Javier Colon 'couldn't believe' his victory on 'The Voice'

Colon, a 34-year-old singer with two young daughters who lives in West Hartford, Conn., bested three other finalists — Dia Frampton, Beverly McClellan and Vicci Martinez — to win $100,000 and a Universal Republic recording contract.

It was no surprise to his celebrity "coach," Maroon 5's Adam Levine, who guessed the outcome at the first auditions: "The second I heard him sing I thought he was going to win the whole thing," Levine says. Though he worried at Wednesday's finale about an upset, "Fortunately, I was right. He's so powerful at so many different levels of his range, he's truly capable of singing anything."

But such confidence from Levine and fans "didn't affect me at all," Colon says.

"I was coming from a very guarded place, being that I've been in the music business for a while now, and I've been pretty beaten up and had a lot of doors closed in my face," he says. "I looked at every performance the same, which was I had to perform and I had to have a great song. And even if I did that, that didn't guarantee me a spot to continue to the next week."

Colon, the former lead singer of the Derek Trucks Band, had a two-record deal with Capitol Records, which released albums in 2003 and 2006, but he blamed lack of support for slow sales and was dropped by the label. "The last five years I've been trying to find a new deal, trying to find a home, a label that wanted to take a chance."

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Thích Quảng Đức

Hòa thượng Thích Quảng Đức, [tʰɪ̌c kwãːŋ ɗɨ̌k], Saigon: [tʰɪ̌t kwɐ̂ːŋ ɗɨ̌k], born Lâm Văn Tức (1897 – 11 June 1963) was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Thích Quảng Đức was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration. Photos of his self-immolation were circulated widely across the world and brought attention to the policies of the Diệm regime. Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize for his iconic photo of the monk's death, as did David Halberstam for his written account. After his death, his body was re-cremated, but his heart remained intact. This was interpreted as a symbol of compassion and led Buddhists to revere him as a bodhisattva, heightening the impact of his death on the public psyche.

Thích Quảng Đức's act increased international pressure on Diệm and led him to announce reforms with the intention of mollifying the Buddhists. However, the promised reforms were implemented either slowly or not at all, leading to a deterioration in the dispute. With protests continuing, the Special Forces loyal to Diệm's brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, launched nationwide raids on Buddhist pagodas, seizing the holy heart and causing deaths and widespread damage. Several Buddhist monks followed Thích Quảng Đức's example and burned themselves to death. Eventually, an Army coup toppled and killed Diệm in November. The self-immolation is widely seen as the turning point of the Vietnamese Buddhist crisis which led to the change in regime.

The act itself occurred at the intersectionb of Phan Dinh Phung Boulevard and Le Van Duyet Street. Thích Quảng Đức emerged from the car along with two other monks. One placed a cushion on the road while the second opened the trunk and took out a five-gallon gasoline can. As the marchers formed a circle around him, Thích Quảng Đức calmly seated himself in the traditional Buddhist meditative lotus position on the cushion. His colleague emptied the contents of the gasoline container over Thích Quảng Đức's head. Thích Quảng Đức rotated a string of wooden prayer beads and recited the words Nam Mô A Di Đà Phật ("homage to Amitabha Buddha") before striking a match and dropping it on himself. Flames consumed his robes and flesh, and black oily smoke emanated from his burning body.

The last words of Thích Quảng Đức before his self-immolation were documented in a letter he had left:

Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngo Dinh Diem to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism.

David Halberstam wrote:

I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him.

Police who tried to reach him could not break through the circle of Buddhist clergy. One of the policemen threw himself to the ground and prostrated himself in front of Thích Quảng Đức in reverence. The spectators were mostly stunned into silence, but some wailed and several began praying. Many of the monks and nuns, as well as some shocked passersby, prostrated themselves before the burning monk.In English and Vietnamese, a monk repeatedly declared into a microphone, "A Buddhist priest burns himself to death. A Buddhist priest becomes a martyr.

