KEY NEWS
n HOLIDAY TOUR
24 OIRF DECEMBER HOMES
A gift of time and place
BY JANETTE KNUTSON STONE
SPECIAL TO KONK LIFE
Nevertheless, in 1967, returning to a
war zone on Christmas Day seemed
unusually brutal. I lived in the western
suburbs, about a half-hour train ride
from the city of Sydney. I invited Phil
to visit our home on Christmas Eve for
dinner and to meet some of my friends.
It was a typical hot and humid
Christmas in the southern hemisphere.
Phil accompanied us on our walk to
St. Joseph’s Church to attend Midnight
Mass. He declined when I asked if he’d
like to go to Confession. In a subsequent
letter that I have to this day, he explained
why, even though no explanation was
necessary. Apart from the fact that he
wasn’t Roman Catholic, confession,
after what he had experienced, was
a complicated concept.
One of my writing passions was portraying Sydney during that tumultuous
time. I created a main character around
Phil because of the depth of his letters.
His character’s name is Tom.
As I wrote, I wondered more
and more what happened to Phil.
After a not-too-diﬃcult-search, I
located him on Summerland Key. en
I silenced the voice that told me not
to be so stupid and phoned him. is
is what he told me:
at afternoon when I came into
your record shop, I was in rough shape.
I’d spent the morning in the bathtub
with a bottle of bourbon. I told you
I ﬂew on a helicopter, but I didn’t tell
you I was a door gunner. I was shot
down three times. e last time I was
the only survivor. Somewhere in all
I still can’t walk into Key West Bank,
now oﬃcially Centennial Bank, without
seeing Phil Hogue, the president, sitting
behind the glass window at his desk. I
don’t know who created the motto, “No
Branches, Deep Roots,” but those of us
who opened accounts there trusted that
our money was in good hands. Always
willing to oﬀer his time, support and
generous smile, Phil welcomed everyone
who walked through the door even
as the pain in his back wrapped
its way down his spine.
I ﬁrst met Phil on Dec. 22, 1967,
in Sydney, Australia, when he walked
into the Concerto Record Bar where I
worked in a summer job. He rummaged
through the LP and 45 bins looking
for nothing in particular. Finally, he
approached the counter and opened up
a conversation with, “What is there
to do in this town?”
Of course, there was the accent and
hairstyle. But it was the crisp shortsleeved shirt and tailored pants he wore
as well as the healthy, clean-cut look he
presented that distinguished him as an
American on R&R. A quietly spoken
21- year-old with sparkling blue eyes,
he told me he was returning to
Vietnam Christmas Day.
Looking back, it’s fair to say that at
17 I didn’t fully grasp the extent of the
war, oﬃcially referred to as the conﬂict,
until much later when the war/conﬂict
became the focus of my master’s thesis.
3
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
of that, I received a Dear John. Just
before I got to Sydney, I’d decided to
extend for another year. But meeting you
and your family and being invited into
your home at Christmas, reminded me
what life was like before the war and I
changed my mind. e guy who took my
seat was killed the day I left. Every
Memorial Day, I go back to the bottle
of bourbon and toast each of the friends
I lost and each of the friends who kept
me alive, including you.
What goes around comes around.
Phil’s wife, Carol, oﬀered my son a
summer job at the Casa Marina in 2004.
When I visited him from Alberta, I took
a Writers’ Workshop in conjunction with
Hemingway Days and afterwards
enjoyed a long visit and several cups of
tea with local musician Karen Heinz. My
Vietnam-related story, I realized, was an
American/Australian story, not a Canadian prairie story. So I rented a place on
Catherine Street for three months where
I edited my book. Ultimately and
inevitably, Key West became my home.
In 2007, Phil suggested purchasing a
small place at the Golf Club. It was the
ﬁrst of the foreclosures, and he thought
it would be a good investment. As fate
would have it, my new house was around
the corner from Tom, who I fell in love
with and married ﬁve years ago on
Smathers Beach. A full circle twist
to the story is that Phil walked me
to Tom that day.
Phil passed away from cancer in
March 2012. I’m not hesitating to say
that his illness was more than likely
caused by exposure to Agent Orange.
Vibrant and actively involved in the
community as he was, Phil is still
very much missed by all who were
blessed to know him.
