority that, in the Publicist-to-English dictionary, the words “fan favorite” translate into “little-watched.”

Trust me on this one.

Last, but not least:
* Chris Dinan, late of CBS News, has joined ABC’s “World News” as a senior producer . . . Thanks, as always, to Chicago-area publicist Linda Shafran (who reps Jerry Springer and TV/radio host Dr. Ian K. Smith, among others). . . “Squidbillies: Volume 4″ (Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim) is out on DVD (10 episodes) . . . Congrats to Grand Communications (Alison Grand), which is celebrating its 10th anniversary . . . Dorothea Donnelly is taking her PR talents to Starz . . . I pulled a wrongo yesterday: Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) wasn’t sampling the Nitrogen cocktails at the Joseph Abboud Watch Launch the other night at Sunset Tower in LA. Sorry about that, chief.

By: Michael Starr – New York Post


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