05242019 WEEKEND

Friday, May 24, 2019

art books theatre film fashion music food gardening puzzles

Weekend

SHAKING BRUNCH UP Page 7

Perfect patterns When interior designer turns to fashion pages 14 & 15

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

fashion

Making history: Rihanna launches brand Fenty in Paris store Rihanna poses as she unveils her first fashion designs for Fenty at a pop-up store in Paris, France, Wednesday, May 22, 2019.

R

ihanna, the first black woman in history to head up a major Parisian luxury house, is unveiling her first fashion designs for Fenty at a pop-up store in Paris.

The collection, named after the singer-turned-designer’s last name, comprises ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and eyewear and is available for sale in Paris’ Le Marais area from today and will debut online on May 29.

“This is a moment in history,” Rihanna, 31, said at a preview of the store in a white structure tuxedo dress.

“It’s a big deal for me and my entire generation.”

News of the singer’s groundbreaking new deal with LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group, shook up the fashion industry earlier this month.

The Barbados-born star’s lines are the second time LVMH has created an original brand.

But the move also acknowledges the fashion industry of today considers a major popstar can have as much to say in fashion design as established and trained designers such as Nicolas Ghesquiere of Louis Vuitton, or even the lauded Alber Elbaz, formerly of Lanvin, who is out of work.

Fenty has been heralded by some critics as the first major house of the Instagram age.

Fenty says the brand will be based in Paris, like its parent company, conglomerate LVMH, but will operate from a digital flagship on a “See-NowWear-Now” model forgoing to usual luxury fashion seasonal previewed designs.

“They were flexible enough to allow me to have a different perspective on the way I wanted to release things,” she said. “Coming from such a traditional background in fashion (as LVMH), you don’t think there’s another way that will work and they allowed me to do that.”

It’s expected to capitalize on the acclaim received by her most popular luxury venture Fenty Beauty line in 2017 — which some said revolutionized the makeup industry by celebrating diversity by showcasing foundations in 40 shades.

If she looks calm, “it’s a facade,” acknowledged the star when faced with the expectations before the historic launch.

“There’s pressure every single second,” she said. “It’s not like crumbling pressure, but it’s like ‘you better get it good girl.’”

THOMAS ADAMSON AP Fashion Writer

A woman looks at creations by Rihanna.

Creation are displayed as Singer Rihanna,. (AP Photos/Francois Mori)

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Friday, May 24, 2019

Inside Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend Latara Archer/ Intervention Specialist Beach or Sofa

Interview 4-5 Kachelle Knowles hopes to inspire people through her unique art

Food 7 Hendricks offers an unusual brunch

Food 8-9 Fusion Superplex’s Super Brunch

Comedy 10-11 Jokers Wild serves up 30 years of laughs

Entrepreneur 12 Celebrating with balloons

Fashion 13 Hits and misses at the Cannes Film Festival

Fashion - 14-15 Bringing fashion to the island of Abaco

Film 17-18 First look at Rocketman and Aladdin

Gardening 19 Bringing colour to the garden

Literary Lives 20-22 A look at a Renaissance man

History 23 Aviation in The Bahamas

Books 24-25 New releases for the summer

Puzzles

26

Animals 27 Talking Surrey horses and pet of the week.

“I think the beach is a great place to relax and settle a mood.

Whether it is for family fun or a romantic getaway you can definitely do many things.”

Saturday brunch or Sunday lunch?

“A Sunday lunch is an elegant way to unwind and enjoy a good meal. You can never go wrong with a filling Sunday meal.”

Rum, Wine, Cocktail or Kalik?

“Wines are the classiest drinks to exist to date. Every occasion calls for a glass of wine whether it be to debunk after a hard day’s work or to celebrate something special.”

What is one thing that you cannot live without?

“The one thing I can’t live without would be prayer. I’m a firm believer that prayer changes things and even when life seems at its hardest you can never go wrong with prayer.”

Weekend away where would you go and why?

“My choice of a weekend getaway would be downtown Miami. Reason being I love its night life- very fun and exciting.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday •Mums and Bubs and Drums Time: 4pm Venue Viva Physio and Wellness at Sandyport A Magical hour of storytelling, movement goatskin drums and the caribbean beat.

• Twilight Electric Festival Featuring Showtime at the Pink Flamingo Time: 6pm Encore Saturday and Sunday at 6pm.

Venue: Atlantis Bahamas Twilight Electric is an entertainment and art festival that is new to Atlantis, showcasing all the entertainment you’d ever want in one place. Come join us for a twilight celebration that will seduce your senses and fill your soul! Enjoy a unique festival playground at Paradise Harbour featuring the most spectacular live show Showtime at the Pink Flamingo and homegrown Bahamian flavours at every turn.

Atlantis guests and Bahamas residents: $15 adults

$7.50 children under 12 years of age • The Odd Couple (female version) Time: 8pm Venue: The Philip A Burrows Black Box at the Dundas Centre Come and see Neil Diamond’s famous play rewritten for a female cast and directed by Erin McKinney.

Saturday • Solomon’s Fresh Market Fun Run Walk and Health Fair Time: 6.30am -1pm Venue: Old Fort Bay Join Fresh Market for their annual 10k/5k Walk and Health Fair featuring health screenings, biometric assessments, and food sampling • Sizzling Saturdays with GQ Time: 8pm Venue: Fusion Superplex The heat will be turned up at Sizzling Saturdays.The cost is only $25 at the door, so come and dance and chill with the GQ Band and bring a partner. It’s going to be a night of fun, food, and fantastic music.

• Jazz and Tapas Time: 7PM Venue: The Ranfurly Home Join The Zonta Club of New Providence at a special evening of jazz and tapas as they raise funds to build a transitional home and the organisations programs to empower women.

Sunday • Bahamas Sickle Cell Association Tea Party Time: 4pm Venue: St Paul’s Church, Lyford Cay The organisation will host a traditional Bahamian afternoon tea.

Come enjoy a fun afternoon in your best tea party attire and hats and gloves.

• Miss World Bahamas Time: 8pm Venue: Atlantis Eight beautiful ladies will compete in the final competition for the crown

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

interview

Inspired by the people around her, Kachelle Knowles is making waves in the art world - with her first solo exhibition to be held at the end of August. She spoke to Cara Hunt about her work and the ideas in her art.

Kachelle Knowles

A

RTIST Kachelle Knowles hopes her work will inspire others to action - whether it be selfreflection, or a greater understanding of one another.

Among the ideas explore in her work are gender identity, cultural preservation/ production and social relations within the Black Caribbean community.

Her career in art is something she never imagined as a child.

“I was always interested in drawing but I never saw it a possible career since I never had any formal training. My high school never had any art programs but I was encouraged by one of my teachers to attend an after-school art program when I was approaching my last year in school,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“Timothy Nottage was one of the teachers there that really gave me the guidance and the courage to become an artist.”

Kachelle went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada.

Her artistic style is a combination of drawings and collages which she describes as mixed media and a multi-faceted experience.

“My work is influenced by mostly my interactions with people,” she said. “Men are the key source, obviously, but women also are integral in shaping the physical identity of men as well and that can produce some interesting visual collaborations, both in real life and also in art, she said.

Her subject matter tends to reference people she has met in her own life.

“We have an identity we create for ourselves and with each individual we interact with, there is another version of ourselves created within this person.

“I am usually referencing the men that I have seen, men I have close interaction with, men I imagine through conversation and men I idealise.”

The result is an electric composition made of different materials that still blend seamlessly together.

Friday, May 24, 2019

With her portraits, she celebrates the black male body - depicted in delicate pencil-marks, and adorned with meticulous colours and patterns.

Her portraits dispel the archetype of the aggressive, sexualised black male, while inquiring into the complexity of identity and stereotype. “ The pieces are at times an amalgamation of all of these things into one complete figure. The viewer is then asked to confront this figure and their interpretation is what I am interested in. Is the response anger, sympathy, connection, disgust and what are the reasons for that? It actually says more about ourselves than it does the figure that I am illustrating.”

“Since my work deals so much with the male figure, I hope that I can strike a dialogue within the community of men that often don’t speak about their own identity and what it means to be a black man living in the Caribbean,” she explained.

Being an artist has of course helped her find and amplify her own voice.

My work is influenced by mostly my interactions with people. Men are the key source, obviously, but women also are integral in shaping the physical identity of men as well.