Phil’s Christmas gift to me, amazing
as it is, has turned out to be Key West.
All because he walked into a record shop
where I worked in a summer job on the
other side of the world all those years
ago. And most importantly, because
being in a home at Christmas in 1967
meant that much to him. n
CITY NEWS
december 25-31
Published Weekly
Vol. 4 No. 52
PUBLISHER
Guy deBoer
MANAGING EDITOR
Ralph Morrow
NEWS WRITERS
Mark Howell, John L. Guerra,
Pru Sowers, Sean Kinney, C.S. Gilbert
Key West hotel
openings multiply
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Larry E. Blackburn, Ralph De Palma
DESIGN
Dawn deBoer, Julie Scorby
CONTRIBUTORS
Guy deBoer Key News
Mark Howell Howelings
Rick Boettger The Big Story
Louis Petrone Key West Lou
Kerry Shelby Key West Kitchen
Christina Oxenberg Local Observation
Albert L. Kelley Business Law 101
Ian Brockway Tropic Sprockets
C.S. Gilbert Culture Vulture
Ralph De Palma Soul of Key West
Harry Schroeder High Notes
Morgan Kidwell Kids’ Korner
JT Thompson Hot Dish
Diane Johnson In Review
Tim Weaver Bonehead Island
ADVERTISING
305.296.1630
Susan Kent|305.849.1595
[email protected]
Valerie Edgington|305.842.1742
[email protected]
Advertising Deadline Every Friday
PRINT-READY advertising materials due by
Friday every week for next issue of KONK Life.
Ad Dimensions
Horizontal and Vertical:
Full, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/8 page, bizcard
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CIRCULATION
Kavon Desilus ASSISTANT
William Rainer ASSISTANT
KONK Life is published weekly by KONK
Communications Network in Key West, Florida.
Editorial materials may not be reproduced without written
permission from the network.
KONK Communications Network
(305) 296-1630 • Key West, Florida
www.konklife.com
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Spindrift is a 22-unit motel and the new owners
will maintain that number of rooms in H2O. e
two-story building will include several pool areas,
including a rooftop pool that will only be
accessible to hotel guests.
“I’m thrilled to see this area of Key West replaced with such a ﬁne piece of architecture,” said
HARC Commissioner Janet Hinkle.
However, HARC Chairman Michael Miller was
concerned that the lighting design at H2O might
be too bright for the neighborhood. In addition to
a large sign with the hotel’s name, the waterfall
fountain and surrounding trees will be lighted at
night.
“What I would like to see is what this will look
like at night. I can see potential problems with a
brightly lit marquee, a brightly lit waterfall using
LED lighting eﬀects,” Miller said.
As a result, HARC’s approval of the hotel’s
major development plan was contingent on Pike
Architects submitting drawings of the nighttime
look of the hotel.
However, the vote will allow developers to
move ahead with the Key West approval process.
e city planning board has already signed oﬀ on
the design, which will come next before the Key
West City Commission. e developer, Meisel
Holdings, is planning to break ground in January
or February.
Out on Norh Roosevelt Boulevard, the former
Days Inn, Lexington, Comfort Inn and Quality
Inn have been refashioned into four new hotels.
Rising on the same 17-acre parcel is a Hilton
Garden Inn, a Fairﬁeld Inn and Suites, an independent boutique hotel called e Gates, and a
Hampton Inn.
e Gates and the Fairﬁeld Inn are slated to
open ﬁrst. e Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden
Inn will open later this winter. n
Key West is in the middle of a hotel renaissance.
e Historic Architectural Review Commission
(HARC) on Dec. 16 unanimously gave the goahead to a proposed 22-room boutique hotel on
the 1200 block of Simonton Street between United
and Louisa streets.
A brand new hotel built by
architect Pritam Singh, e Marker just opened its
doors on Dec. 12. And two of the four new hotels
on North Roosevelt Boulevard are slated to open
shortly.
e Marker is the ﬁrst all-new hotel, as opposed
to a renovation of an existing property, to be built
in Key West in the past 20 years. Singh said the
Caroline Street hotel has been built just oﬀ the Key
West harbor, where the city’s history was written.
e low-set hotel presents four diﬀerent views
from each of its four sides and the rooms all have
high ceilings, moldings and small wooden porches.
