the 941

“Kickstands up (or KSU, in bike speak) at 11 a.m.,” the email says.

The weather forecast isn’t too sunny this Sunday, but a handful of Angels wheel into the Mobil station on Clark Road, studded belts and black tanktops, sunglasses and spunk. I bum a sticker-covered helmet from national president, Marsha Wolak, and hop on the back of Rita McClain’s teal and beige Harley.

McClain, who works for Sarasota County, tells me that, with her bike getting over 50 miles a gallon, it’s a much more economical means of work commute than the typical four wheels. “A lot of us are riding our bike more than just for recreational reasons these days!!!,” Wolak later adds.

After a few photo ops, we line up and file out in orderly fashion.. I haven’t been on a motorcycle since last August (coincidentally enough, also a Harley) but have always enjoyed such rides. The wind in your hair — however helmet-matted, feeling at one with the bike and the road, and yeah, just lookin’ like a bad ass.

The ladies are point-on when it comes to proper signaling and keeping a safe speed and distance from each other. We cross paths with fellow bikers heading in the opposite direction, acknowledging each other with a nod and a smile. By the time the group reaches U.S. 41, a few heads have turned. I take my leave of the Divas in a steakhouse parking lot a few moments later.

And with a few hugs goodbye, the kickstands go up again, those Angels bound for Casey Key.

For more on the Diva Angels, check out my cover story this week.

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Nada Surf w/Republic Tigers
Tues., June 3, 8 p.m., State Theatre
687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, $15

Click here for this week’s cover story on Nada Surf.

Ira Elliot isn’t just the drummer for Nada Surf. He’s also quite the impressionist, and an accomplished thespian.

Elliot, singer/guitarist Matthew Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca hit St. Pete’s State Theatre at 8 p.m. Tues., June 3. Below, a few excerpts from our phone interview that didn’t make the page.

Elliot on the tour so far…
The tour’s been going really, really well. The audiences seem to be getting larger, which is good, …though I have noticed a preponderance of really young people at some of these shows. … The European shows have always been a sort of teens and younger … We hit a pretty wide demographic generally. But [at] a lot of these American shows I’ve noticed a lot of younger people, which is pleasing, but a little weird, and we wonder what’s driving that… whether it’s the My Space internet thing, The OC [they remade OMD’s “If You Leave” for the television series' soundtrack], the John Tucker Must Die thing [“I Like What You Say,” from Lucky, first appeared on the movie’s soundtrack]. I have no idea what’s driving that. … I’m happy to see 14-15 year olds at our show. If they stay with you, you’re just sort of raising another generation of fans.

On the response to the new album, Lucky…
I’ve gotten generally really super positive [responses]… My father called me just to tell me that he really felt that this was his favorite, complete work. There were songs that he liked on our previous records, but this one he felt that… there was a completeness about it that really struck him, and he was very moved by it. And I was pretty moved by his comment, because he was almost in tears when he called me to tell me this.

(more…)

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Coming to newsstands across the Suncoast tomorrow:

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Stanley Tucci is one busy thespian. We said it in last week’s Sarasota Film Fest-tastic issue, after chatting with the actor-director-writer-producer who’s in town to pick up an award and present his new film, Blind Date. And now we’re saying it again. Tucci is so busy, that we almost didn’t speak to him at all. After several white-knuckled moments of missed calls and messages left, we were kinda freaked out that we would never reach him.

Fortunately, the Tooch came through (we call him that — we’re close friends now, if only in our minds) and our interview went off without a hitch. But the possibility of having to revert to Plan B — a cover story without the participation of the in-demand gentleman himself — got us thinking:
 
Where in the world is Stanley Tucci?
 
Now that disaster has been averted, we find ourselves still wanting to know. So, we’d like your help in paying a very Loafy tribute to the one, the only, the Tucci. If you are so blessed to find yourself in the presence of his greatness and holding a digital camera, snap a few shots of your close encounter and send them to us. We’ll post our favorites. 
 
Just remember: Stalk respectfully and for the love of God, don’t touch the Tooch.

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Saturday night’s Reel Experience at the Lake Club, planned mostly as an outdoor event, was driven indoors by a sudden downpour. One result of this squeeze was that I found myself pinned between two circular tables and a smiling woman whom everyone was photographing.

“We’re surrounded by sycophants,” I said to a friend. “Who is this woman?”

“I think she’s from Mad about You,” she said, squinting.

“No, that’s not it. But she’s from something.” I studied the thinly sliced flank steak on my fork. “Something where she had an accent, like a New York accent.”

“I don’t know.”

We sought the wisdom of karaoke dynamo and SFF Director of Programming Tom Hall. “Her name’s Nora Dunn,” he said. “She used to be on Saturday Night Live, but she’s been in a lot of features and stuff since then. She’s in Certifiably Jonathan, the film that showed this afternoon. Did you see it?”

“Oh yeaaah,” I said. “She was Wayne’s mom in the Wayne’s World sketch. Cool!”

I was determined to talk with her. For about twenty minutes I did this funky stutter-step dance as I approached her but then realized I had nothing to say, or decided I was too nervous, or was cut off by a more surefooted socialite.

Finally, my time came. I shook her hand, then half-cringed in anticipation of a bodyguard’s tackle. When none came, we got to talking. I had trouble forming words, so the gracious Ms. Dunn took over. (more…)

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According to scientists, the film festival’s opening night gala at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art began in a single point of matter-energy. Over 13 billion years that point expanded, moving incredibly fast but making slow progress, growing steadily more complex until somewhere on the fringe we find a horde of gaily festooned party guests gibbering at each other amid stone male nudes, a ziggurat of cupcakes, and silent, skin-suited dancers with big-goggled eyes. Hits from the ‘70s and ‘80s fill the vast courtyard. Barely dressed women lounge on tables among various meats, and everything is streaked with lasers or flooded by spotlights.

I am myself a part of the film festival, both atomically and journalistically, so I drove uptown in my bedraggled Volvo. I approached the event warily from my non-valet parking spot a few miles away until finally, after about half an hour, I reached the grand edifice.

A magnificent fountain was flanked by two brand-new V12 Mercedes. Why the cars were inside the museum’s iron gates I couldn’t tell. A jazz trio played on the steps, the musicians shutting their eyes in diligence.

I was struck with the sudden certainty that I would not be able to get in. What did I have but for this little ticket? The woman at the gates must have been a sympathetic outsider because she quietly wrapped a band around my wrist and sent me along. I took a flute of champagne from the champagne display, where blue-lit smoke flowed out of dry-ice prisms, and ducked inside.

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This just in, a change of location for tomorrow’s KidsFest Big Night Out (originally scheduled at Payne Park). 

When: Saturday, April 5 at 6 p.m.

Where: Holley Hall at the Florida West Coast Symphony, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

Per fest officials: “Due to the chance of inclement weather, KidsFest Big Night Out has changed venues from Payne Park to Holley Hall at the Florida West Coast Symphony.” For directions or additional info., call 366-6200.

As for this evening’s Opening Night Film and festivities, we’ll be there to blog all the hot star-on-star action. Stay tuned.

For more deets on the 10th annual lineup, check out this week’s CL.

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As you sit in your cubicle/house/bathtub this blazing hot Thursday afternoon, let us suggest some reading material. Joel’s story on the last independent video store in Sarasota, award-winning Video Renaissance, is now live and in effect. Our scribe spent quite a bit of time with the three gentlemen who man the desk over there, and discovered that they’re the main reason the place is still in business. Independent video stores across the country have taken a beating from Netflix — we should be proud that Renaissance has persevered. And if you haven’t been there, go. Now. We’re predicting a serious run on Gigli within the next few hours.

Plus: The Video Renaissance guys’ picks for movies everyone should see. (Check the comments.)

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CL doesn’t often tread into the dangerous waters of sportswriting — it’s mean out there, and we tend to swim in the kiddie pool with less contentious topics like politics and the environment*.

But this week, we “grew a pair” (as Joel would say) and took on the closest thing we have to a family value: rooting for the Boston Red Sox. Specifically, we wrote a few thousand words about why being a baseball fan is about pulling for the underdog, and why we’re scared our beloved squad has become little more than Yankees Lite. (Although, to be fair, the Red Sox still have a soul.)

So where did we turn to recapture that losing feeling? Where else: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

* This Saturday, Cooper will be offering a seminar entitled “How to Rock a Bowl Cut and Still Look Like a Badass.” Admission is free.

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This is it folks — the tale that’ll put all those other Earth Day stories to shame. CLB spent a week living as sustainably as possible; his diary, along with tips for green living and an index of eco-friendly Suncoast businesses, is here. Check it. Then ask him to tell you more about “bathing” in the bay.

And check this. For the record, Coop refused to wear a Kermit costume on the cover.

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