“I actually hate public speaking. I also hate being in the spotlight at any event. However, being an artist means you have to talk about your work, whether it be one-on-one or a group of people,” she explained.

“I don’t think it is something I have fully overcome but I am definitely more comfortable doing it. In Canada, I was able to have my work challenged through so many different viewpoints since there were so many ethnicities that resided where I was living.”

She said that it helped her realise art’s global impact.

“It allows me to think about how my work existson a worldwide platform rather than me catering to the viewpoints of the Caribbean perspective. In Nassau, the accessibility of exhibiting your work is amazing. It is so great that such a small island is able to produce so many exhibitions that allowed me to start showing my work and experience that first taste of what it means to be a true artist,” she added.

She also admires the work of local artist Heino Schmid “because of his ability to see art in every object he interacts with. He has worked in so many mediums from photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, and he is able to find context within simple everyday life and turn it into a masterpiece”.

Kachelle also feels artists need to use their platform to address important issues to society.

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For example, she said, “Women’s rights should be written and forwarded by women as it is only they who understand what we need. You cannot deem to address something that quiets the opinions and wants of the very people you are trying to help. An audience can be influenced by many forms of information - stories in text, spoken poetry, visual art, music, physical performances. Artists are not only deeply impacting viewers through their art but their works also act as a piece of historical artifact of their time.

You are able to educate not only the present but also the future.

This is why it is important to use your platform because the more relevant voices are heard the better.”

Looking toward the future, Kachelle is looking forward to her first solo show - at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas at the end of August.

“I am super excited about it.

I am very nervous about it as I have not been able to show a body of my recent works since Transforming Spaces at the D’Aguilar Foundation so I hope that the work is well received and can stir up many conversations.”

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Friday, May 24, 2019

food

Unusual Side of Hendricks

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

B

| Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

runch has become incredibly popular with Bahamians in recent years.

And while it is usually a pleasurable outing, it can sometimes be a bit “samey”.

To shake things up, the Commonwealth Brewery and chef Kevin Pratt will be presenting the second annual “The Most Unusual Brunch’ event this Sunday.

DISHES prepared in unique combinations by Chef Kevin Pratt will be the spotlight of “The Most Unusual Brunch” event.

This will be the second annual “Most Unusual Brunch” presented by Commonwealth Brewery Limited and will

take place on May 26, from 7pm–10pm, at the Royal Blue Tavern, Baha Mar. As the name indicates, the event is an unusual take on brunch and will feature dishes infused with Hendricks liquor and Hendricks cocktails. It is expected to feature entertainment such as a contortionist, a stilt walker and fire dancers.

“Brunch is loved by all and anything with Hendrick’s is required to be unusual in very sense of the word.

The tagline for the gin is ‘Embrace the Unusual’ so we thought for our culture ‘The Most Unusual Brunch”’ was perfect,” said Densil Deveaux, brand manager of Commonwealth Brewery Ltd. “Some of the dishes that we have already been privy to are shrimp and

Chef Kevyn Pratt

grits corn dogs, black and cheese (black mac and cheese), chicken and waffles with a Bahamian flair - as well as cocktail pairings with unusual twists.

We do not want to reveal everything as we want attendees to be wowed,” he said.

The dishes are the idea of executive chef Kevin Pratt, who will lead the team at Royal Blue Tavern for this event.

“People should come out because this event will be a unique experience.

It only happens once a year. Each year will change things up completely,” he said.

Mr Deveaux added: “Our Hendricks Lovers can also look out for Hendricks Happy Hours coming soon.”

In the lead-up to the event, CBL hosted a food pairing event that allowed attendees to get a sneak peek at the delectable dishes that will be paired with the top-class gin.

What makes the alcoholic beverage a hit among consumers - according to the brand - is its infusion of rose and cucumber, that is “delectably supported by no less than 11 botanicals from the four corners of the world.

This whimsical concoction produces a wonderfully refreshing gin with a delightfully floral aroma. With the tagline of ‘Embrace the unusual’, Hendricks enjoys putting on unusual experiences that bring highlight to the brand”.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

food

Fusion branches out with brunch

By ALESHA CADET

S

| Tribune Features writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

ince opening last year, Fusion Superplex has quickly become the new “it” place in town to hang out at; not only for movie lovers, but for foodies

as well.

And every Sunday for the past two months, the 100,000 square foot entertainment facility has been drawing crowds to its brunch ‘Super Brunch’ at both the Edge and Altitude restaurants, which are located on the second floor.

Here, diners can choose to sit inside or outside on the rooftop terrace overlooking western Nassau.

Fusion’s Super Brunch offers everything from assorted breakfast pastries to a French toast and waffle station, hot egg dishes, a salad and charcuterie station, and a carving station that includes roast striploin. There are also other hot entrees as well as desserts.

Additionally, there is the option of bottomless wild berry, mango or orange mimosas at an additional cost.

As brunch hours start at 11am and extend through to 4pm, Chef Emmanuel Gibson, Executive Chef at Fusion

encourages patrons to take their time and prepare small plates so that they can enjoy a little bit of everything.

“This is a complete dining experience all in one. I think Bahamians really like to go out and eat on Sundays. The brunch concept is a good revenue stream and it provides a lot of options for persons who are looking to just relax, enjoy a good breakfast as well as a lunch all in one. It provides a lot of variety in that regard so it is a win-win,” said Chef Gibson.

Since the launch of ‘Super Brunch’, Chef Gibson and his team said guest numbers have been steadily growing.

“Persons who are normally familiar with Edge know that it is outside and inside dining, and this gives them two options of seating. You can come here to eat a nice quality meal and then watch a movie. It has a lot of room to grow and we certainly have the space for it,” said Chef Gibson.

Fusion Superplex is a new concept for him, coming from the hotel industry. But he believes what the owners are trying to create in terms of an allin-one experience is admirable.

Chef Emmanuel Gibson and Devin Johnson, director of Food And Beverage “My career started as a pot washer in 1986. In the back of my mind I have always wanted to learn more about culinary arts. I went off and completed a four-year degree. I taught culinary arts at the College of the Bahamas for about five years and resigned in 2005.

I worked at private homes as a chef, as well as at the Ocean Club as an executive chef. This experience for me has afforded me culinary opportunities in places like Dubai, Mexico and the United States,” he said.

“I try to do my best to enhance the food here at Fusion and make sure it is up to standard. You just have to love what you do, and once you have a passion for it success will come.”

Devin Johnson, director of Food and Beverage, said it is a great feeling to have seen Fusion grow from the ground up.

“I can speak for Emmanuel, too, being some of the first Bahamians to start and set up the restaurants and

bars from scratch. When we came on board here, it was just a space. Nothing was here, no building was here, only the foundation. Basically coming up with the concepts, naming the restaurants, theming the restaurants, picking the colours and the furniture, it was a long journey in getting here. To see where we are at, we are not perfect as yet, because we are still in the soft opening phase and we still have things to tweak,” said Mr Johnson.

He said the team is still in the process of perfecting things here and there; things that may not be visible to the public’s eye but are noticeable to them as they know what they expect of Fusion.

“I have worked at up to four hotels where I had the opportunity to start up businesses so I know the groundwork and how it is done. I am a professional chef trained, but moved to director on numerous different occasions. I have worked in the capacity of director as

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Friday, May 24, 2019

well as executive chef. A lot of persons who work as directors in food and beverage really don’t know food, so being a trained chef with five years of culinary training throughout Europe, it gives me a wealth of knowledge in knowing how to set up the restaurants and what the chef goes through as well as what the front of the house goes through,” said Mr Johnson.

For instance, he said the two bars at Fusion are doing great business and they have discovered areas where the team can maybe add another bar.

“We have a private dining and our Pure theatres, so I am looking at putting a bar over there so the servers wouldn’t have to come (this) far to get a drink for a customer. We are planning to extend and looking to go into another another Family Island and also into eastern Nassau. It may not be as big as this, but we may have a theatre out there or one of our signature restaurants out there, so we are looking at more avenues to push Fusion,” he said.

“Fusion is the place to be; we have a lot of repeat Bahamian customers who are here every weekend, as there is so much to do that you cannot do in just one or two visits.”

Photos/Alesha Cadet

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Friday, May 24, 2019

comedy

Joker's Wild Celebrates 30 Years

By ALESHA CADET

| Tribune Features writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

F

OR 30 years, the Jokers Wild Comedy Club on Paradise Island has been bringing a smile to people’s faces.