After approximately ten minutes, Thích Quảng Đức's body was fully immolated, and it toppled forward onto the street and the fire subsided. A group of monks covered the smoking corpse with yellow robes, picked it up and tried to fit it into a coffin, but the limbs could not be bent and one of the arms protruded from the wooden box as he was carried to the nearby Xa Loi Pagoda in central Saigon. Outside the pagoda, students unfurled bilingual banners which read: "A Buddhist priest burns himself for our five requests." By 13:30, around one thousand monks had congregated inside Xa Loi to hold a meeting while outside a large crowd of pro-Buddhist students had formed a human barrier around it. The meeting soon ended and all but a hundred monks slowly left the compound. Nearly one thousand monks accompanied by laypeople returned to the cremation site. The police lingered nearby. At around 18:00, 30 nuns and six monks were arrested for holding a prayer meeting on the street outside Xa Loi Pagoda. The police then encircled the pagoda, blocking public passage and giving observers the impression that an armed siege was imminent by donning riot gear. That evening, thousands of Saigonese claimed to have seen a vision of the Buddha's face in the sky as the sun had set. They claimed that in the vision the Buddha was weeping.

Funeral and aftermath

After the self-immolation, the U.S. put more pressure on Diệm to re-open negotiations on the faltering agreement. Diệm had scheduled an emergency cabinet meeting at 11:30 on 11 June to discuss the Buddhist crisis which he believed to be winding down. Following Thích Quảng Đức's death, Diệm cancelled the meeting and met individually with his ministers. Acting U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam William Trueheart warned Nguyen Dinh Thuan, Diệm's Secretary of State, of the desperate need for an agreement, saying that the situation was "dangerously near breaking point" and expected that Diệm would meet the Buddhists' five-point manifesto. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk warned the Saigon embassy that the White House would publicly announce that it would no longer "associate itself" with the regime if this did not occur. The Joint Communique and concessions to the Buddhists were signed on 16 June.

15 June was set as the date for the funeral of Thích Quảng Đức, and on that day 4,000 people gathered outside Xa Loi Pagoda, only for the ceremony to be postponed. On 19 June, his remains were carried out of Xa Loi to a cemetery 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of the city for a re-cremation and funeral ceremony. Following the signing of the Joint Communique, attendance was limited by agreement between Buddhist leaders and police to approximately 400 monks.

65th Tony Awards

65th Annual Tony Awards was held on June 12, 2011 to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2010–2011 season. They were held at the Beacon Theatre, ending a fourteen-year tradition of holding the ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. The Awards ceremony was broadcast live on CBS and was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. The award nominations were announced on May 3, 2011.

Ceremony

In addition to the CBS television broadcast, the ceremony was simulcast live to Times Square and included the Tony Awards Red Carpet and the complete Tony Awards show, including the Creative Arts Awards.

The creative arts awards presentation was hosted by Laura Benanti and Katie Finneran and were presented prior to the network broadcast of the rest of the awards and the entertainment. The awards in this portion of the ceremony included those for Best Original Score, Choreography, Best Orchestrations, and others.

Presenters at the ceremony included Daniel Radcliffe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Alec Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson, Kelsey Grammer, Viola Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones, Harry Connick, Jr., Christie Brinkley, David Hyde Pierce, Marg Helgenberger, Matthew Broderick, Angela Lansbury, Jim Parsons, Robert Morse, Joel Grey, Patrick Wilson, Brooke Shields and Robin Williams.

Neil Patrick Harris, with costumed dancers and singers, opened the show with a "comic" and edgy number "arguing that Broadway, with its con artists, Mormons and nuns this season, is 'not just for gays anymore. The song was written by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger. Performances from nominated musicals included: Catch Me If You Can with Norbert Leo Butz and Aaron Tveit; Sister Act with Patina Miller; The Book of Mormon with Andrew Rannells; and The Scottsboro Boys with Joshua Henry, Anything Goes with Sutton Foster, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Laroquette. Other musicals performed as well: Memphis, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Company.

Special awards

The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced special non-competitive awards prior to the ceremony. The Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre is given to Athol Fugard and Philip J. Smith, Chairman of The Shubert Organization. The Isabelle Stevenson Award is awarded to Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day. The Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre is given to animal trainer Bill Berloni, The Drama Book Shop (West 40th Street in Manhattan), and Sharon Jensen and Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. The Special Tony Award is given to Handspring Puppet Company, "for creating lifelike horses (manipulated by three actor-puppeteers)". The Regional Theatre Tony Award is presented to Lookingglass Theatre Company (Chicago, Illinois).

