Diversions 10.10.13

Diversions YourObserver.com

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

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by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

“Every painting is a chunk of your life that in a way you somehow wrestled into paint,” James Griffin says.

Mallory Gnaegy

NATURAL TALENT

If James Griffin were to create the cover art for a book about his career, it would illustrate just enough of his story to seduce you to read the pages beneath it.

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT COVER STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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YourObserver.com

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: STORIED CAREER

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor (continued from page 1)

NATURAL TALENT S If James Griffin were to create the cover art for a book about his career, it would illustrate just enough of his story to seduce you to read the pages beneath it.

Courtesy

“When I’m working in my studio, I get a little more fantastical than when I’m out in nature doing plein air stuff,” James Griffin says. “It’s so compelling; you’re desperate to get it down before the light changes.” This Maine plein air-inspired piece is called “Sonata for Wind and Sun.”

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arasotan James Griffin has mastered the art of seduction.

You can find his steamy artwork in most bookstores, and many avid romance genre readers have owned his work at some point in time. But, Griffin is more than just a cover illustrator.

In fact, he started as a realist painter living as artists live: in a hovel with an $80 monthly rent, he says. At first, Griffin was determined to remain noncommercial. But, when the opportunity arrived, the income was as provocative as the covers he’d end up creating for the next 30 years. Time spent illustrating these fanatical covers gives his gallery style and landscape art a fresh perspective and modern approach.

The 64-year-old’s love for realist work started in elementary school when a teacher’s assignment, “Draw yourself,” yielded a result she wasn’t expecting.

His classmates excelled in stick figures, while his self portrait included every detail from the rubber tips of his sneakers to the stitching on his blue jeans.

“I guess it was then that I realized I was doing something different,” he says.

The soft-spoken man sits at a high-top table at his new home and studio on the North Trail.

The walls are decorated with his varying work: illustration-style portraits of women; plein air;

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

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// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT distinctly Florida landscapes and distinctly Maine landscapes, where he also has a home; and the energetic scenes of New York, where he lived before moving here in 2005.

Griffin grew up in the middle of five children, and he found that art was a method of appropriate attention seeking from his parents.

His late mother, Gibson, wasn’t the type to tell him he needed a backup plan. She encouraged him because she was an art student, herself, before having children.

His father, Vincent’s career in international business helped shape Griffin’s passion. Griffin was born in Ontario, Canada, and moved to the U.S. for a couple of years before moving to Peru (no one in his family spoke Spanish), then back to the U.S. By the time he was 11 years old, they had moved to London, where Griffin spent has adolescence being exposed to classical art. He not only got the sense that he could do anything he wanted as far as art was concerned, but he also got the feel for paint — literally.

In those days, there weren’t museum guards. His curiosity as a young artist urged him to reach out at museums and feel the priceless Monet, da Vinci, Turner or any painting he could. Even though he knows he shouldn’t have been touching them, it gave him a special feeling for creation he wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Following his study of art at Pratt Institute, he stayed in Brooklyn, N.Y. He worked as an artist and a carpenter until a neighbor, Charles Gehm, saw his work. Gehm created the covers of romance novels and needed

Six things that inspire James Griffin:

IF YOU GO ‘Season of Color’

1. Light — It’s the most basic. It shows or hides. It gives everything form, too. I can do a whole painting of somebody’s driveway with just the shadow coming across it; that’s inspiration enough right there.

See James Griffin’s work alongside eight other Dabbert Gallery artists in this show.

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday; 6 to 9 p.m. first Fridays of the month. Runs through Oct. 29.

2. Color — I don’t use color the way people normally would think of using color. The sky is not always blue; it’s blue, red, green and yellow.

And so is the grass. So is everything else.

Where: Dabbert Gallery, 76 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota Cost: Free Info: Call 955-1315 ONLINE: Visit YourObserver. com to see James Griffin talk about some of his different styles of work. help. Being an assistant quickly evolved into Griffin doing the work himself, and then it became his career. But he would always continue his non-commercial art on the side.

Cover art is planned. It comes from photo shoots that use models followed by illustrating and painting the scene. Over the years, the cover-art process has evolved to creating pieces digitally. Sometimes, Griffin will use this process to help plan what he’ll paint for a gallery-style piece.

One consistent theme in his series is that all of Griffin’s works tell a story. For instance, Forces of Nature uses women to portray a part of the natural world in a realistic way. For instance,

“Fugue” is on display at Dabbert Gallery. It’s part of one in Griffin’s Forces of Nature series. ”The Dabberts were quite open to my work,” Griffin says. “I like them very much; I think they are a wonderful team, and they work hard for the artists and collectors.” to portray the energy of Florida’s daytime, he painted a portrait of a woman reaching for a grapefruit — she is posed similarly to the Columbia Pictures iconic image.

And, even if the piece doesn’t contain an obvious story, his objective is to make the viewer feel what he was feeling when he painted it.

“I think an artist is always inventing, or reinventing himself,” Griffin says. “It’s kind of a strange thing because it’s like a meditation … does what I’m putting down really represent what I am feeling?”

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5. Pattern — Pattern is really interesting to me. I like to create patterns, and I like to break patterns.

“I realized the thing to do is to constantly be creating a new look,” Griffin says of his cover art. “Everyone else copies someone else’s work, but I want to be the one setting the trend.” This piece was used on the cover of “Devilish Duke in My Bed”

by Susan Gee Heino.

6. Telling a story — Every painting is telling a story … the main reason you paint is not just to move pigment around on a canvas — it’s to actually reach out and communicate with somebody and to touch somebody. If they can feel a little about what you were feeling, even if it’s just a glimmer, that’s a really cool thing.

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4. Music — I used to play a lot of music. My dad was a pianist, and I always have music playing in my head.

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3. Observation — The more you look, the more you see in nature. Or, if you’re doing a face, you look into a face, and you see more and more the harder and longer you look.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: SPOTLIGHT

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

FST’s newest project explores what ‘Older than Dirt’ means What does it mean to age? It could mean a drawer full of hair dye and wrinkle cream; it could mean a metaphoric drawer full of life experience and wisdom; or it could mean you share your good, bad, dramatic and comedic stories with a Florida Studio Theatre interviewer. In its new community project, “Older than Dirt,” starting Oct. 14, it will use the interviews to explore what aging is all about.

It started in October 2009, when “Life in the Middle” was first presented at Asolo Repertory Theatre. For that production, New Jersey-based playwright KJ Sanchez worked with FSU/Asolo Conservatory third-year students to interview area middle-school students. She turned these interviews into a comedic, documentary-style script and, eventually, into a production. Richard Hopkins, artistic director of Florida Studio Theatre, was in the audience — he introduced himself to Sanchez following the show.

“He said, ‘I saw your show, and I liked it,’” Sanchez says in a phone call from New Jersey. “We’ve kept in touch since then and have been looking for the right project (to collaborate on).”

Sanchez operates American Records, a theater company that creates plays from real-life interviews; each aims to tell the bigger picture. For instance, “ReEntry” is a hard-hitting play that used interviews with Marines who had returned from Iraq and Afghani-

32.5% of Sarasotans are over

the age of 65, according to a 2012 U.S. Bureau of the Census Population Estimates Program. stan to create a story of the challenges servicemen face when they attempt to reenter civilian life. “ReEntry” was a project, like every one of Sanchez’s projects, that sought to promote understanding and change.

Sanchez hopes to serve the same function with a focus on specific issues of aging using Sarasotans’ stories to create a plot.

A team of FST interviewers will conduct interviews with as many people who want to participate.

Sanchez estimates they’ll conduct between 40 and 100 interviews and expects the bulk of interviews to come from people ages 60 years and older, although, she hopes to speak with teenagers and middle-aged people, as well.

Some people will become the main characters, whom they might interview on a few differ-

ent occasions. All of the interviews will be anonymous once they are turned into a script.

Sanchez isn’t fishing for certain answers — she lets the interviews lead the way. It always starts with a question, similar to: “Do you experience any sort of biases relating to your age?” Sanchez calls it a “thrill ride” because there’s no way to know what the end result will be.

“What’s so cool about being willing to participate — these people are actually impacting the play,” she says.

She hopes that the eventual outcome, the play, will get people talking and thinking and will be funny, smart and entertaining.

“Hopefully it will help the younger members of our country understand the issues and how to take better care of (the elderly),” she says.

IF YOU GO Older Than Dirt: A Conversation for the Ages panel discussion When: 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14 Where: Florida Studio Theatre (Keating Theatre), 1241 N. Palm Ave. Cost: Free with RSVP Info: Call 366-9000

Courtesy photo

“Hopefully it will help the younger members of our country understand the issues and how to take better care of (the elderly),” KJ Sanchez says.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: BACKSTAGE PASS

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by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

Volunteers held together by The Ringling glue There are three volunteers manning the welcome desk at The John and Mable Ringling Museum. One of them, Roberta Schaumleffel, or “Bobbi,” as her museum friends call her, greets another volunteer, John Fisher, as he arrives for his shift. She says that although she has logged more than 500 hours so far this year, he has probably doubled that.

One of their friends, who is also a volunteer scheduled that day, has been having a rough month.

“You need to go talk to her today,” Schaumleffel tells Fisher in a caring voice. The museum volunteers are a tight-knit group.

Schaumleffel explains that September at the museum is one of the slower months, but it gives the volunteers a chance to get to know each other better. During Ringling International Arts Festival (RIAF) from Oct. 9 through Oct. 12, there’s a lot of foot-traffic and people to greet — she likes it best when it’s busy.

Schaumleffel has volunteered for the festival since its first year.

She and Fisher work the membership table in the front lobby of the museum.

“They were supposed to do the festival every other year,” she says, “but, after the first year was over, it came back to us that Mikhail Baryshnikov would like to see this event every year — he was pleased.”

The festival is a partnership between The Ringling and the Baryshnikov Arts Center.

And, speaking of Mikhail

IF YOU GO The Ringling International Arts Festival When: Runs Oct. 9 through Oct. 12 Where: Various locations, from the campus of The Ringling to FSU Center for Performing Arts Cost: Individual tickets $30 to $40; opening-night party $500; closing-night party $75 Info: Call 360-7399 or visit ringling.org

Mallory Gnaegy

“A lot of us are so busy greeting, talking to people and loving it,” Roberta Schaumleffel says of the volunteer perspective on RIAF. “But every year I buy a ticket, and I can tell you my favorite performance — it was when Mikhail Baryshnikov performed.”

Baryshnikov, his performance in 2010 was Schaumleffel’s favorite RIAF event. She sat on the edge of her seat, wanting to cry, and could hardly breathe during the performance.

She mostly volunteers at the festival because she sees many members and recurring visitors, people with whom she can have “reunion chitchat.” The types of

people to whom you ask, “How was your summer?” “What have you been up to?” or “How was Michigan?”

She says there are some who are drawn to one particular RIAF event. For example, Schaumleffel says her exterminator is a big fan of flamenco dancing and is planning to see Rocío Molina.

Others get tickets to every event.

Schaumleffel says that this year, she’s planning on buying a ticket to the closing-night party and attending as a non-volunteer. She’ll attend with some of her volunteer friends.

This group of friends, ages 56 to 88, socializes outside of The Ringling and gets together for dinner every once in a while — there’s a tram driver, a couple

of docents, an ambassador who works in the pavilion and more.

“The Ringling is what we might have used to call full-circle banking but, instead, full-circle volunteering,” she says.

You make friends; you learn; you’re part of a support group; there are wonderful restaurants; there are events and concerts on the grounds; the museum is constantly changing; and you can sit out on the terrace and read a book if you don’t want to do anything else, she says. You can find her there some days.

For Schaumleffel, the biggest perk of her job is the camaraderie.

“Being with people whom you like, who like you and whom you have something in common with (is a perk),” she says. “It’s a bond — The Ringling glue.”

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YourObserver.com

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: HIGHLIGHTS

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

by Mallory Gnaegy | A&E Editor

//Arts Scene Around Sarasota For more photos from the events below, visit YourObserver.com.

 Fred Astaire Dance Studio staff and dancers presented “Puttin’ on the Ritz” Sunday, Oct. 6, at Sarasota Opera House. The pieces they performed were perfected over the past three months and were choreographed by Bruno Collins. Performers included Jeisenia Gonzalez, Dr. Harvey Levine and Petra Pennington, left, and Jesse Goodnight, lifting Pennington.

 Manatee County Cultural Alliance celebrated the opening of “The Skeletons of Bone Valley” exhibit Friday, Oct. 4, at Bradenton’s Village of the Arts first Friday art walk. The exhibit features photography of Florida’s phosphate country, Bone Valley, from photographers, including Richard Porter, curator Matt Allison and Virginia Robinson, pictured, as well as other photographers. The exhibit will be on display through Oct. 28.

 Every October, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens hosts a music series.

The 2013 series kicked off with Photos by Mallory Gnaegy The First Brass performing “Red, White and Brass: American Salute” Sunday, Oct. 6, with vocals by Sharon Scott. Attendees, such as Mimi and John Greco, lounged beneath the banyans, where they enjoyed a patriotic salute to our veterans. The series takes place every Sunday in October. The next concert, “O Som Do Jazz,” takes place Oct. 13. Tickets are $5. Call 366-5731 for more information.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

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// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: REVIEWS Refreshed muscles, radiant skin and wellness at the right price –it’s all waiting for you at Massage Envy Spa.

American theatrical comedy loves men suffering mid-life crises and scratching their seven-year itches. Steven Dietz’s “Becky’s New Car” gives equal time to women-of-a-certainage stuck in various ruts. Our titular Becky (Becky Holahan) is a 50-something wife and mother. She has a good job at a car dealership, a stable husband (Neil Kasanofsky as a roofer with his feet on the ground) and a good life. She’s bored to tears.

Not that Becky complains … exactly.

Though she does maintain a running dialogue with the audience. Dietz’s play doesn’t so much break the fourth wall as it crashes through it like a four-wheel-drive assault vehicle. (More automotive puns ahead. Proceed with caution!) Becky maintains a running chatter with the audience, offering them soda and beers — or getting them to help with her collating. (If you’ve ever wanted to break into theater, sit in the front row at this play. You’ll get your chance.) Becky never asks the audience for help with her midlife crisis, though.

No problem.

Becky’s working late one night when Walter (Neil Levine), a befuddled-but-charming millionaire appears. While Becky fills out his last-minute order for nine cars, Cupid zaps his heart. Widower Walter gets the impression that Becky is also a widow. She never corrects him. Complications and an affair ensue.

Nothing bad happens … exactly. The comic engine simply accelerates Becky into the farce lane. Becky, (a four-square, moral lady) is suddenly juggling lies and double lives.

Like all good people, she’s bad at it, and all the stuff she’s juggling comes crashing down.

But, failure is always funny — just ask Wile E. Coyote. John Michael Andzulis’s excellent set design helps sell the joke; the action all

happens in one set, doubling as home and office. Becky leaps across time and space.

Aristotle’s unity of action gets hit in the crosswalk.