The club celebrates its 30th anniversary later this year. For six nights a week, from TuesdaySunday at 9.30pm, the club over the years has entertained more than two million visitors at the venue between the Beach and Coral Towers of the Atlantis Resort.

Big names such as Chris Rock, Tommy Davidson, Damon Wayans and John Witherspoon have starred at the venue - which has also given local performers the chance to take the stage.

Bahamian entertainer Inigo Naughty and Tommy Davidson Zenicazelaya, better known as Naughty, is the House Comic at Joker’s Wild. He told Tribune Weekend that for the entire year, the team is offering a 2 for $30 entrance special for Bahamians rather than the regular $25 per person cost. People are also encouraged to look out for many special events and surprises all year.

“Joker’s Wild features some of the funniest touring comedians throughout the United States and Canada. You’ve seen them on Comedy Central, premium blend, comic view, and as well as celebrity acts that we do bring in for special events,” said Naughty.

For the 21 years he has been part of Joker’s Wild, Naughty said he has seen the club grow - starting off property at the Atlantis and then ending up on property. He has seen returning

“Spike Lee has a great saying that if you can do what you love and get paid for it as well as make a career out of it, you win.”

tourists and has watched it blossom to see the locals continuously support.

“I have also watched it to grow to the point where I see Bahamians want to get into the comedy game. They want to do stand up comedy, so this is evolving. We offer open mic every Thursday night so Bahamians can try it out. We are on par with premier comedy clubs in the United States.

When I first started, no one wanted to try this, as in performing and getting into it as a career, but now after 30 years you have seen other Bahamians rise up in the comedy game and more and more Bahamians are interested in doing.

“Spike Lee has a great saying that if you can do what you love and get paid for it as well as make a career out of it, you win. Well I consider myself a winner because I get to do what I love and I made a career out of it for 21 years. I have done well at it and it is a great career for me and my livelihood. I pride myself that I have been feeding my family for 21 years doing stand-up comedy. A lot of persons cannot say that and it isn’t bragging if its true. I consider myself a trailblazer in the field and it was all because of Joker’s Wild and the opportunity they gave me.”

Naughty remembered a moment with his late mother who attended one of his shows at Joker’s Wild back in the day. He said his mom pulled him and a few other comics aside after performing and encouraged them all to never stop what they are doing, as it is important for people who attend to help them relieve life’s stress.

“She grabbed me and a few other comics and said it is very important for us guys to do what we do. We don’t know what people are going through when they come through the doors of a comedy club and the baggage they are carrying. They could be dealing with so much, and for the 30 minutes we have on stage, we give them a relief and a break from that. The humour gives them an escape and it is very important so don’t ever downplay what we do.

This stuck with me because I know what I am capable of. I have been

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Friday, May 24, 2019

Craig Robinson with House Comic Naughty

John Witherspoon

Preacher Lawson

Naughty with Ryan Anderson of Orlando Magic

Naughty and Donell Rawlings

John Witherspoon and Naughty

Naughty and Bruce Bruce blessed for do it for this long. Comedy has no shelf life so if you are a stand-up comedian you can do it until you’re 85 or older,” he said.

As far as Joker’s Wild, he said as long as there’s a vibrant tourism product, as long as the Atlantis is the Atlantis, and as long as Bahamians continue to patronise, people can always expect to find Joker’s Wild.

“People have enjoyed it, we know this because they come back. I foresee it continuing and you never know, you may see the opening of some more comedy clubs as more hotels continue to open. Right now, I am in negotiations now to do something for Netflix that will emanate from Joker’s Wild. It will be a pilot that is being taped there so as that approaches we will get in touch with The Tribune so we can get our Bahamians out there, so we want locals and tourists for that special. We want The Bahamas seen from up close and personal, and from a comedic standpoint as well,” said Naughty.

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Friday, May 24, 2019

entrepreneurs

Balloon Bar Bahamas

By ALESHA CADET

E

| Tribune Features writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

NTREPRENEUR Renate McWilliam had the dream of setting up her balloon business for just about five years.

While she had her material and machines to kickstart at any time, for Renate, life got busy. Even through the hectic schedules, she constantly shared this vision with family and eventually with a close friend. All kept pushing her to start.

She would fall asleep talking to God and one morning Renate woke from a vision that showed her operating two businesses - one by the name of Balloon Bar Bahamas.

Balloons have long been used as party favours to decorate a space, but with the start of Renate’s Balloon Bar,

“Balloon Bar Bahamas brings creativity to custom balloon arrangements...” she is aiming to change the balloon game.

Opening in February, the homebased business offers gift packages with personalised balloons. This includes nuts, fruits, wine, ciders, sweets and chocolates. Orders are placed online via social media as a point of contact.

“Balloon Bar Bahamas brings creativity to custom balloon arrangements and custom centrepieces throughout the Family Islands. We also provide event rentals, backdrops, gift baskets and so much more. The feedback for this has all been positive, uplifting and motivating, exceeding my expectations. However, I know that God’s favour is never what we expect. So to him I give thanks for the positive feedback and I am humbled by it all. I remember the very first delivery where I got to deliver happiness to a motherin-law. The expression on her face was priceless and to hear the daughter-inlaw express how she wanted to surprise her mother-in-law as she was one in a million, that was the moment I truly

felt Balloon Bar Bahamas began, our first delivery of happiness,” said Renate.

Renate is thankful to her parents Philip and Felicia Roberts, and her now deceased paternal grandmother Eloise Roberts, her biggest influences in life.

“Growing up on the island, they always reminded me that I was bigger than my surroundings and that I was destined for greatness. Especially my mom and grandmother, they are/were my life’s biggest cheerleaders, even when I feel like throwing in the towel my mom reminds me that’s not possible and I think about my grandmother and immediately know she would be supporting my every move but will remind me that I can do all things through Christ,” said Renate.

Renate offers to offer signature looks unique to Balloon Bar Bahamas, and to slowly unveil other aspects of the business.

“Right now, I am operating only 1/10 of my vision for Balloon Bar Bahamas. Offers have been made to invest in the business - this was a happy moment, as it will give me the opportunity to lay out the remaining 9/10 of the business. This expansion should hopefully broaden my clientele,” said Renate.

For more information, visit the Balloon Bar Bahamas Facebook page.

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Friday, May 24, 2019

celebrity

The Weekend Fashion Report

Cannes Film Festival

With Cara Hunt and Farah Gibson

HIT

HIT

SPLIT

FAIL

FAIL

Elle Fanning ”Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”

Winnie Harlow model

Michelle Rodriguez ”Fast & Furious 9”

Marion Cotillard ”Allied”

Dakota Fanning ”Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Farah says: “I love everything about this look. The midi navy skirt, the exaggerated sheer top, and the strapy shoes that are such a great compliment for the hat she is wearing.

Farah says: “Winne HarlowA true definition of being comfortable in your own skin. Love this symmetry of the dress and The Little Red Riding Hood vibes”

Farah says: “This was truly a lazy and tacky ensemble by Marion. What the hell as she thinking pairing this 90’s crop top with that ill fitting skirt?

Cara says: “This is a super cute look. Elle is obviously having the time of her life, playing dress up. I think she looks adorable. It is just a fabulous 1960 girl about town look.

Cara says: “Little Red Riding Hood goes to Cannes. Of course she is a model and can get away with the theatrical drama of the event, so while the rest of us mere mortals would look ridiculous she looks fab.

Karin says: “I don’t hate this look but I don’t love it either.

I will say though the dress fits her well however the necklace was unnecessary and she could have chosen a hairtstyle that brings out her youthfulness.

Farah says: “Could Dakota have gotten anymore basic than this? This ball gown/ prom dress is such a mismatch.

She should have decided between the gold sash and the necklace - both are far from being a winning combination

Cara says: “Well she was attacked by a crowd of ostriches wasn’t she. This is a lot of dress. I’m a bit on the fence. Maybe it looks better in person- but in this picture, she just looks like a plucked bird.

Cara says: If the Hefty brand decided to enter the fashion game, they would probably use this outfit as they debut look. It just looks like two crumpled garbage bags. And to be honest, even if the fabric was nicer, the style is super unflattering on her.

Cara says: “I am a fan of elegant updos with fabulous strapless gowns and neck bling- however I have to say Dakota’s hair looks a bit little severe - and the dress is just average. It’s not that great.