Summary

The Book of Mormon received 14 nominations, the most of any production, and won nine, including Best Musical; The Scottsboro Boys received 12 nominations, winning none. The revival of Anything Goes won three awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. War Horse won five awards, including Best Play. The Normal Heart won three awards, including Best Revival of a Play. Several director-choreographers were double-nominated: Rob Ashford, Kathleen Marshall, Casey Nicholaw and Susan Stroman were nominated for both Best Director and Best Choreographer. Marshall (Choreography) and Nicholaw (Best Direction of a Musical with Trey Parker) won. The revival of The Merchant of Venice received seven nominations, the most for any play, but won none, followed by Jerusalem with six, winning one, for Best Actor, for the performance of Mark Rylance.

Eligibility

Shows that opened during the 2010–11 Broadway season before April 28, 2011 were eligible. The category of "Lead Actress in a Musical" has only four nominees. According to Tony Award rules, "Because only six actresses are eligible for nomination in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical category, only four of those actors can be nominated.

2011 NBA Finals

2011 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2010–11 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, 4–2, to win their first NBA title. Dallas became the latest NBA team from Texas to win its first title, after the Houston Rockets won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, and the San Antonio Spurs won in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007; all three Texas NBA teams have now won at least one NBA Championship.

The series was held from May 31 to June 12, 2011. Under a 2–3–2 rotation, the Miami Heat had the home court advantage; the Heat hosted Games 1, 2, and 6, and was set to host a deciding Game 7, had one been necessary. German player Dirk Nowitzki was named Finals most valuable player. Nowitzki was the second European to win the award, after Tony Parker (2007) and the first German.

Going into the series, the Heat were heavy favorites with their newly acquired stars of LeBron James and Chris Bosh along with returning star Dwyane Wade. The series was a rematch of the 2006 finals, which was won by the Heat in 6 games after Dallas blew an early two-game lead.

The Dallas Mavericks became the first team in NBA history since the institution of the 2–3–2 format to enter Game 3 tied 1–1, lose Game 3 and still win the Finals. The previous 11 times this has occurred, the Game 3 winner went on to win the series.

Background

Both the Mavericks and Heat made their second appearance in the NBA Finals, the first for both teams being the 2006 NBA Finals. This Finals marked a rematch of the 2006 Finals, won by Miami in six games, after the Mavericks were up 2–0.

It was also the first time since 2006 that neither the Los Angeles Lakers nor the San Antonio Spurs represented the Western Conference in the Finals and only the second time since 1998, and also the thirteenth consecutive NBA Finals to feature a Western Conference Champion from either the states of California or Texas.

The Mavericks' appearance also meant that three of North America's four major professional sports championships were played in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in a span of 8 months, with the 2010 World Series and Super Bowl XLV both occurring in nearby Arlington.

The Heat had home-court advantage by virtue of a better regular-season record than the Mavericks. This was only the second time (2008) that the Eastern Conference had home court advantage during the Finals since the end of the Michael Jordan era in 1998. It also marks the first time since 1995 that the Eastern Conference team lost in the Finals despite having home court advantage.

The 2011 series marked the first time a Finals match (Game 1) was played in the month of May since 1986.

Among the players from both teams, only Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry of Dallas, and Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem of Miami, appeared in the 2006 series with the same team. Heat center Erick Dampier played for the Mavericks in 2006. Aside from Dampier, Caron Butler, Juwan Howard and Shawn Marion are the only other players who have played for both the Mavericks and Heat. Eddie House, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, LeBron James and Jason Kidd have appeared in the Finals with different teams, with House (as a member of Boston's 2008 championship team), Wade and Haslem winning a championship ring. Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle won a championship as a reserve for Boston's 1986 championship team making him only the eleventh person in NBA history to win a Finals as both a player and a coach.

Miami Heat

Miami Heat are a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They play their home games at American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami. The team is owned by Micky Arison, coached by Erik Spoelstra and managed by Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley.
The Heat were formed in 1988 as an expansion franchise along with the Charlotte Hornets and they along with the Orlando Magic are the only two NBA franchises to represent the state of Florida. Since then, Miami has fielded squads that have made the playoffs 15 out of 23 seasons, captured eight division titles and won the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks 4–2. According to Forbes Magazine, in 2010 the value of the franchise was $425 million.


