
7 minute read
TAKE ME HOME?
Find A Friend At The Florida Keys Spca
The Keys Weekly family loves animals as much as our friends at the Florida Keys SPCA do, and we’re honored each week to showcase some “furever” friends that are ready, waiting and available for adoption at the organization’s Key West campus.
From cats and dogs to Guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, reptiles and birds, the perfect addition to your family is waiting for you. The SPCA’s knowledgeable staff will help with advice and care tips while working to ensure a good fit between each pet and its people.
The SPCA’s Golden Paw program also provides special assistance with vet bills and medications for special-needs and older animals that require a little extra TLC.
Check these pages each week for just a few of the animals waiting for a home and see them all at fkspca.org.
The Friday morning cleanup on April 21 was held at the corner of White Street and Atlantic Boulevard. A joint collaboration for the Conch Republic Days celebration included a total of 51 volunteers including the Ploggers, Conch Republic Green Ops, Coca Cola Beverages of Florida, Key West Police, First Horizon Bank and the Key West Business Guild. In one hour they cleaned Higgs Beach, White Street Pier, Atlantic Boulevard, the Indigenous Park and bocce courts yielding a total of 101 pounds of trash, 22 pounds of recycling and 6 gallons of cigarette butts. CONTRIBUTED
One hour a week makes a huge difference, and volunteers are welcome every Friday and some Saturday mornings, from 8 to 9 a.m., when the Key West Ploggers clean up a designated area of the island.
Gloves, pickers, buckets, vests, hand sanitizer and a parking pass are provided to all volunteers.
A troubling number of cigarette butts and plastic bags have been included in recent hauls. Please remember your reusable bags when shopping so we can keep the plastic off the streets, parking lots and, most importantly, out of the water. And dispose of cigarette butts in any receptacle rather than the street or sidewalk, as from there, they easily end up in the ocean.
The city of Key West and its residents ask everyone to do their part to help keep Key West beautiful. With simple steps like making sure you bag your trash before putting it in your Waste Management trash cans or Dumpsters, and making sure the lids on Dumpsters are closed, will keep a lot of trash from blowing into the streets. Call Waste Management at 305-296-8297 for any furniture items left on the city right of way.
Please pick up around your home or apartment complex. Every piece of trash picked up is one less that may end up in the ocean that surrounds and sustains our island community. It is not just the large items you can see easily when you are walking, but the smaller items such as bottle caps and cigarette butts that are collected by the volunteers that make the biggest difference.
It takes committed community involvement to keep Key West beautiful and we are making progress with every cleanup event and every spot that’s adopted. Call Dorian Patton at 305-809-3782 to find out how your business, nonprofit or club can help.

— Contributed
Join a morning cleanup from 8 to 9 a.m. and stay tuned for the full May schedule.
Friday, April 28: Lazy Way & Key West Bight. (Meet next to mural at end of William Street.)
Monday, May 1: Cleanup at Bayview Park
Roscoe is a 2½-year-old male basset hound mix. He’s a friendly pup who’s good around kids, other dogs and people. He would love a home with a yard where he can sniff his heart out.

Arlene is a 4-year-old female domestic shorthair. Surrendered with her brother, Garfield, she enjoys his company, but may need time to meet other kitties. Once she trusts you, she’s full of purrs, snuggles and belly rubs.
Shandor is a 3-year-old female domestic shorthair. She’s a queen bee who will warm up to you with patience and a whole lot of treats.


Winter is an adult male American rabbit. He’s a long-term resident looking for a family willing to give him space to run, lots of greens and snuggle time.

Garfield is a 7-year-old male domestic shorthair. Calm, cool and collected, he loves snuggly beds, relaxing and watching the world go by.

Through April 30
COVERS: ONE SONG, MANY DIFFERENT SOUNDS
Ray West
... a professional musician, singer, actor and executive director of the Key West Music Awards, is known to sacrifice his comfort for that of his cat.
For singers/songwriters/ guitarists making a living in any tourist town, playing versions of popular songs is often their bread and butter. Which song one may choose to cover is a topic we have breached before. But how one chooses to play these cover songs is fresh subject matter.

