Greetings and salutations from the home office in Sarasota… Just a reminder that tomorrow marks Gibfest 2008. Make plans to be there, and click here to leave your thoughts on a dear friend and talented musician. Many thanks again to all who have shared their memories this past month. See you Saturday.
A few late-breaking options for your weekend… Have a good one, folks.
Jaszy’s Jewelry Trunk Show & Eco-Fashion Event
Sat., May 31, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Simply Spoiled, 100 Central Ave., Sarasota, 364-3337
Do you prefer your bling eco-friendly, or just wanna find out what that means? Check out designer Jasmine McAllister’s creations at Simply Soiled, er, make that Simply Spoiled (c’mon, it sounded environmental and earthy and what not). Learn about off-setting carbon emissions while accessorizing responsibly, and discover the decorative beauty of Fair Trade and recycled gold at a 1 p.m. Q&A. The first 20 guests get a free pair of earrings — run, but tread lightly.
BioHaven Floating Island Launch
Sat., May 31, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. “planting,” launch at approx. 4 p.m.
Sarasota Bay Club, 1301 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 351-2591
While on the eco-tip, check out this “floating island” — a 22-foot in diameter beautification project planted with salt tolerant flowering species — when it’s launched into the boat basin behind the Sarasota Bay Club. This marks the first Florida coastal installation. We don’t know exactly what it means either, but it sounds cool.
Suncoast British Car Club’s Car Show
Sun., June 1, noon-4 p.m.
N. Lemon Ave. and Main St., downtown Sarasota, 955-5253
On the other side of the enviro-spectrum, celebrate British car week — and stomach-churning petrol prices — by perusing over 20 veddy British automobiles, alongside this weekend’s Sarasota Craft Festival. Never fear, there will be a Green Market featuring plants, orchids, and OOOH!!! kettle corn. Actually, we hate kettle corn, but go anyway.
The party is still going on, but here are some shots from the early evening festivities at White on State. More details to follow in Amanda’s Schurr’s gossip column in next week’s Creative Loafing. Pick it up Wednesday and turn inside the back page to read “The Morning After.”
The unease over the potential looming bloodbath in the fall elections has recently bloomed into all out panic for Republicans nationwide. That said, Christine Jennings, the Democrat running to unseat first-term U.S. Representative Republican Vern Buchanan here in Sarasota, is poised to pick up a major endorsement from the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Organization on Monday. Plenty more about the Jennings/Buchanan battle upcoming here in The 941.
• The U.S. government is violating the rights of children in Afghanistan and here at home.
• Who is to blame for the recent spike in world food prices? U.S. pundits are quick to blame the burgeoning middle classes in India and China, but the Indians are turning that finger right back aroun at us Americans.
• See you at White on State Saturday night!
“Just got paid, Friday night, party hoppin’, feelin’ right…”
With that lame 80’s Johnny Kemp song quote out of the way (later redone by N’Sync - hey-o! Double lame!), if you’re ready to spiff up (or not) and head out, whatcha gonna do? Here are a few options…
Jazz Juvenocracy CD release party for “Strange Noises are Coming From Those Kids Over There”
Fri., May 2nd, 8:00 p.m. at Glenridge Performing Arts Center (7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota, 552-5325), Tix are $5.
These kids are great - enthusiastic, talented, driven and did I mention super stoked to be playing music? Six local players with an average age of “14.3,” they tear into everything from Duke Ellington to The Commodores, but I think they really had me at Tower of Power. They’ll likely charm the pants off of you, too.
I’m informed that all proceeds go toward the band members’ ongoing musical education, and “not the latest video game, no matter how much they whine.” If you can’t catch ‘em tonight, they’ll be at The Bungalow (301 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, 365-4430) tomorrow beginning at 7 p.m.
One See & Do item that somehow flew under the radar this week:
In honor of its one-year anniversary, the Puerto Rican Chamber of Sarasota-Manatee Counties is throwing two special bashes this weekend. Tonight, a gala event boasting a three-course meal, live music by local band Cache, dignitaries, dancing and a presentation from Mayor Lou Ann Palmer (we’re guessing the last two aren’t interrelated, but si ella baila, please send pictures).
Tomorrow, the fiesta continues at Five Points Park with a community-wide Puerto Rican Art & Cultural Festival. Food vendors, crafts, more dancing and live performances from musicians Puerto Rican Power and Master Joe are all on tap.