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Friday, May 24, 2019

fashion

Boutique on the

move

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@ tribunemedia.net

“As a designer, I enjoy going to Trunk’s shows and pop up shops. It’s an entertaining event, with a unique shopping experience.

I

nterior designer Lowree Tynes always knew she would one day want to own a boutique - after all, she already had a love of island living and shopping for unique and lovely merchandise for herself and her family.

When her interior design business led her to Abaco for an extended period, she turned her vison into reality and opened the Abaco Life Style - Trunk collection.

She explained that the Trunk show is a sales event. “This type of store gets the brands out there and sold without the traditional overhead costs typical for a store front such as rent, staffing and utility, etc, making it a much more economical way to do business in the country,” she explained.

“Abaco Life Style is a trunk show, that pops up once a month to various locations - to name a few, Treasure Sands Club, Treasure Cay and Da Blue Hole, Marsh Harbor and throughout the Abacos.

“This was really a perfect option for me. Because since I am not in Abaco permanently, it would have been difficult for me to have a permanent store front.”

Instead, since coming up with the idea for the Trunk show at the beginning of the year she has hosted two pop-up events.

“As a designer, I enjoy going to Trunk’s shows and pop up shops. It’s an entertaining

event, with a unique shopping experience. All the brands currently in the Trunk show I’ve purchased for myself or my family. Each brand is a lifestyle brand with in itself and it’s beautiful to see all of them in our collection. The collections really flow together, the prints and colors capture your eyes right away and makes you feel like you’re on vacation.

“The traditional store front makes you fixed to a location and I enjoy traveling throughout the Abacos and this way more people are able to see the products that wouldn’t necessarily see and purchase it if I was in one location.”

She added that because the events are spread apart they become more of an “occasion” that people can really look forward too.

“Each event offers something different from local brands throughout The Bahamas.

“Our first Trunk show was at Da Blue Hole in Marsh Harbour for a brunch and shop event,” she said.

Her second event was on Mother’s Day - at Treasure Sands Club in Treasure Cay. During that event, part of the proceeds were donated to friends of the environment. She is also in the process of planning her third event for Father’s Day at the Treasure Sands Club.

Additionally, she does private shopping experiences by appointment.

“As business owners, we are competing with online shopping and so we have to constantly find ways to create unique experiences for our customers,” she said.

“Since we have started we have been really well received.”

Some of her brands include: Rebecca Christine,Vida Cayo, Livi Resort Wear Bryland co, LT Collection as well as being the official distributor of Baja Zen, Abaco Nem.

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Friday, May 24, 2019

celebrity

Handwritten wills shake up Aretha Franklin's estate PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The discovery of handwritten wills in the home of the late Aretha Franklin could ignite a dispute among family members about the estate of the “Queen of Soul.” She died last August without a formal document to guide her sons about her music, property and other assets. But the newly found writings filed in court Monday could change everything.

Here’s a look at what’s developing, nine months after Franklin’s death in Michigan at age 76:

require the approval of Judge Jennifer Callaghan.

Emails seeking comment from Bennett and Kecalf Franklin’s attorney weren’t returned Tuesday. Separately, the younger Franklin is objecting to Owens’ plan to sell a piece of land for $325,000.

If Kecalf Franklin takes over, it “could be his business for many years,” Simasko said. “He would be hiring lawyers, hiring managers and getting paid to do it. Her music, her image, her publishing rights — those are all things that have to be managed.”

HOW WERE THE WILLS DISCOVERED?

A niece, Sabrina Owens, who serves as the estate’s personal representative, discovered a key to a locked cabinet at Franklin’s home on May 3, according to a court filing. Two handwritten wills from 2010 were inside. One says a will from decades earlier is “no good.” The other one found in the cabinet is 11 pages long and has a notary’s signature.

On that same day, Owens was searching under living room cushions when she located a notebook with another will, dated March 2014. The four-page document sets aside various assets for family members, including four sons and grandchildren, but is difficult to read.

“We all think of your standard will where you go into an attorney’s office and get two witnesses to sign it,” said Charyn Hain, an estate lawyer.

“Michigan allows for wills that aren’t completely compliant.”

COULD THE WILLS BE ADMISSIBLE?

Yes. Michigan law gives great weight to the wishes of a decedent. The state appeals court last year said a man’s final written words stored on a phone counted as a will.

“If it’s clear and convincing evidence of your intentions, it’s a perfectly valid document,” said Patrick Simasko,

Aretha Franklin

WHAT’S THE STATUS OF FRANKLIN’S ESTATE?

This Monday, May 20, 2019, photo shows one of three handwritten wills that a lawyer said were found in the home of Aretha Franklin in Pontiac, Mich., months after her death. (AP Photo/Ed White) another estate specialist. “The court wants to do everything in its power to fulfill the wishes of the person who passed away.”

But Franklin’s newly discovered wills are disorganized and look like rough drafts. Words are crossed out. She used arrows and wrote in the margins.

“You have to sit down with a magnifying glass and blow it up, try to enhance it,” Simasko said.

The estate’s attorney, David Bennett, shared the wills with Franklin’s sons.

He told a judge that the heirs “have been unable to reach a resolution”

about their validity. A hearing is set for June 12.

Without a will, the estate typically would be divided among the sons, Simasko said.

WHAT DO THE WILLS SAY?

In the 2014 document, Franklin says she wants a son, Christian rapper Kecalf Franklin, to serve as personal representative of the estate.

Aretha Franklin’s sons last year agreed to have Owens oversee the estate, but that was before the documents were found. Any change would

The value is not yet known, although the estate could be worth millions of dollars. The judge approved the hiring of experts to appraise assets, including Franklin’s music catalog, her likeness, concert gowns and memorabilia.

Bennett said in a court filing that the Internal Revenue Service is auditing many years of Franklin’s tax returns after making a claim for more than $6 million in taxes in December.

He said the estate is negotiating a contract with the TV series “Genius” and also working on a deal for a movie about Franklin’s life.

Detroit last week celebrated the renaming of a city-owned outdoor music amphitheater for Franklin.

Mayor Mike Duggan recalled her performing past midnight there in 2015.

“This daughter of Detroit has a permanent memorial,” he said.

Follow Ed White at http://twitter. com/edwhiteap ED WHITE Associated Press

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, May 24, 2019

film

Review: Egerton glitters in

glossy, conventional 'Rocketman' rocketman | 121 minutes

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hatever you say about Dexter Fletcher’s glossy, glittering Elton John blinged-out biopic “Rocketman ,” a shiny sequin of a movie, it doesn’t lack for sparkle. Like its flamboyant subject, it’s a movie outfitted to the nines in dazzle and verve, even if it’s gotten all dressed up with nowhere to go but the most conventional places.

Almost slavishly sealed within the hermetic bubble of the rock biopic, “Rocketman” will, justifiably, draw plenty of comparisons to its opening act: last year’s Freddie Mercury tale “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They’re both about larger-than-life figures, each gay icons, with a preternatural talent for hooks and spectacle. Fletcher also helped steer “Bohemian Rhapsody,” subbing for the departed Bryan Singer.

The two movies even share a villain in music manager John Reid (Aiden Gillen in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Richard Madden here).

And Elton, like Freddie, churned out unassailable, everlasting earworms sung round the world. Favouring melody over meaning, the uplifting music of both comes big-screen ready.

Their songs were movies, in Technicolour. Just as “Bohemian Rhapsody” can glide over the origins of “Scaramouche,” we need no investigations into why that dancer was so tiny.

“Rocketman” deviates in its rating (R), its less hesitant depiction of its star’s homosexuality and, most dramatically, in casting John’s life across a fantastical musical tapestry. It’s also quite definitely a better movie — although one still stuffed to the gills with clichés and heavily dependent on the sheer toe-tap-ability of its star’s extensive back catalogue and its lead performer.

Here, that’s Taron Egerton, who doesn’t especially look like John or sound like John, but he gives a starmaking performance built on charisma and will. Egerton gives it his all, and if there’s one quality that’s most

Taron Egerton in Rocketman from Paramount Pictures. essential in an Elton John movie, it’s spiritedness.

On the whole, this is a more-or-less true, authorised account (John is an executive producer), but one that frequently breaks free of stubborn things like chronology and gravity. In one scene, John — whom rock critic Robert Christgau once referred to as a “one-man zeitgeist” — himself rockets from an arena stage into the night sky and explodes as a firework. “Rocketman” has every fibre of its being committed to burnishing the legend of Sir Elton: literally an exploding star.