The most obvious method is to reproduce the song as closely as possible to the original. From the tone of the singer’s voice, to the kick drum, from the keyboard’s organ sound to the A-minor arpeggio guitar sweep at the chorus, the effort is in the art of reproducing what you have heard many times. This takes a special skill set. It takes an understanding of music as well as an ear for tones and texture. It often takes patience to listen to a song many, many times and a specific passage many more times to get it right. Then of course, there’s the time and energy it takes to be able to perform that piece in a live setting. Granted, some songs are simpler than others to reproduce. But every player approaches their instrument a little differently, whether striking chords at a certain time or with a technique that must be adapted to reproduce that sound, or feeling.
Another way to cover a song is to hit all the main points, and leave some parts open for interpretation.
Let’s say a player lays out the intro lick to “Ventura Highway.” They sing the familiar melody, strum the pre-chorus and move seamlessly into the harmonized sing-along section. Then, after recording a bit into a loop pedal that’ll play that bit back forever, the musician plays a guitar solo, over the top. This guitar solo in no way resembles the recorded version, but it sounds good. Then the player picks up another instrument, say a flute, and performs a creative solo that catches your ear, then launches into the next verse and those familiar lyrics. The skill set required here differs in that a player is depending on their own particular creativity to add a new, and hopefully interesting, flavor to the original piece.
A most interesting approach is to change some major ingredient of the song itself. This could include instrumentation, genre, speed, texture, intensity and anything else. A great example of this might be Richard Cheese’s version of “Killing in the Name Of” by Rage Against the Machine. Complete with a horn section and a glockenspiel, it may be the polar opposite of the original, while also creative and exceptionally well done.
There are varying combinations of all these things and this is an oversimplified attempt to explain something that may be more opinion than fact. Yet I dare say that if you were to take a musical pilgrimage down Duval Street on any given evening, you may catch Myles Mancuso’s tight country rock version of a song with which Reggae Lou and the Kind Buds just chilled you out. And it’s the same song that Kari Wolf just made you fall in love with.
• Conch Republic Independence Celebration continues through April 30, with daily events on and off the water to highlight Key West’s lighthearted secession in the 1980s. See page 37 for a schedule of events and visit conchrepublic.com.
Thursday, April 27
• The Key West High School band presents “Dinner & A Show.” Dinner will include Cuban-style fare, including salad, drinks and desserts, and will be offered from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. in the KWHS courtyard, with the band’s Spring concert to follow in the KWHS auditorium starting at 7 p.m. For tickets and donations, please see: https://www. vancoevents.com/us/events/ landing?eid=31331&qr=true
Saturday, April 29
• 2nd annual Cuban Sandwich Throwdown, noon to 3 p.m. at the Green Parrot Bar, Key West. Tickets are $20 to participate in taste tests of nine Cuban sandwich entries. 100% of proceeds benefit The Learning Center preschool.
• Cori Convertito from the Key West Art & Historical Society discusses “Crossing the Florida Straits: 150 Years of Cuban Migration to South Florida,” 1 p.m. in the Toppino Nature Chapel at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden, College Road, Stock Island.
Monday, May 1
• Volunteer cleanup at Bayview Park, 8 to 9 a.m.
Wednesday, May 3
• City of Key West holds a meeting for residents about potential changes to the city’s sound control law, 2 p.m. at City Hall, 1300 White St.
Thursday, May 4
• The Interfaith Ministerial Alliance, plus local clergy, and city officials observe the National Day of Prayer at 9 a.m. in front of City Hall, 1300 White St. Chaplain Robert Spivey of Naval Air Station Key West will give the opening address.
Sunday, May 7
• The Music Room students and local musicians present Kids Helping Kids Concert celebrating the songs of the Beatles, 6:30 p.m. at Tennessee Williams Theater.
Friday & Saturday, May 12 & 13
• The Key West High School Drama Club presents its spring musical, “Mean Girls,” with shows at 7 p.m. both nights in the school’s auditorium.
Monday, May 15
• City of Key West holds a meeting for businesses about potential changes to the city’s sound control law, 10 a.m. at City Hall, 1300 White St.
Wednesday, May 24
• City of Key West holds a meeting for businesses and residents about potential changes to the city’s sound control law, 5 p.m. at City Hall, 1300 White St.
Sunday, May 28
• Schooner Wharf Bar’s Minimal Regatta, 12 p.m., 201 William St.
June 30-July 4
• Key West’s Key Lime Festival will celebrate the world’s most sensational citrus with a bountiful array of festivities across the very island where Key lime pie was conceived.