Such wacky comedy needs savvy comedic talents. Venice Theatre delivers. Director Murray Chase’s screwball rhythm is firing on all eight cylinders. The actors are equally fine. Holahan doesn’t exactly steal the show — the car belongs to “Becky,” after all. But the weight of the play is on her, and she carries it effortlessly. Kasanofsky is wonderfully deadpan as the husband. Levine serves up the dead-opposite vibe as the heart-on-his-sleeve millionaire. Diane Brin is winning as a poor little ex-rich girl. Ronald Krine Myroup is Robin Williams-esque as Becky’s co-worker — a widower on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Great performances also from Scott Ireland (as Becky’s psycho-babbling grad student son) and Arianna DeCecco (as his bubbly girlfriend).

Strong script. Strong cast. Strong direction. It all adds up to a light, tight, bright performance. At the end of the road? It’s no spoiler to say: Becky’s life resets. A few dings and scratches, maybe. But no shootings, stabbings, ghosts or “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” shouting matches. Comedy (farce especially) forgives. Especially when it’s Becky we’re talking about. This is a play that wants you to like it, with a central character who shamelessly wants you to like her. It works.

If Becky wanted to sell the audience cars, they’d all walk out with keys in their hands when the curtain came down.

— Marty Fugate

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IF YOU GO ‘Becky’s New Car’ runs through Oct. 20, at Venice Theatre.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT: REVIEWS

MUSIC

FILM

// Unprecedented cycle rolls into Sarasota

Courtesy

The Ariel Quartet composer’s magic through the music.

But, even better, the ensemble’s ability to focus each musician’s virtuosity into a singular sound made its playing so spontaneous and rich, it was the true essence of what chamber music should be: vital, alive and natural.

The “Serioso,” which is the only quartet for which Beethoven offered a subtitle, is a biting, strongly emotional work with unison statements the members of the Ariel played like one person. It was a sweeping performance, always with a point, in sound and direction. Mendelssohn, commenting on this piece, once said it was Beethoven’s “most characteristic work.” Interestingly, the final movement of this Opus 95 sounds Mendelssohnian with, perhaps, a slight nod to things to come.

Beethoven’s Opus 127, however, is the future. Part of the composer’s late period, violinists Gerchikov and Kazovsky switched roles, with Kazovsky taking the first chair.

Between the angularity and almost dissonant sound of the music and the different timbre of the ensemble, because Kazovsky’s sound is leaner and more modern than that

Esteemed director Alfonso Cuaron has always wanted to be an astronaut. In his new film, “Gravity,” it’s extremely apparent that he has a meticulous vision as to what it would be like, weightless, drifting about in space. And it’s stunning beyond words.

Four years in the making and seven years since his last film (“Children of Men”), “Gravity” is about the utter lack thereof. A veteran astronaut, Matt Kowalski, (George Clooney) and medical engineer, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), are in the middle of making a technical repair outside of their space shuttle. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose when a shower of debris from the explosion of a Russian satellite hits them.

For an amazing 13 minutes, the audience is in perfect tandem with the two until they are, literally, lost in space. Matt, velvety smooth and cocky (so signature Clooney), reassures Ryan as she’s frantically losing oxygen to “sip it like wine, not gulp it like beer.” He then performs a drastic act of heroism and leaves Ryan to her own devices. The gravity of the situation is dreadfully dire.

One need not give a hoot about sci-fi thrillers to immerse himself in this visually gripping survival saga. There are no aliens, evil forces or unexplained events inhabiting this groundbreaking piece of filmmaking.

Cinematographer Emmanuel

of Gerchikov, it was like hearing a different ensemble playing a different composer.

Here is the angry, almost disjointed Beethoven, perhaps looking — inside his now completely deaf head — toward a future only he could hear.

This was not a popular piece when it debuted in 1824, and it’s still difficult to hear and, certainly, to perform.

The Ariel, using even more body language than it did in the first two quartets, caught the right mood of ferocity, digging in with a fierceness and fragmentation that is practically 21st-century urban clamor.

Robert Schumann, the great romantic composer, said of these string quartets, “True lovers of Beethoven lock the doors, savoring and reveling in every single measure.” The Ariel still has 11 more works to play in the course of four more concerts in February and May. They all take place in the intimate (though sterile), acoustically friendly Selby Auditorium on the USF campus in Sarasota, and I’m sure we will be savoring and reveling in every one of these historic performances.

— June LeBell

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Lubezki’s astounding camerawork and Steven Price’s intense scoring place us in space. It’s as real and as frightening as it gets.

Clooney and Bullock are a magnificent match. He’s the evercool dude spinning anecdotal yarns and watering-hole pickup lines, while Bullock is a damaged soul whose young daughter died from a bump on the head. He weaves his way into her psyche, unnoticed until it becomes her ultimate salvation. Cuaron knows how to navigate human nature in any given space.

“Gravity” will leave you breathless. Images of tears floating through zero gravity, suspension in emptiness and feet ultimately planted on terra firma will haunt your dreams.

As the film opens, Matt quips, “You can’t beat the view.” In the end, it serves as an insightful observation and a testament to this cinematic masterpiece.