“Where there was darkness, there is now you, Elton John,” the devilish Reid tells him, shortly before John becomes an $87 million-a-year industry.

Working from a script by Lee Hall, Fletcher zooms through John’s life, finding trap doors in his past that fall into lavish song-and-dance routines.

There’s some “Rocket Man” on a toy piano as a toddler and a “Saturday

Night’s Alright for Fighting” at a carnival, for a reason that eluded me.

The next song is rarely more than a few minutes away. Frequently, “Rocketman” feels like an ad for a jukebox Broadway musical. This is a movie yearning for the stage.

The film works in flashbacks, jumping off from an addiction group meeting. “My name is Elton Hercules John,” he introduces himself before giving a laundry list of addictions: alcohol, cocaine, shopping. The story shifts back, naturally, to John’s childhood (Elton was then Reginald Dwight), where his withholding parents, and one of the snottier fathers you’ve seen, unwittingly mould their son into a desperate performer and a bit of a clothes horse.

The expected moments of breakthrough and excess follow in John’s meteoric rise. The main thread throughout, at least theoretically, is his undying friendship with lyricist Bernie Taupin, a relationship that outlasts all

others. There’s not as much of Jamie Bell’s Bernie as there should be, but if anyone takes up the slack, it’s Madden, who sexily menaces the screen in every scene he’s in.

All of John’s stage theatrics and feathered costumes, “Rocketman” suggests, are a way for John to hide from himself, from “Reginald Dwight.”

But any demons that John might be haunted by are given only lip service.

Maybe Elton couldn’t cope with reality, but “Rocketman” certainly can’t.

Instead, Fletcher’s movie is primarily one of metamorphosis, mythically drawn. Performing “Crocodile Rock” at Los Angeles’ Troubadour, his feet — and the audiences’ — achieve liftoff.

“Rocketman” is happiest with its feet far off the ground in a dreamy pop splendour, with headlights all along the highway.

JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

film

I

t’s pretty clear after watching the new live-action “Aladdin” that doubts about Will Smith’s casting as the Genie are overblown. It’s the guy behind the camera who should be doubted. And stuffed into a small lamp forever.

Guy Ritchie — that lover of gritty gangsters and violent action — was always an odd choice to helm a big Disney romantic musical and proves utterly the wrong guy here. “Aladdin ,” in his hands, is more like “The Mummy” than “Frozen.” This is an “Aladdin” with a torture scene and pointlessly artful fast-slow-motion action scenes.

Going into it, Smith was the question mark. How can you possibly have a real actor play the shape-shifting, manic spirit that Robin Williams so wonderfully voiced in the animated film? Smith struggles at first before perhaps listening to his own character’s advice: Be yourself.

Ritchie, who directs and is a coscreenwriter alongside John August, has basically taken the 1992 film’s structure, added elements from the Broadway musical and made some nice script tweaks, most impressively by adding a second love story and updating Princess Jasmine from pretty eyewitness to fierce participant. The script also doubles down on the notion that everyone seems trapped in roles they are born into.

Mena Massoud gamely plays the title character, a street urchin with good hair who falls for the free-spirited princess and has his life changed with one rub of a magic lamp. Naomi Scott is the princess and she is a worthy Disney heroine for 2019 — funny, strong, brave and with a sinfully good voice.

The key Alan Menken melodies from the original film — including “Friend Like Me,” ?Prince Ali” and “A Whole New World” — are all here, as well as “Speechless,” a new song written by Menken and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (”La La Land”), performed by Jasmine. It’s terrific and may finally replace “Let It Go” as the go-to Disney anthem.

The film’s other highlights are Michael Wilkinson’s lush costumes, a parade of entirely digital animals — including the fantastically realized Abu the monkey, Rajah the tiger and a hugging magic Carpet — and breakout performances from “Saturday Night Live” alum Nasim Pedrad as a handmaiden and Billy Magnussen as a prince. Choreographer Jamal Sims

Aladdin, left, and Will Smith as Genie in Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1992 animated classic “Aladdin.”

(Daniel Smith/Disney via AP)

Smith's fine in 'Aladdin'

- another guy's the problem Aladdin | 28 mins | combines hip-hop and Bollywood in glorious mashups.

But the production design by Gemma Jackson is pure Middle Eastern-South Asian kitsch — complete with the expected food stalls, crumbling walls and constant bustle.

(Let’s face it, all vaguely Middle Eastern urban scenes haven’t changed much since “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.)

And a real stumble is made in the Cave of Wonders, which is horribly underrealized — it looks like a cat threw up gold coins and rubies.

Marwan Kenzari is a younger Jafar than we are used to but he’s evidently been told to go full-psychotic by the end, including screaming like he’s in “The Wrath of Khan” as thunder roars and his eyes bulge. Even so, he now has a backstory and some nice lines, including “Steal an apple, you’re a thief. Steal a kingdom, you’re a statesman.”

Smith’s Genie is a martini-drinking, yoga-posing, needy showoff with a top knot and an armful of popular culture references (”The crowd goes wild!” he says). When he’s blue, he’s purely

a visual effect and trying too hard to be the late Robin Williams. When he’s normal, he’s Smith — and better. A scene in which the Genie tries to help the tongue-tied Aladdin at court is Smith at his funniest in years.

But everywhere else you feel a restless Ritchie. He has fallen in love with making things explode in a burst of sand. He breaks the fourth wall in one moment and never returns. He creates an abrupt, out-of-left-field fantasy sequence for “Speechless” and never repeats it. He is very good at action — and even mocks the art form when he makes a pile of spice shudder as something massive approaches, like in “Jurassic Park” — but can’t decide on a consistent visual style. He seems bored by quiet moments. Even his romantic “A Whole New World” carpet ride — a slam dunk for any filmmaker — is made somehow harrowing.

The film’s lurch from one direction to the next is capped off by a disastrous remix of “Friend Like Me” that plays over the end credits, with Smith resurrecting his ‘90s friendly rapper while DJ Khaled keeps screaming “Another one!” Again, Menken, Pasek and Paul — some of our greatest theatrical songwriters — are on deck here. It’s the last of many clumsy touches, but not in a charming way.

“Aladdin,” a Disney release, is rated PG for “some action/peril.”

MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer

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Friday, May 24, 2019

gardening

A touch of colour Among the most interesting and beautiful of plants we can grow in our gardens are heliconias and gingers, says Jack Hardy

White butterfly ginger flowers

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oth heliconias and gingers are capable of establishing colonies that give a distinct tropical effect during their foliage season but are absolutely stunning in their flowering season. Both groups of plants often have banana-like leaves. Bananas grow from corms while heliconias, gingers and callas grow from rhizomes but the effect is the same. Were you to plant a single banana you would in time get fruit but also a set of suckers growing around the parent plant. If left, the suckers would form a dense clump and in time beget their own suckers. The production of fruit would suffer and that is why we transplant banana suckers to their own space. Heliconias and gingers do not produce fruit as such but clump nicely and are quite a sight when in full bloom.

Heliconias are native to Central America and their normal habitat is shaded tropical forest with high rainfall. The conditions plants grow in naturally give gardeners clues as to where to locate and how to treat their exotics. Heliconias can take quite deep shade and still produce colourful flower-like bracts. Their native soil would be rich with plenty of humus and hereby lies a problem. Rain forest ground level plants are fertilized continually by the rain-washed residue and

Heliconias detritus from tree leaves. Somehow in our gardens we must try to replicate this situation.

Compost would be far more suitable to heliconias than any commercial fertilizer. If compost is added around the root system on a monthly basis and water frequently we would be fairly close to rain forest conditions.

You can buy heliconias from your local nursery and choose from diminutive Parrot Beak that grows to a mere two feet and has upright floral displays, rostrata which has hanging aprons of velvety lobster claws and grows to five feet, or any of a number of tall bananasized heliconias that bear either lobster claw or Strelitzia-type flowering structures.

When you see the price of these lovely specimens you may wish to go to Plan B which is to arrange a swap with a fellow gardener who has an established clump of heliconias. Perform this operation during the foliage months and cut away the foliage of selected plants a foot above ground level. Carefully cut deeply into the soil to isolate a clump then use a spade to lift the rhizome mass, digging as deeply as possible. I make this sound simple but it is quite a chore because you must try to harm the roots extending from the rhizomes as little as possible.