“e theme we’re after is the beautiful classic
sea captain home in the city,” he said. “We have
created a conch hotel, a Key West classic hotel.”
e new hotel at 1212 Simonton will be named
H2O and will feature dramatic lighting and a
waterfall fountain in the front. e HARC
commissioners signed oﬀ on the major
development plan after architects submitted
new designs on Dec. 16 that spread the
buildings out more than the original design.
“I’m very pleased with the design. I think it’s
outstanding,” said HARC Commissioner Richard
Logan. “And I think it ﬁts the scale of the city very
well because of the way you’ve broken up the
massing.”
e existing buildings that will be demolished
to make way for H2O include the Spindrift Motel
and a commercial building that used to house
Bad Boy Burritos and Bella Salon. ose
businesses have found new locations.
4
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
HEALTH
CITY COMMISSION
Smooth transition in home
health care planned
Sightseeing tour
operators ﬁght back
against new regulations
BY C.S. GIBERT
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Was anyone else concerned and
disquieted by the fact that the Visiting
Nurse Association chose not to bid for
the 2015 county contract for in-home
health care?
Well, not to worry.
Island Home Care Agency, Inc., a
Medicare-certiﬁed, accredited home
health agency in business in Key West
for almost four years, has stepped up
to provide a seamless transition
to continuing service.
Initially the agency intended “to stay
small and serve only the Lower Keys,”
explained Kristin Wheeler, director
of private duty and special programs.
But it didn’t turn out that way.
“Our owner, Kim Wilkerson, has
over 25 years of home health experience; prior to moving to Key West with
her family, she owned a large home
health agency in Houston, Texas,” said
Wheeler. “Island Home Care’s team
of nurses, therapists and home health
aides, coupled with Kim’s long-held
principle to only provide the highest
quality care, have made us the most
sought-after home care in the Keys. So
many patients have requested us that we
have been growing steadily, particularly
over this past year. We added our
private duty arm, Island Private Care,
in January 2014 and will be expanding
into the Middle and Upper Keys at the
start of 2015.”
Acquisition of the county contract,
of course, will require additional
staﬃng to cover the added geography.
“We currently have approximately
35 staﬀ members in the Lower Keys and
are expecting to bring on an additional
20 to 30 with the acquisition of the
contract with Monroe County In-Home
Services (MCIHS),” she said.
is is the contract previously held
by VNA, which they chose not to renew.
BY PRU SOWERS
SPECIAL TO KONK LIFE
After the city rolled out a strict
new proposed ordinance regulating
Key West trolley and train sightseeing tours, oﬃcials backed oﬀ after
hearing complaints from the tour
operators.
Key West City Commissioners
and City Attorney Shawn Smith indicated at a special meeting Dec. 15
that they were willing to be ﬂexible
on some of the new tour regulations
that commissioners debated on a ﬁrst
reading. e 17-page proposed ordinance calls for signiﬁcant changes in
how the tour vehicles can be operated, including the number of vehicles allowed on city streets, which
streets the trolleys and Conch Trains
can use for their narrated tours, and
a clause that states the tour narration
must not be audible outside of the
vehicle.
“e take-away from us is the
city may be trying to ﬁx something
that isn’t really broken,” said Chris
Belland, CEO of Historic Tours of
America (HTA), which operates the
Conch Train and Old Time Trolley
Tours in Key West. “Most people
appreciate the sightseeing companies
and what we’ve done for Key West.”
e proposed ordinance was
drawn up by the city’s legal department after three public hearings
where oﬃcials received an earful of
complaints from dozens of residents
over tour operations.
Chief among the grievances was
the sound level on the narrated tours,
followed by complaints of the
congestion on city streets caused
by the dozens of trolleys and Conch
Trains operating at the same time.
Owner Kim Wilkinson, left, and Kristen
Wheeler, director of private duty and
special programs, discuss Island
Home Care Agency, Inc.
“My understanding is that VNA
chose not to submit a proposal
to extend the contract, citing loss
of funding, she said. “We will transition
all of those clients on Jan. 1 and are
currently waiting for client information
from VNA and MCIHS in order to ensure a timely and seamless transition.”