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History is being made this season in Sarasota. The Ariel Quartet, under the auspices of The Perlman Music Program, is presenting the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets and, with all the chamber music that’s been performed in Sarasota over the years, it’s the first time the cycle will have been played in one season in this city. It took a fresh, young quartet of musicians — violinists Gershon Gerchikov and Alexandra Kazovsky, violist Jan Gruening and cellist Amit Even-Tov — to bring this cycle to us, and they’re doing it before any one of them turns 30.

Rather than presenting the cycle in numerical order, The Ariel has chosen to play one quartet from each of Beethoven’s early, middle and late periods, so we are able to hear the evolution and revolution the composer went through as he not only aged, but also as he became increasingly deaf.

If this week’s concerts set the example for future performances, it’s going to be a fascinating journey.

The first concert, which took place last Tuesday, offered the F major, No. 1, from Opus 18, composed in 1799; the “Serioso” Quartet, Opus 95, No. 11, coming from the composer’s middle period in 1810; and the Opus 127 in E flat, written in 1824.

For the first two quartets, the Ariel’s first violinist was Gerchikov, with Kazovsky playing second. The ensemble’s breadth of coloring, wondrous phrasing, control and ability to breathe with the music brought the

// ‘Gravity’

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

9

// HOME&GARDEN

Crafty Genes

by Mallory & Leslie Gnaegy | DIY Editors

PROJECT: Pallet Bed Frame Skill level: Price:

$$$$$ Average time: Three days

SUPPLIES: • 8 40-inch-by-48inch pallets for a queen-sized mattress • Sand paper • Gallon of preferred color of paint and primer in one (we used turquoise) • Cheap bristled

... after

before ...

paintbrushes • 2 cans spray satin fast-drying polyurethane • 8 four-hole, 2-inch mending braces (and matching screws) • 4 10-inch, four-hole flat straight brackets (and matching screws)

1 FIND YOUR PALLETS

4 ATTACH INDIVIDUAL LAYERS

2 SAND

Use an electric sander to sand all the reachable areas of each pallet. Take care to get all of the edges. The less it’s sanded, the more the paint will soak in. It takes about 15 minutes to sand each pallet. If you wear gloves, it can decrease the soreness of your hands when you are sanding the last pallet.

3 APPLY PAINT AND POLYURETHANE You could save a little time and buy spray paint, but it limits your color options and makes it look more finished as opposed to rustic. If you want it to look shabby chic, it’s best to apply paint with a brush. If you’re going for the brush method, like we did, just know this step takes the most time. Dip your brush about one inch into the paint and apply sparingly. If you can see a little of the wood color, that’s a good thing. If it dries and you want to make it look more rustic or worn, you could always go over the paint with a sander around some of the edges. Apply polyurethane (see photo above) to protect your wood bed frame. If you choose white paint, use a water-based polyurethane; oil-based can turn yellow over time.

See a video of

Mallory Gnaegy We used fewer brackets, so it makes it easier to take apart in demonstrating case of moving. But, if you’re pretty stationary or have kids who how to build like to jump on the bed, then you could also apply brackets in a pallet bed the middle sections. frame at Lay the bottom layer of four pallets flat (they should equal YourObserver. around 80 inches by 100 inches, give or take a few centimecom. ters). You’ll attach mending braces in the middle sections where the pallets touch. We attached screws in the two outermost holes of the four-hole, 4-inch mending braces. You’ll then lay the top layer of four pallets flat on top of this layer, and apply braces in the same areas.

Finding eight pallets can be an issue, especially during the rainy season. To make things easier, there are services through which you can purchase pallets. The most important part is that they haven’t been exposed to lots of rain and humidity and that they are in good shape. Pass on pallets that smell, look oily or are stained. The newer-looking pallets are more trustworthy. You could always scrub them down with bleach and soapy water and lay them out to dry.

Eight pallets provided about a 10-inch platform — another four would make the bed higher. You would have to do some measuring and cutting for any other size bed.

5 ATTACH THE BOTTOM LAYER TO THE TOP LAYER You’ll vertically attach one 10-inch flat straight bracket to each of the corners so that they attach the bottom and top layer of pallets. You can attach these on the inside corner or outside corner, depending on your preference.

TIPS: • If a pallet is stamped with HT, it means it has been heat-treated rather than chemically treated, which is healthier to use for building purposes.

• An electric sander can be purchased

for $30. If you don’t use it, the project could take weeks.

• Paint the brackets and braces once they are attached to hide the metal color.

• It’s necessary to use an electric drill with a bit to create a hole. By using a bit, you can prevent splitting the wood.

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Free fun event for the whole family performances by Sarasota opera singers Sarasota Youth opera Chorus tour backstage & meet our stage directors Door prizes, birthday cake & more!