Heliconias are tough and your transplant will take with the minimum of fuss as long as you water on a daily basis for a few weeks. At the time of

the first blooming you will forget about all the hard work you put in.

Gingers need very much the same conditions and treatment as heliconias but tend to enjoy more sun than shade.

They also start as small clumps or individual plants and colonise readily.

Many gingers produce their flowers on a separate spike from the foliage. One example of this is hidden ginger; it has leaves that look very much like Cannas but send up a flower spike that bears lovely pink bracts that grow much lower than the foliage. Another variety, Siam tulip, is appreciably smaller and has orange bracts and yellow flowers.

Butterfly ginger has bamboo-type leaves and bears its fragrant white flowers on the main stems which grow five to six feet tall. Red ginger lily has orange-red flowers while Flaming Torch bears orange flowers.

Spiral gingers are named for the arrangement of their leaves. Malay ginger has lovely textured leaf undersides and is tall. There is a variegated leaf form of this plant. Red Tower ginger bears large flower cones with red bracts and yellow flowers.

Shell ginger may be the most determined coloniser of all gingers. It grows to six feet and bears the most interesting flowers. They start as clusters of white buds with a pinkish hue then open up to a shell shape with an interior design in red, purple and gold that is intricate and stunning. Some shell gingers have variegated leaves.

Pinecone ginger grows to five feet and produces separate short flower stalks that bear a cone shaped arrangement of bracts that turn from green to red. Squeeze the cone gently with your hands and you have an instant lotion that refreshes the face on a hot day. I have been told that the juice from the cones can be used as a shampoo.

Heliconias and gingers are a marvellous edition to gardens that need a tropical touch. Their foliage is always present and their flowering season during the summer months is a distinct bonus.  • For queries and comments e-mail jacktribune242@gmail.com

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

literary lives – Benvenuto Cellini

The passion and madness of a Renaissance man Sir Christopher Ondaatje writes about the Italian goldsmith, sculptor, musician, artist and author of a famous autobiography.

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great many artists have led tumultuous personal lives, but very few have been able to tell a tale as deranged and demented as the Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith in “The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini”.

“All men of whatsoever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they are persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own hands.” – Benvenuto Cellini Autobiography, 1560s

Benvenuto Cellini’s self-portrait

Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, Italy, in 1500. He was the second child of a family, who had waited 18 years before having children.

Benvenuto’s father was a musician and builder of musical instruments, and thus Cellini was urged to follow a musical career. However, when he was 15 years old his father reluctantly apprenticed him to a goldsmith,

Antonio di Sandro, nicknamed Marcon (possibly meaning “bury the hatchet”).

When he was 16 he had already started his rebellious career, participating in rowdy brawls and disturbances which drew considerable attention. He was banished for six months and lived in Siena where he worked for another goldsmith Fracastoro. From Siena he moved to Bologna, where he became an accomplished cornett and flute

player. He also learned his craft as a goldsmith. He visited Pisa, moved back to Florence, and then to Rome when he was 19.

In Rome, Cellini reintroduced the cornett into his life, and was appointed one of the court musicians to Pope Clement VII. His work as a goldsmith was also recognised – silver caskets, silver candlesticks, and a vase for the Bishop of Salamanca. When Rome was attacked by Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, his bravery was recognised.

In his autobiography, Cellini claims to have shot Philibert of Châlon, Prince of Orange, and to have killed Charles II, the Duke of Bourbon.

Following a reconciliation with the Florentine magistrates he returned to Florence where he devoted himself to crafting medals, notably “Hercules and the Nemean Lion” and “Atlas supporting the Sphere”. From Florence he went briefly to the Court of the Duke of Mantua, and then back to Florence and Rome, working in jewellery and medals for the Papal Mint. In 1529, his brother Cecchino died in an altercation with a corporal of the Roman Watch and, in an act of blood revenge, Cellini murdered his brother’s killer. Cellini then fled to Naples where, through the influence of cardinals, he received a pardon. A third and fourth murder followed, but Cellini managed to find favour with the new pope, Paul III. The plots of the Duke of Castro, Pier Luigi Farnese, led to Cellini’s return to Florence and Venice where he found greater honour than before.

Cellini’s life was dramatic and almost beyond belief. When he was 37, after a visit to the French Court, he was imprisoned on a charge of embezzling gems from the Pope’s tiara. He escaped, but was recaptured. Then he himself became the target of an

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, May 24, 2019

Detail of Cellini’s iconic sculpture Perseus with the Head of Medusa, considered one of the most beautiful sculptures ever made. incredible assassination attempt in 1539 by the ingestion of diamond dust which failed because a non diamond gem was used. Favour with Pier Luigi’s wife and that of Cardinal d’Este of Ferrara secured Cellini’s release and safety, after which he worked at the Court of Francis I at Fontainebleu and Paris. As expected, he took his female models as mistresses, having an illegitimate daughter, Constanza, with one of them.

After several years of productive work in France, but beset by constant conflicts and violence, he returned to Florence. There, he was welcomed

by Duke Cosimo I de Medici who elevated him to the position of court sculptor and gave him an elegant house in Via del Rosario with a comfortable salary. Cosimo commissioned Cellini to make two of his best known sculptures: a bust of Cosimo, and the statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, which still stands in Piazza della Signoria today. It is one of the most beautiful sculptures ever made. The casting of the statue caused much trouble but was hailed as a masterpiece. By 1996, centuries of rain and pollution exposure partially damaged the surface of the beautiful statue, and it was transferred

to the Uffizi for restoration. It was only returned in 2000.

Plagued with scandal and political intrigue, Cellini fled Florence to Venice when he was accused of sodomy – not for the first time. The same charges were brought against him in Paris.

In 1556, Cellini’s apprentice Fernando di Giovanni di Montepulciano accused his mentor of having “kept him for five years as his wife”. He was arrested, charged with a large fine, and sentenced to four years prison – eventually remitted to four years house arrest following the intercession of the Medicis.

“He survived prison and plague, befriended popes and princes, had affairs with too many people to count (both men and women), made dozens of enemies who were bent on betrayal ... and even killed ... Absurdly self confident, his memoirs are an amalgam of truth, exaggeration, and outright delusion. Indeed, mixed into his autobiography, are some tall tales that are a little hard to measure.” – 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, James Mustich

Cellini was a master storyteller. His autobiography, written in the 1560s, was first published in 1728. There were

The Cellini Salt Cellar (called the Saliera, Italian for salt cellar) is a part-enamelled gold table sculpture completed in 1543 for Francis I of France.

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Cellini made this life-sized Crucifixion following a vision he had while he was a prisoner at Castel Sant’Angelo. The loincloth was added later by other sculptors. several translations – some still available today. His embellishments do not detract from his narrative.

They burnish the vivacious story of a man assured of his own greatness.

After briefly attempting a clerical career, in 1562 Cellini married a servant girl, Piera Parigi, with whom he had five children. On January 13, 1563 he was named a member (Accademico) of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of Florence, founded by the Duke Cosimo I de Medici. He died in Florence on May 13, 1571 and was buried following a service of great pomp in the church of the Santissima Annunziata.

The bust of Benvenuto Cellini still stands on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence – a tribute to an artist best known for his decorative works. He is not always listed as being one of the greatest Italian sculptors of his era, but his spectacularly melodramatic autobiography is hailed as one of the most important autobiographies of the Italian Renaissance.

Most of the Cellini masterpieces have perished, including the colossal Mars for a fountain at Fontainebleu, as well as the bronzes for the doorway.

Coins for the Papal and Florentine states, a life-sized silver Jupiter, and a bronze bust of Bindo Altoviti

Friday, May 24, 2019

Cellini’s famous bust of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany have also disappeared. However, a medallion of Clement VII commemorating the peace between the Christian princes (1530) with a bust of the Pope on the reverse and a figure of Peace setting fire to a heap of arms in front of the temple of Janus, a signed medal of Francis I, a model of Cardinal Pietro Bembo; and the celebrated gold, enamel and ivory salt cellar (known as Saliera) made for Francis I of France, still exist.

Saliera was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria, on May 11, 2003 by a thief who climbed scaffolding and smashed windows.

Alarms were set off but ignored. Almost three years later, on January 21 2006, Austrian police recovered the priceless object and returned it to the museum where it is again on display. Late in his career Cellini sculpted a life-size nude crucifix – intended to be placed on his tomb, but it was instead sold to the Medici family who donated it to Spain. The crucifix is in the Escorial Monastery near Madrid – but the Monastery has added a loincloth and a crown of thorns.

The Papal Mint in Rome still displays the dies of several coins and medals by Cellini. Sadly, other important Cellini works have perished including

The bust of Benvenuto Cellini, by Raffaello Romanelli (1901), at the centre of the Ponte Vecchio, Firenze, Italy. an uncompleted chalice intended for Clement VII; a gold cover for a prayer book as a gift from Pope Paul III to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; large statues of Jupiter, Vulcan and Mars – wrought for Francis I when he was in Paris; a bust of Julius Caesar; and a silver cup for the Cardinal of Ferrara.

The gold morse, or clasp made by Cellini (described in his autobiography), was sacrificed by Pope Pius VI – with other priceless objects – in furnishing the 30,000,000 francs demanded by Napoleon I at the conclusion of the campaign against the Papal States in 1797. The treaty allowed the States to pay a third of the ransom in plate and jewels.

The drama of creating these beautiful objects is effusively described in Cellini’s gripping autobiography.

NEXT WEEK: A turbulent camping safari in the jungles of Sri Lanka

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of “The Last Colonial”. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; from 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich; and from The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini.

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, May 24, 2019

history

From Oakes to Windsor Forgotten facts | Paul C Aranha

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notice that the original terminal at Windsor Field, where I spent many years of my flying career, is being demolished. I have no idea what the plans for that area might be, but the old building had really passed its sell-by date.

Until 1940 there were no land aerodromes in the Bahamas and aviation was (almost) the exclusive domain of seaplanes and amphibians – landing and taking off on water. The first “airport” was Pan American Airways’ Marine Airport on Mathew (note the spelling) Avenue, that part of East Bay Street to the north of the Eastern Parade. This is where Pan American started scheduled flights between Miami and Nassau in 1929.

In 1939, using acreage off Blue Hill Road that had already been set aside since 1928 for an aerodrome, the British government started to build a land airport. Seven months later, one of the runways had been completed and the Bahamas Airways’ Douglas Dolphin became the first plane to land at the new airport.

I don’t know why Britain sold the unfinished airport to Sir Harry Oakes just a few days later, but it might have had something to do with the early days of World War II, when the British were busy fighting Hitler’s Germany.

On January 8, 1940, Oakes Field, as we still call that whole area, was opened for business and the first scheduled flight was a Pan American Airways’ Douglas DC-3 from Miami.

Later, Oakes Field was commandeered by the British War Ministry and became a Royal Air Force base. One RAF base on New Providence was, however, not enough, so Windsor Field was built.

When the war ended and the RAF left the Bahamas, Oakes Field went back to being Nassau’s airport and Windsor Field was abandoned. It was too far away from Nassau.

In 1947, British South American Airways (BSAA) made the first trans-Atlantic flight, from London and Nassau, and it became an important traffic hub in this region. BSAA set up its big maintenance base at Oakes Field. State-owned BSAA was acquired by state-owned BOAC

Windsor’s Field new, very modern terminal building as it looked on November 1, 1957, one day before the official opening. (Photo/Lew Phillips for the Nassau Magazine) (which is now British Airways) and Nassau assumed an even great importance.

BOAC was the first airline in the world to operate jet planes, flying the British-built de Havilland DH-106 Comet, the world’s first jet airliner.

The Comet’s main route was between London and New York, and BOAC was determined to extend that route to Nassau, but there was a hitch. The runways at Oakes Field were deemed inadequate for the jet planes.

Finally, a decision was taken to re-activate Windsor Field and make it our International Airport. Oakes Field would then be closed to commercial flights. Eventually, the Nassau Flying Club was allowed to keep its planes at and operate from Oakes Field, where it stayed for many years. It had a clubhouse and a fuel tank and pump. The only thing it did not have was security (in today’s sense of the word). Why? Because the clubhouse could be, and was, left unlocked, as were the planes – and nobody stole anything.

The de Havilland DH106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner.

To accommodate the Comet, a stateof-the-art terminal was designed and built for Windsor Field. Before it could be completed, but at a point when it was too late to reverse the decision, the Comet, which had established British superiority in the skies, had been withdrawn from service after two mysterious, fatal accidents.

Sadly, the history of the Comet is dominated by these two accidents, the first in January 1954, off Elba, and the second in April of the same year, near Naples, in which a director of Bahamas Airways lost his life.

The primary cause was catastrophic failure of the pressure cabin, caused by metal fatigue. The cyclical pressurisation and de-pressurisation of the fuselage had accelerated the stress levels around some of the main

passenger windows, causing the airframe to blow apart.

Windsor Field re-opened on November 2, 1957. Nassau boasted of having the best terminal in the islands, all the way to South America and jet-suitable runways – but no jets.

It also had disgruntled taxi drivers, who blocked the roads into and out of the new airport and brought on a general strike, but that’s another story.

By the time the decision was taken to build the splendid terminal we have now – and what a joy it is – the 1957 “old faithful” was in desperate need of repair, rather like the post office on East Hill Street. RIP.

• For questions and comments, e-mail islandairman@gmail.com

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

books

New releases hitting shelves this week • Kingsbane by Claire Legrand

Two queens, separated by thousands of years, connected by secrets and lies, must continue their fight amid deadly plots and unthinkable betrayals that will test their strength—and their hearts.

Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Meanwhile, to help her prince and love Audric protect Celdaria, Rielle must spy on the angel Corien— but his promises of freedom and power may prove too tempting to resist.

Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity’s long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana’s power

dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother’s power, or rejecting it forever.

• Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers

Alice and Daphne, both successful and accomplished working mothers, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work— and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.

Daphne, plump in a family of modelthin women, learned only slimness earns admiration at her mother’s knee.

Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.

The two women meet at Waisted.

Located in a remote Vermont mansion,

the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability...until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

• Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi

For 17-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She builds entire worlds from scratch: Mars craters, shimmering lakes, any virtual experience her heart desires.

But she can’t code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her

tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note, Opal tried desperately to find him. And when he never turned up, she enrolled at a boarding school for technical prodigies and tried to forget.

Until now. Because WAVE, the world’s biggest virtual reality platform, has announced a contest where the winner gets to meet its billionaire founder. The same billionaire who worked closely with Opal’s dad. The one she always believed might know where he went. The one who maybe even murdered him.

What begins as a small data hack to win the contest spirals out of control when Opal goes viral, digging her deeper into a hole of lies, hacks, and manipulation. How far will Opal go for the answers--or is it the attention she’s wanted for years?

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, May 24, 2019

books

Review: The creator of ‘Hannibal’ returns with new monster In Thomas Harris’ new novel, Cari Mora escaped a violent past and now lives in Miami. She can stay in the United States thanks to a temporary protected status, but she still fears being sent back to her native country.

She works as caretaker of the house that was once owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar. The house has a

reputation of not only being haunted, but also the possibility of a treasure of $25 million of gold hidden somewhere underneath the residence. So when a man named Hans-Peter Schneider and his colleagues rent the house to make a film, she knows what they are really after.

Hans-Peter is a sociopath like another famous Harris villain, but does not come close to the nuance and sophistication of Hannibal Lecter.

Lecter has elements of his personality and behaviour that elevates him above being a typical antagonist, while

‘Love Actually’ meets the horoscopes A journalist once considered adjusting her newspaper’s horoscope to help an astrology-devoted friend. She didn’t do it, but in her new novel, Minnie Darke imagines what happens when her lovesick protagonist acts on the same impulse she had. The result is an escapist delight.

“Star-Crossed” tells the story of Justine and Nick, astrology sceptic and believer, childhood friends who recently reunited. Justine is baffled by Nick’s faith in his horoscope: “I just think that if you want to play Romeo, you should play Romeo. You don’t have to twist the words of some stargazing nut to give yourself permission.” When she later gains access to the horoscopes at the newspaper where she works, Justine gets the idea to tinker with the Aquarius entries to nudge Nick into realising

his feelings for her. Needless to say, it doesn’t quite work out as she intends.

What follows is a “Love Actually”esque menagerie of interconnected characters and subplots. The colourful figures include a jilted singer-songwriter; a divorced oncologist dating a male midwife; a widow with an extensive collection of commemorative Charles and Diana wedding china who is in a Skype relationship with someone on the other side of the world. It also includes a terrier/frequent animal shelter escapee whose inner thoughts readers are privy to, to this reader’s dismay. The way their tales all satisfyingly tie together in the end brings to mind the butterfly effect — the way small events can have significant consequences.