Speciﬁcally, “the contract that
Island Home Care has been awarded
is between us and Monroe County
In-Home Services and it provides
assistance with homemaking, personal
care, Respite — basically, adult day-care
— and companionship for elderly. e
clients’ case management will still be
handled by staﬀ in the county social
services department and our staﬀ will
provide the actual in home assistance.
I expect a very smooth transition for all
of these clients — most of them will
have their same caregiver on the same
days as they’re used to.”
Wheeler gave assurances that Island
Home Care was highly qualiﬁed for the
task. “IHC currently oﬀers a full range
of skilled and private duty services.
MCIHS clients are all case managed
by the county case managers through
funding from the Alliance for Aging.
Our staﬀ will provide the actual
| Continued on page 26
5
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
At those hearings, HTA and its
competitor, City View Trolley Tours,
made minimal comments. But now
that the ordinance is before city
commissioners, the gloves came oﬀ.
As a result, commissioners voted
to approve the ordinance on ﬁrst
reading, but directed staﬀ to meet
with tour operators to accommodate
some of their requests in the second
reading version.
Both Belland and Michael
omas, president of City View
Trolley Tours, objected to a clause
that would require them to operate
tour vehicles that are at least 50
percent full. e idea, according to
City Attorney Smith, is to maximize
the number of trolley and train occupants in order to minimize the number of vehicles on the street “so you
are providing the service with the
least impact possible,” he said.
But omas said this would be
virtually impossible to do because his
trolleys oﬀer a hop on-hop oﬀ service
that changes occupancy rates at every
stop.
“Many times we intentionally
leave seats empty to accommodate
the hundreds of customers seeking
to reboard at the stops they hopped
oﬀ earlier,” he said.
“is is micromanaging,”
complained Belland. “You’re simply
making a good service bad and may
very well put us out of business.”
Belland also protested against
having to eliminate all sound from
the narrated tours outside of the
vehicles. His Conch Trains have
more of an issue with this because
of the speakers located on the long,
open-air trains. He said his company
has just started experimenting with a
| Continued on page 10
CITY COMMISSION NEWS
Latest N. Roosevelt
complaint?
Look up
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
information on how the trees were
going to be maintained, but has not received a response. Before the reconstruction, when the city was maintaining the
palms, they were regularly watered and
fertilized, she said.
“e palm trees on N. Roosevelt are
required to be maintained by the DOT.
It’s obvious that they’re not,” De Maria
said.
De Maria added that she has done
her own spot check of several of the
trees and found that the heart of the
tree, where the palm fronds shoot out, is
green and healthy. But the third or
fourth row
of fronds are turning yellow. She was
unsure whether that was normal for a
transplanted tree that was establishing
itself in a new area or because the trees
are along the water where wind and
salt spray are regular occurrences.
“ey’re in a very abusive area,”
she said. “ey need love!”
Reached by telephone, Jacki Hart,
the project engineer working with the
DOT, said the DOT has been out to
North Roosevelt Boulevard “several
times” and that Arazoza Brothers is required by
contract to maintain the trees on a
quarterly basis. She said Arazoza was on
site until the beginning of October,
when the construction was ﬁnishing
up, but she was unsure whether the
trees had been watered at that time.
However, Hart said Arazoza was
planning on coming to Key West during
the week of Dec. 15 to douse each tree
with liquid fertilizer. ey will return
On top of all the resident grumbles
about the completed reconstruction
of North Roosevelt Boulevard — not
enough/too many traﬃc signs, not
enough room for bikers — the latest
complaint involves looking up.
Key West City Commissioner Mark
Rossi ﬁrst noticed that the newlyplanted palm trees along the boulevard
looked sick. Palm fronds on several of
the 176 new trees were yellowing and
falling to the sidewalk below. Commissioner Billy Wardlow, who has a family
background in horticulture, concurred.
“Is there a problem with the
Flexi-Pave,” he asked at a recent city
commission meeting, referring to the
porous material laid around each tree
that allows water to sink into the tree
roots. “ey’re turning yellow. I’m more
worried about the limbs falling oﬀ the
trees than the coconuts because there
are very few coconuts on them.”
Assistant City Manager Greg Velez
said city workers would go out to pick
up the fallen fronds but that the state
Department of Transportation was
responsible for the health of the trees.
e DOT subcontracted the job out to
Arazoza Brothers Corp., a Miami-based
landscape installation and maintenance
ﬁrm. