Armenian Americans

AS IF YOU ASKED In recent weeks, I've teased some city movers and shakers for their discomfort in finding worthy picks to endorse in the City Council race. I'm actually sorry some of those jokes have come at the expense of candidates whose biggest supposed "negative" is that they haven't immersed themselves in City Hall. But I'll come back to that later, because one group out there had NO trouble making picks. In fact, Burbank's chapter of the Armenian National Committee made too many.

Rep. Adam Schiff, who represents Glendale and Burbank, pressured Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice about the State Department's stance on the Armenian genocide at a House Appropriations hearing subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. Though administration officials frequently acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in 1915, the State Department does not officially recognize the events as genocide. Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates sent a letter to chairs of certain Congressional committees stating their opposition to recognizing the Armenian genocide on March 7, which prompted Schiff to broach the topic on Wednesday, he said.

Ani Bedrosian Adaimy was feeling the pressure Thursday as she talked about her role as the new president of an organization previously run by men: the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce Greater Los Angeles chapter. She stood up and sat down. She shifted from side to side. She double-checked her facts. She fanned herself. The responsibility of being the organization’s first female president, she said, was not easy to handle. “It’s a responsibility to make the right choices, to make it easier for future incoming women as leaders,” she said.

Singer-songwriter Maria Akopian believes there’s a fine line between pop music and R&B, and she said she’s tried to balance these two genres on her first CD, “Special Delivery.” “I think the texture and style of my voice and singing in general is very R&B and soulful, but just like mainstream pop music, it’s easy to catch on to,” she said. “The way I write my music is radio-friendly and easy to like, like pop music. When you hear pop music, it’s easy to catch on to it.” The Burbank resident, known professionally as “Maria,” is Armenian, but she writes all her lyrics in English, unlike many other Armenian-American singers, she said.

Members of the Burbank Chapter of the Armenian National Committee recently joined Armenians worldwide to celebrate their traditional January observance of Christmas and stage their annual holiday reception and dinner. “Within the Armenian community, we always kid one another about being on Armenian time,” laughed Michael Kiaman, who emceed last week’s event at the organization’s downtown Burbank facility. “Armenian time just means you’ll be late, so I guess it’s fitting that we also celebrate Christmas later than everyone else.

The New Year may have passed a week ago, but for Burbank's Armenian Americans, the biggest celebration of the year took place Friday. More than 800 of Armenian-Americans gathered at the Armenian Church of North American Western Diocese on Friday night to celebrate Christmas on the day they believe marks the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ, said Father Sipam Mekhsian of the church. Burbank houses the headquarters of the Western Diocese and the home of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, primate of the Armenian Church of the Western Diocese.

As the final hours ticked away for Tuesday’s special primary election, campaign workers in Glendale and Burbank were scrambling to make last-minute phone pitches to prospective voters. Volunteers at Democrat Mike Gatto’s headquarters in Burbank sat at laptop computers, using a predictive dialing system to contact voters who were most likely to answer the phone and participate in the election to fill a vacant seat for the 43rd Assembly District, which includes most of Glendale, Burbank and parts of Los Angeles.

GLENDALE ? A United States District judge sentenced a 43-year-old Van Nuys man to 37 months in prison Wednesday for an investment scam that bilked about $20 million from about 200 people, many of whom are from Glendale and Burbank, said officials with the United States Attorney's Office. Melkon Gharakhanian, whose alias was Mike Garian, pleaded guilty in January to one count of felony federal mail fraud, United States Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said. "The court imposed an appropriate sentence," Assistant United States Atty.

GLENDALE — A bipartisan group of legislators formed the Assembly Armenian American Legislative Caucus on Monday, which they hope will support and create legislation that benefits the state's 700,000 Armenian Americans. Co-founders Dario Frommer, a Democrat who represents Burbank and Glendale, and Greg Aghazarian, a Republican who represents Stockton, hope the state Senate will soon recognize the bi-partisan group. "Our intent is for it to be a working caucus and a group of folks who reach out and educate others," said Frommer, Assembly majority leader.