This cover image released by Crown In all, “Star-Crossed” is a light, fun shows “Star-Crossed: A Novel” by read, with a creative spin on a winning Minnie Darke. (Crown via AP) rom-com formula.

Hans-Peter has a lye machine and weapons. They are both monsters, but only one is truly terrifying.

The push for the treasure puts Mora in the middle of ruthless people who will do anything to achieve their goals, and to stay alive she will have to remember skills she learned in her past that she was trying to forget.

Descriptions run between vague and excessively graphic.

A couple of scenes will remind readers of the brain eating scene from “Hannibal.” The writing veers between elegant and repulsive.

Readers who are fans of “Red Dragon” and “Silence of the Lambs” will be disappointed in Harris’s first novel to not feature Lecter since his debut, “Black Sunday,” which was released in 1975. Ultimately this book will be remembered primarily for its look at the Miami area amid carnage, greed, the plight of immigrants and survival.

By JEFF AYERS Associated Press

THE TOP 10 BOOKS ON APPLE’S IBOOKS-US

iBook charts for week ending May 19, 2019

1. Howard Stern Comes Again by Howard Stern 2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 3. The Night Window by Dean Koontz 4. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren 5. The Mister by E L James 6. The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver 7. Redemption by David Baldacci 8. The 18th Abduction by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro 9. A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin 10. Educated by Tara Westover The Associated Press

Yesterday’s solution: BLooM (across) LILaC (down)

26 | The Tribune | Weekend

Best described as a number crossword, the task in Kakuro is to fill all of the empty squares, using numbers 1 to 9, so the sum of each horizontal block equals the number to its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the number on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Kakuro increases from Monday to Sunday.

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so the each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, May 24, 2019

animals

The conundrum of the Surrey horse industry Animal matters | KIM ARANHA

I

am absolutely sure that the majority of you are aware that a Surrey horse fell in the street in the middle of town, during the morning on Monday. The social media pages were abuzz with comments and the armchair experts were working overtime. My cell phone was on fire with calls and messages and the distressing photographs were sent to me multiple times.

It was very upsetting that this beautiful horse fell in the street, and it was most fortunate that in spite of the fall he is actually unhurt. I have not been able to find out how and why he fell. Was there something slippery on the road? Quite possibly, remember it rained on Sunday, and those city roads can become very slick indeed. Of course the horse was attached to the carriage, so he could not move easily when down and must have experienced a moment of shock, according to a veterinarian who deals with horses that I consulted, which is why in the numerous photos he is laid out flat.

Shortly after he was disconnected from the carriage, he was standing and moving around was some ease, his driver walked him home to his stable and he was examined by Dr Basil Sands, a veterinarian with substantial knowledge of horses, and was declared uninjured. I was sent a lengthy video of him walking and trotting and certainly to my non-expert eyes he looked in good shape.

This horse is a Cremello, which is a light-coloured horse with blue eyes, certainly a splendid animal to view but also, not ideal to sunny climes, because the white colouring does not protect from the sun and the Cremello horse is more prone to skin cancers. However, their light skin absorbs less heat than the dark-coloured horses. The horse who fell and his sibling are both fine horses but probably not ideal to spend time in the sun daily without adequate shelter constantly.

The horse is well fed, and well cared for; he slipped or stumbled (semantics) and is now back at home or possibly on the road again.

What this incident helped to underline is that it is most definitely time for these surrey horses and carriages to, at the very least, change routes.

Downtown Nassau is a quagmire of traffic jams, horns blasting, and trucks

spewing out filthy exhaust fumes. This is no longer the sleepy little town of my childhood, when the Surrey horse could amble down Bay Street peacefully without concern being passed periodically by a car and very rarely by a truck. Bay Street had two-way traffic then and it still was not congested; bicycles abounded and ladies carried their fruit, vegetables and flowers to market. That, my friends, is the city that could safely sustain Surrey horse and carriages daily, not the built-up congested streets of today with everybody jockeying for position to get through the traffic lights before they turn red, long gone are the smart policemen directing traffic, they now stand in groups on street corners waiting for a tourist to be harassed or robbed.

The Western Esplanade would provide a wonderful route for these Surreys, clean air, no traffic, and would bring business to the Fish Fry; tourists could enjoy a Bahama Mamma, a conch salad or have a hair-braid whilst the horses waited in the shade. Points of historical interest line the route.

People say: “take them off the roads now”, and do what with them? There are 35 Surrey horses in Nassau, it costs

approximately $1,000 a month to care for a horse here, that is close to half a million a year, where do you suppose that money would come from?

Something that appears to go completely ignored and unnoticed by our leaders, and citizens, is that the drivers are all young men, who perhaps are not yet concerned about their middle-age.

They sit in the front of that carriage day after day, breathing noxious fumes into their young lungs. Do you suppose they know that by the time they are 40 they will probably suffer from lung cancer? How do we allow that? Would we allow them to work in a building with asbestos or mold? Yet nobody cares that they could well be sealing their fate for a nasty death in the future.

The fate of the horses (and their drivers) lies in the hands of the leaders of the country, who do not wish to discuss the possible solutions, because the Surrey horse industry is a sacred cow that hides behind the protection of supposed culture. Horse and carts are part of all cultures, but now we actually have motor vehicles, like every other country. They are not part of our culture but part of our past.

COME IN AND SEE ME SOMETIME

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“G

ood day. My name’s Fran, and I’m looking intently for someone to come and adopt me. Life here at the Bahamas Humane Society is pretty good, but I would really like to have a home of my own, perhaps with another cat or two as companions. I’m fairly young, about three months old, so still quite playful and energetic. Have you been looking for someone like me to fill those empty spaces in your life? If so, come in and meet me, and the other adoption cats and kittens, or call 323-5138 for more information. Adoption hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. I look forward to meeting you!”

• Join the BHS for Tea on the Terrace at Jacaranda House, Sunday, May 26th, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Signature Iced Teas, Mimosas, Fashion Show, Live Music, Singing by Stazzi, and more!

Tickets are $75, available from the BHS or any Board member.

(Photo/ Patricia Vazquez)

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 24, 2019

theatre

Charlottesville drama teacher to get special Tony Award NEW YORK (AP) — The special Tony Award that honors educators this year will go to a drama teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, who has encouraged her students to explore their differences and heal rifts, especially following a deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in the city.

Madeline Michel from Monticello High School will receive the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 9 at the Tony Awards in New York City.

Under Michel’s guidance, the school has mounted student-written shows such as “A King’s Story,” about a fictional black Charlottesville teenager who is shot and killed by police; ”#WhileBlack,” about racial profiling; and “Necessary Trouble,” which explores racial and identity symbols

that high school students can encounter during a normal school day.

“This program is not about me, because it has to be about my students,” Michel said in a statement.

“They are our future. They are the people that are going to change the world and make it better. These are the kids who give me so much hope in some very dark times.”

Charlottesville was where white nationalists descended in 2017 to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. They fought in the streets with counterdemonstrators. Later, as counterdemonstrators were peacefully marching through a downtown street, a car drove into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring many

more. A self-avowed white supremacist pleaded guilty.

The annual Excellence in Theatre Education Award bestowed by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University recognizes U.S. educators from kindergarten to 12th grade who have “demonstrated monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.”

The award includes a $10,000 prize and a pair of tickets to the Tony ceremony and gala. A panel of judges comprised of the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, Carnegie Mellon and other leaders from the theater industry selects the winner, based on candidates submitted by the public.

“Theatre and arts education are fundamental to our educational system.

Today, more than ever, we need our local school auditoriums, their wonderfully creative students and courageous theatre educators like Madeline Michel to put powerful new ideas on stage and to share them,” said Heather Hitchens, president of the wing and Charlotte St. Martin, president of the league, in a statement.

Michel is a graduate of the University of Rochester and Johns Hopkins University. She began her career as an English teacher in the Baltimore school system. For the past 12 she has been teaching theater in Charlottesville.

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter. com/KennedyTwits MARK KENNEDY Associated Press

Monticello Drama director Michel, foreground left, on stage with Monticello High School students in Charlottesville, Va. Michel will be the recipient of the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 9 at the Tony Awards in New York City. (Madeline Michel via AP)