Big 3: James, Wade, and Bosh era
The Miami Heat entered NBA Free Agency in 2010 with nearly $46 million in salary cap space, with the ability to re-sign free agent Dwyane Wade, and add two of the NBA's top players, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. According to Fox Sports Radio's Stephen A. Smith, speaking on his show just days after the NBA Draft, the Heat were "highly likely" to sign all three players. The New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat were in negotiations to sign LeBron James. On July 7, 2010, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh agreed to terms with the Miami Heat. Then on July 8, 2010, LeBron James held an hour-long special to announce his decision on ESPN to commit to playing with the Heat. Later that evening, the Heat announced the trade of Michael Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a pair of second round picks and cash considerations. The three are called the SuperFriends by many sportswriters and commentators, most notably those for ESPN, due to the fact that all three were taken in the top five of the 2003 NBA Draft and because they have become good friends over the years.
On July 8, 2010, it became official that NBA superstars and gold medal winning Beijing Olympic teammates LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh would be joining Miami. The Heat completed sign-and-trade deals, sending a total of four future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers and Raptors for James and Bosh (both signing 6 years and $110.1 million contracts). Dwyane Wade re-signed with the Heat for $107.59 million for six years. All three stars have early termination clauses in their contracts, allowing them to become free agents again in the summer of 2014. The final year on all three deals, for 2015-16, is a player option. The three made their debut at the 2010 Summer Heat Welcome Party at the American Airlines Arena on July 9, where they were introduced as The Three Kings by Heat play-by-play announcer and event co-host Eric Reid. Howard Beck of The New York Times described the national fan reaction to the party: "Everyone saw something: greatness, arrogance, self-indulgence, boldness, cowardice, pride, friendship, collusion, joy, cynicism, heroes, mercenaries."
By taking less than maximum salaries, Wade, James and Bosh opened the door for the Heat to further continue its roster makeover with the resigning of Udonis Haslem and signing of veteran swingman and teammate of Haslem at the University of Florida, Mike Miller for dual 5 year deals worth a combined $45 million. In order to fill the voids at forward and center, the Heat signed James's former teammate in Cleveland, Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a two year deal for the veterans minimum at $2.8 million, resigning Joel Anthony, and signing power forward Juwan Howard. In the guard department, the Miami Heat resigned guard Carlos Arroyo and signed former Celtics player Eddie House to a two-year contract for the veteran minimum of $2.8 million. Rookies Dexter Pittman and Da'Sean Butler, along with NBA Summer League standouts Patrick Beverley and Kenny Hasbrouck, also signed contracts.
The Miami Heat began the regular season with much hype going into their first game against the Eastern Conference Champs, the Boston Celtics. Many considered the Miami Heat as the team to break the single season record of 72 regular season victories set by the Chicago Bulls. On the opening game of the season, broadcast on the TNT Network and featuring the debut of reigning two-time NBA MVP James in a Miami uniform alongside Chris Bosh, the game was the most-watched NBA contest ever on cable television. The game earned a 4.6 rating, delivering 7.4 million total viewers and 5.3 million households beating the Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers on February 2, 1996.
The Heat lost the opening game 88-80 and got off to a 9-8 start due in large part to inconsistent play and injuries of key role players Mike Miller (thumb) and Udonis Haslem (foot). After losing four out of five games, including a Saturday night loss to the Dallas Mavericks on November 27, the team called a player's only meeting with the intent to get players communicate with each other. Much of the speculation was that Spoelstra could lose his job and that Heat president Pat Riley would return as coach, especially after a well publicized incident when James "bumped" into Spoelstra during a timeout.
Since the players-only meeting, the team had pulled together a 12 game win streak (10 of them by double-digits) and limited the opposition under the century mark (100 points) in all those games. During the winning streak, James led the Heat to defeat his former team by scoring 38 points (tying a Heat record for points in a quarter with 24 in the third) in a game that drew nearly 7.1 million viewers and earned a 25.4 rating in Miami. ESPN 3D aired its first NBA game in the third dimension on December 17, 2010 when the Heat defeated the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden., The Heat set a franchise record for wins in December with 15 and set an NBA record for consecutive road victories in a calendar month with 10 (including the Christmas Day matchup with the reigning two time champs Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers which the team won 96-80).
During a postgame chat with Sun Sports' Jason Jackson on January 3, 2011, LeBron James joked I see we sell out 99.1 percent on the road, so we call ourselves the Heatles off the Beatles, so every time we take our show on the road we bring a great crowd, giving the Heat's famed trio the unofficial nickname.