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// FOOD&COOKING: COLUMN

TIDBITES

by June LeBell Contributing Columnist june@junelebell.com

Photos by June LeBell

 Osso bucco ravioli from Café Gabbiano; Peter Tracy, top right),and Marc Grimaud, bottom right

Courtesy

Rendering of Darwin Brewing Co., in Bradenton

Cosimo’s Restaurant and Catering is launching a charitable program called “Cosimo’s for a Cause” and will be raising money for schools and non-profits in our area by hosting fundraisers on select Tuesday evenings this month at the restaurant with 10% of every check going to the featured organization. John Ganley, general manager, says, “We’ve been part of this community for more than 15 years, and it’s important to us to give back.” For information, go to www.cosimos.net.

We’ll tell you more about this charming restaurant in the future but, for now, we want you to know about Fresh Start Café, an appealing indoor-outdoor hideyhole at 630 S. Orange Ave. that’s family owned and has spectacularly great sandwiches, salads, soups and breakfasts concocted

by Chef Matt with Hanna and Susan doing a little of everything and Sam serving. Oh, and don’t forget Jonah. He’s responsible for those yummy shortbread and butter cookies they give out as gifts when you get the check.

“We like slave labor,” Sam joked. “Jonah’s 9.”

Kitchen

with Chef Daniel & GM Kristina Grainger

of The Sarasota-Manatee Originals Visit YourObserver.com/InTheKitchen For The Recipe And Video

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Think Italian and you might see visions of pastas swimming in red sauces. Not at Gabbiano. Chef Paolo, who’s originally from Ischia, has an osso buco ravioli that floats.

His fillet of grouper, with sundried tomatoes, spinach and capers in a white-wine sauce, is perfect for waste-line watchers. And the scaloppine Mamma Lucia, sautéed in Marsala with wild mushrooms, thinly sliced eggplant and fresh mozzarella, is so tender you won’t need your knife.

Peter has been in the restaurant business since he can remember and, together with Marc, Café Gabbiano has taken on a whole new ambience that caters to romantic evenings for two and parties of 150.

My favorite is a charmingly intimate paneled dining room that would be perfect for an intimate, candlelit dinner of 10. Like home, but better.

Oh — they also have a full bar and 220 different kinds of wine — 3,000 bottles on the premises — and 23 hand-selected Italian wines with artistically designed ceramic labels.

as an entry into the Great American Beer Festival Competition this month. And, because Chef Darwin is from South America, there are also “American craft beers inspired by and infused with the exotic flavors of the Amazon and the Andes.”

We’ll still find Chef Darwin spending most of his time in Sarasota, but Matt says, “This is a family business. My family partners with Chef Darwin. I had completed law and graduate school in Chicago and was beginning a career there, but ultimately couldn’t pass on the opportunity to work with Darwin and our brewmaster, Jorge Rosabel, in getting this operation off the ground.”

Matt moved in March to Sarasota.

The concept of a lawyer involved in brewing beers (and probably drinking them) fascinated me, so I asked how one affected the other. Matt replied, “I’m not licensed to practice in Florida, although I am giving some consideration to sitting for the Florida Bar next summer. But that will depend on how busy we are at the brewery.” Meanwhile, he adds, “A background in law helps in any business or profession.”

In The

afé Gabbiano on Siesta Key just north of the Village has been reinvented, and it took a family, not a village, to do it. Peter Tracy actually lives in California but, because he’s spending more time on Siesta Key near the Gulf of Mexico than along the Pacific Coast, he’s really a Sarasotan. His job as general manager of the 4,000-square-foot café keeps him in town most of the time. And his nephew, Marc Grimaud, the restaurant’s proprietor, has moved here with his wife, Laura, and they love every minute.

Four thousand square feet may sound big, but Café Gabbiano feels intimate. It also has one of the best chefs for authentic, delicious Italian cuisine. Chef Paolo is known as “The man behind the vision,” and that vision is more like a magnificent vista filled with delicacies such as burrata — fresh Italian cheese made from creamy mozzarella so delicate it melts on the tongue, served with speck (a sort of gentle prosciutto), fresh pesto and yummy, crusty Italian bread.

O

K, it hasn’t opened yet, but Darwin’s on 4th, one of our favorite spots in town, is building a brewing company in Bradenton. Matt Cornelius, who’s helping Chef Darwin Santa Maria pull it together, says, “We’re in the process of winning approval from the Bradenton Zoning Board and City Council before construction begins. Our goal is to be open at 803 17th Ave. W., across from McKechnie Field, by March.”

That doesn’t mean Darwin’s on 4th is closing. Far from it. It just means the brews that are made and on tap in Sarasota will soon be available to the north.

“We are a production brewery and will be strictly serving beer in our Bradenton tasting room and accompanying beer garden,” Matt explains. “But we plan to invite community food truck vendors to serve on our property.”

What are some of the brews we can expect in Bradenton? Well, among them are the West Coast IPA, which was second runner-up as best beer in Florida. There will also be Ayawasca — a Belgian dubbel; and Charapa — a spiced porter, which Matt says was accepted

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UNCLE PETER AND NEPHEW MARC REVAMP CAFÉ GABBIANO

C

EXTRA BITES TO CHEW ON

DARWIN’S IS BREWING AT TWO SPOTS

Black Tie

INSIDE: ‘Lawyers and Legends’ PAGE 13

YourObserver.com

Bernadette Serafini and Charles Westcott

Robin Turner and Tracy Fox with pups Saint and Martha, which were the live-auction items donated by Dr. Nina’s Animal Hospital.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

Chef Jamil Pineda, Rebecca Blitz and Phil Mancini surprise the Rev. Fausto Stampiglia with a birthday cake.