And if reggaeton’s not your thing, you can always roll like us: We’ll be the wallflowers in the corner with Coronas in hand.
Rums of Puerto Rico Gala Award & Reception: Tonight, 7 p.m. (9 p.m. awards ceremony), Arosa Restaurant, 1296 First St., Sarasota, $35. 952-5800 or srqfiesta.com for tickets.
Puerto Rican Art & Cultural Festival of Sarasota: Tomorrow, 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Five Points Park by Selby Library, Sarasota, free. 952-5800 or srqfiesta.com.
The paint thinner-reeking winds of change are blowing fast and hard in
Sarasota’s arts community. The latest casualty? Greene Contemporary.
Gallery owner Jonathan Greene is about to announce that he will close his Pineapple Avenue space — one of a select few in town to feature provocative art that’s something other than a matching accessory to that $5,000 couch. Before setting up shop in NYC, Greene will move to a by-appointment-only, mixed-use showroom/artist’s studio space near mack b after March 31.
The writing’s been on the wall for a while: hiked lease rates as of the first of this year, and the looming storm water construction on Pineapple. The project has been delayed twice, but if it does happen as scheduled in April, it will tear up most of the street and cut down on foot traffic, much like last year’s developments on Palm Avenue. Greene says that though it’s not a 100 percent done deal, things should be locked down within the week.
Greene, the February 2007 cover boy, says locals shouldn’t necessarily take this as a bad thing in the arts scene. Still, we’ve heard rumors of other closings and/or out-of-town relocations. And unless someone comes in to replace venues like Greene, it’s difficult to see this development as anything but a negative.
More to come on this developing story.… In the meantime, what are your thoughts?
Who are Chad and Jeremy? Yeah, we didn’t know, either. But then we asked around in the office, and it turns out they’re the guys who sang that song about summer that you always hum on damp, gray days like today.
Did you already know that? Then maybe you desere a free pair of tickets to hear the duo do their thing tomorrow night at the East Village Cabaret. The first person to e-mail and leave a comment on this post about something they like to do on damp, rainy days will be the winner.
Chad! Jeremy! Free!
Do it.
Please allow myself to introduce … myself. Amanda Schurr here, taking over where Cooper left off in Eventland. I’ll be stopping by this here blogosphere in the coming days, but in the meantime, a parting recommendation for something to do this weekend from the dearly departed:
KNOW YOUR RYE-TS
My belt’s feeling a little tight these days, what with the cookies, the candy canes, the eggnog … oh, the eggnog. In an attempt to fit back into my pants, I’m seriously considering the Manatee County’s Conservation Lands Management Rye Ramble and Hike. The moderate-to-strenuous walk snakes through Parrish’s Rye Preserve, with views of that spot’s old and rare sandy scrub habitat. 9-11 a.m., Rye Preserve, 700 Rye Wilderness Trail, Parrish, free, 748-4501, ext. 4615. –CLB, posthumously
I’ll be back, with my own picks, next week.
Cross-posted at Burbex.com; by Creative Loafing-Tampa Events Editor Leilani Polk.
Louis C.K. is a disillusioned family man and no one knows it better than his fans. For the past several years, the New York-based comic’s anecdotal humor has touched heavily upon the day-to-day frustrations of being a husband and father, an apparently inexhaustible topic that he rants about with fine-tuned fervor and plenty of f-bombs. His new stand-up tour – which landed in Sarasota this past the weekend – featured all new material, including plenty of tirades about his wife (who hates him with such intensity that he respects her for it), and his two young daughters. The most hilarious highlight of his family-oriented bits, however, was one I’d already heard him relate on a recent episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, about getting a stomach ache, having to go to the hospital to prove to his wife that he’s really sick, the prescription for opiate suppositories he’s given to treat his “ailment,†his inner turmoil at having to stick said suppositories up his ass, and the subsequent blessed relief that spread through his body beginning at his asshole.
Not that his entire routine was family-related. He reflected on a range of topics – Rent-a-Centers and the sad saps who “shop†there, being 40 and half dead, his absolute hatred of deer, his need to jerk-off on a daily basis, using shocking words like “cunt,†and plenty else.
He breezed through the set like a pro and broached two potentially objectionable topics – cleaning the shit off his 2-year-old’s private parts and jerking off in the midst of the September 11 attacks – with such dynamic gusto that the room was forced to laugh rather than examine their own discomfort. Overall, a great night of comedy and definitely worth the drive from Tampa to Sarasota.