On January 27, 2011, via fan voting, LeBron James (forward) and Dwyane Wade (guard) were selected to be starters for the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game becoming the second pair of teammates to be selected as All-Star starters in franchise history (Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade; 2006 and 2007). A few days later, forward Chris Bosh was selected as a reserve, marking the first time in Heat history the team has sent three players to the All-Star game in a single season.
Like the 2005-06 championship season, the Heat were criticized, for being unable to beat the top caliber teams of the NBA. This criticism though would just grow more and more as the regular season was beginning to wind down. Despite beating their division rival Orlando Magic two of three games, sweeping the Lakers 2-0, and beating both the San Antonio Spurs and the Thunder once, they had lost to the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics three times, swept by the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks who swept the season series and continued their regular season dominance against Miami for their 16th straight victory dating back to the 2004-05 season.
Teammates Dwyane Wade (3) and LeBron James (6) during a game, often referred to as the Dynamic Duo.
In order to improve for the playoffs, the Heat signed guard Mike Bibby, who agreed to forfeit the $6.2 million he was owed by the Washington Wizards for the next season so that he could become a free agent and sign a league minimum contract with a contender. In the process, the Heat released Carlos Arroyo. In Bibby's first game on March 3, the Heat were leading the Magic by 24 points in the third quarter before the Heat were outscored 40–9 and lost 99–96. The following night against the Spurs, who held the NBA's best record (51–11), the Heat lost 125–95, their most lopsided loss of the year and their fourth loss in five games. In their next game against the Bulls, the Heat had a 12–point lead in the first half, but they ended up losing 87–86 after two failed shots by James and Wade in the last 6 seconds of the game. It was the Heat's 12th and 13th consecutive missed shots with a chance to tie or lead a game in the final 10 seconds of regulation or overtime. James had missed four in the four-game losing streak. It was the Heat's fourth straight loss, and the fourth time since February 24 they had lost after a double-digit lead. The Heat were 2–5 since the All-Star break, 5–13 in games decided by five or fewer points and 14–18 against teams with winning records. After the game there were reports of players crying in the locker room afterwords. On March 10, the Heat beat the Lakers, 94–88, and ended their five-game losing streak while also ending the Lakers' eight-game winning streak.
On March 27, Wade, James, and Bosh became the second trio in NBA history to have at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in the same non-overtime game (a home win against the Houston Rockets), matching Oscar Robertson, Wayne Embry and Jack Twyman for the Cincinnati Royals in a loss to the Philadelphia Warriors on February 2, 1961. Additionally, it was the first time that a team's trio recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive games since Sidney Wicks, Lloyd Neal and John Johnson accomplished the feat with the Portland Trail Blazers in March 1975. It was also the first time in Heat franchise history that three players scored 30 points in the same game.
The 2011 Heat finished with a 58-24 record, third best in team history and a second overall seed, behind the Chicago Bulls who had the NBA's best record. Additionally, the Heat finished 5th in the NBA in attendance with 810,930 behind Mavericks, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, and Bulls in that order (100.9% capacity). The Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs and eliminated them in five games. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Heat defeated their rival Boston Celtics in five games, winning a dramatic overtime Game 4 in Boston and a come from behind Game 5 victory at home to finish the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat faced the Chicago Bulls. After being blown out by 21 points by the Bulls in Game 1, the Heat took home-court by defeating Chicago in Game 2, and winning their home Games 3 and 4, the latter of which came in overtime. In Game 5 in Chicago, the Miami Heat made a historic comeback, after being down 77-65 with 3:14 left, the Heat went on an 18-3 run to win, 83-80, capped by a key four point play from Dwyane Wade and clutch shooting from LeBron James. The Heat were selected to face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals who had defeated the Portland Trailblazers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Oklahoma City Thunder. This series would be a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, in which Dallas won the first 2 games and then they lost 4 straight to Miami. The Heat won Game 1 in Miami, 92-84 but in Game 2, the Heat were leading the Mavericks by 15 points with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter before the Heat were outscored 22-5 and lost, 95-93. The Heat won Game 3 in Dallas 88-86 with the game-winning basket scored by Chris Bosh. The Mavericks won Game 4, 86-83, holding LeBron James to a career playoff-low 8 points. The Mavericks won Game 5 and took a 3-2 series lead with a 112-103 victory. This is the first time since March 6 when the Heat lost two straight games, including the regular season, playoffs and the NBA Finals. The Heat lost game 6, thus Dallas won the NBA Championship in 6 games, 4-2 ironically The Mavericks lost to Heat in 2006 4-2. In Game 6, Dallas defeated Miami 105–95 to win the 2011 NBA Finals.