TASTE OF THE

by Heather Merriman | Black Tie Assistant Editor

Roland and Sabrina Gibson

St. Martha Catholic School held its annual interactive dinner and auction Saturday, Oct. 5, at Michael’s On East. All committee members, as well as Chairwoman Amanda Lopez, donned blue aprons, while a sold-out crowd of more than 200 guests mingled, bid on silent-auction items and were introduced to the live-auction

Aaron and Karen Strand, Joe and Joan Lovingood and Charlene Neal

Rebecca Blitz, Phil Mancini and Beth Cannata

items, poodle pups named Saint and Martha.

After thanking all those who made the dinner auction happen, Rebecca Blitz announced that it was the Rev. Fausto Stampiglia’s birthday, while Phil Mancini wheeled out a surprise birthday cake. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday,” and the priest blew out the candles

on his cake, along with the Rev. Sebastian Szczawinski, whose birthday was earlier in the week.

Michael’s On East Executive Chef Jamil Pineda and Mancini then took the stage and instructed the guests on how to cook each course — all to raise money (more than $100,000 and counting) for St. Martha Catholic School.

Photos by Heather Merriman

Haven Beach and Carolyn Garron

Tony and Vicki Skidmore with Maria and Matt Beall

Molly and Todd Eliason with Tim and Michelle Hornung

Kim Dendy and Sandy Larson

12

DIVERSIONS

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// BLACK TIE: COLUMN

BLACKTIE&TALES

SARASOTA’S BELOVED JEWEL t was a sad day last week in the Black Tie department as news arrived that sweet Jewel Ash had died. Ash had been a friend to many of us here, so we wanted to share a few memories of her.

Molly Schechter: The Sarasota Opera Guild; Sunshine from Darkness (international mental health research organization); Temple Beth Israel of Longboat Key; Catholic Charities; The Sahib Shrine; Jewish Family & Children’s Service; Glasser-Schoenbaum Human Services Center; St. Jude Catholic Church HispanicAmerican Center; Circus Sarasota; Designing Women Boutique, where she was a longtime board member, styling chairwoman and originator of the Salon Series; Senior Friendship Centers; and the list goes on …

There are 117 photos of Jewel Ash in our Black Tie online galler-

Newlyweds Peter Plotkin and Diane McNeelPlotkin cut the groom’s cake.

Jewel’s husband, Mike, had gifted her a few dresses that she didn’t feel were “her” and that she thought I would love (I guess Mike knows our little secret now!). Our lunches always took place at Bijou Café, and because she knew I loved its famous pommes gratin dauphinois, she always ordered them and acted like she’d help eat them, which she never did. She just wanted to see me happy, and that was one of the many things that was so special about Jewel. I wore the dresses she gifted me this week in her honor and will continue to miss her friendship.

File photo

Mike and the late Jewel Ash earlier this year.

I

Cliff Roles

by Black Tie Staff

ies, which only go back to 2006 — a tiny, but telling, descriptor of the extent of her community involvement.

And she was not just a name on a committee list; she really worked.

If “stalwart” is an odd word to describe a delightfully delicate little lady, it is an apt one. Jewel was as determined and persistent as she was kind and generous.

Before they wed in 1978, Jewel took Mike Ash to her doctor, wanting him to fully understand her medical history. The doctor told them, “You’ll be lucky to have five years together.” They had 35. She was proud of and happy about that, as she had every right to be.

Emily Walsh: Who knew that someone so small in stature could behold so much power? Well, this BT Editor certainly didn’t until she unleashed it upon me during the Designing Women fashion shows that she so expertly styled for so many years. Many of you know that my style is, uh, let’s say conservative. The only, and I mean only person who could ever convince me to wear a white suit with nothing underneath the suit jacket but a lacy bra was Jewel Ash. And, believe it or not, I did it. And I did it because I loved her. And, I’ll have to agree with her ... I didn’t look half bad! Well, being in my late 20s at the time probably didn’t hurt, either.

Stephanie Hannum: Although I always loved seeing Jewel’s smiling face at events, I especially loved the occasional phone call from her saying, “We need to have lunch. I have a dress for you.”

CORRECTION In SEASON Magazine’s Black Tie editors’ picks, the date of “Paws on Palm” was incorrectly stated. The event is Thursday, Nov. 7.

RE-IMAGINE HEALTHCARE

ON TO HAPPILY EVER AFTER

P

eter Plotkin and Diane McNeel met at a philanthropy roundtable meeting Nov. 4, 2000, in Pasadena, Calif. But when Peter proposed to Diane Aug. 20 — on bended knee, as she had specified — he wanted the wedding to take place before the end of the year. Diane is an organizer extraordinaire, so a mere five weeks later, on the morning of Oct. 1, they said their vows at their Casey Key home, with John Kidd, the bride’s brother, officiating. They celebrated that evening with 170 guests at Cap Joie, the home of friends Anders and Katherine Ebbeson.

BLACK TIE DEBUT There’s a new BT gal on the scene! Heather Merriman, a graduate of Cardinal Mooney and the University of Alabama, has moved back to Sarasota to take over as the Observer’s Black Tie assistant editor.

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The party was a love feast featuring the couple’s favorite foods — hotdogs and a devil’s food groom’s cake topped with Cool Whip for Peter and steak Diane for the bride — as part of a bounteous spread prepared by Paul Mattison. In a toast by Diane’s son Ian, he described his new stepdad as “one of the last true gentlemen.”

Singer/songwriter Jordan Bennett came from Los Angeles to perform a program including the nonagenarian groom’s request for “Hello Young Lovers” and a duet with Sarasota reggae queen Shantel Norman. daughter is no stranger to Sarasota or its charities. In high school, she volunteered with Teens for Wishes, and she is currently serving on various event committees.

Keep up to date with BT by following her on Facebook, Twitter (@blcktie) and Instagram (@blacktie_untied).

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

13

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY ‘LAWYERS & LEGENDS’ Benefiting Legal Aid of Manasota Inc. | Friday, Sept. 27, at Hyatt Regency Sarasota

 Event coordinator Charlie Ann Syprett with Co-Chairs Deborah Blue, Kim Bald and Jennie Famiglio

Judge Rick De Furia, Jaime Wallce and Tom Akel

Marlene Blalock and Dannie Sherrill

Joe and Barbara Najmy with Rob and Jena Melberth

Sandra Robinson with Joe and Debbie Gigliotti

Photos by Heather Merriman

Jennifer and Larry Saslaw with Kim Githler

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY

The 2013 Freedom Award recipients: Dr. Rachel Shelley, Dawn Clayton, Ruth McCoy Thomas, LaShawn Houston-Frost, Dr. Harriet Moore, Linda McCloud, Edwina Oliver, back row; John Walker, Shelia Sanders, Carl Stephens and Capt. Lucius Bonner

 Maddux Castle, Shawna Sims, Drake Stevens, Cassidy Marryott and Kate Flanders

28TH ANNUAL FREEDOM AWARDS BANQUET Benefiting Sarasota County Branch NAACP Thursday, Oct. 3, at Hyatt Regency Sarasota

 Gina and Monte Iovina with Ginger.

Gina and Ginger entered the “Best Look Alike” contest.

DONTE’S DEN ‘TOP DOG’ Benefiting Donte’s Den Foundation | Saturday, Oct. 5, at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium

 Marie Monsky, Valerie Goddard, Donal O’Shea and Renee Hamad

 Marsha Panuce with Sampson, a Rastafarian poodle  Billy Gamble with German shorthair pointers Lottie Dah and Daisy Mae

Photos by Heather Merriman

Photos by Heather Merriman

Eva Bass and Regina Jenkins

Chairwoman Cynthia Howard and Trevor Harvey, NAACP Sarasota County Branch President

 Terri and John Gance with West Highland white terrier Madison

Sarasota’s Sensational

Dinner and Auction October 23, 2013 | 6:00-9pm | Michael’s on East $100 per person

Sharky’s on the Pier Saturday November 2, 2013 6:30pm

to Benefit the Mental Health Community Centers - Prospect House

Don’t miss the magical entertainment of Fuzion Dance Artists Michael Ross Quartet Sarasota Ballet Dance - The Next Generation Theatre Odyssey Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

Tickets on sale now!

For more information please call (941) 953-5507, ext. 138 www.childrenfirst.net

Contact Bunny Coelingh for information and reservations:

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941.953.3477 or MHCCI.com

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

15

// BLACK TIE: CAMERA READY SOPHISTICATED STRUT FASHION SERIES Benefiting Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County Friday, Oct. 4, at The RitzCarlton Members Beach Club

Melissa Howard and Maria Shelton

Ashley Bafid, Leslie Cornell and Susan Short

Photos by Heather Merriman

Bill Sadlo and Betty Schoenbaum

Virgene Linse, Patricia Estes, Allison Scanian and Eileen Curd

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Liz Sandburg and Kelsey Alholm

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Event models Kristy Cail, Marie Bowman, Hailey Page, Sandra Bellino, Tatyana Sharoubim, Sarah Lodge, Heidi Anderson and Hayley Wielgus

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013

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LEED & ENERGY STAR LEADERSHIP IN HOUSING CERTIFICATE

2012 - 2013 WINNER! minto creates better places to inspire life

(888) 358-8565 For more information about our award-winning homes and communities throughout Florida, visit mintofla.com 12300 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton, FL 34209 On SR 64. On Anna Maria Sound, just east of the Anna Maria Bridge.

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Prices and availability subject to change without notice. Oral representations cannot be relied upon a correctly stating the representations of the developer. For correct representations, make reference to the purchase agreement and homeowner documents, including the documents required by section 718.503, Florida Statutes, to be furnished by a developer to a buyer or lessee in condominium communities. Not an offer where prohibited by state statutes. CGC 1519880. 10/2013.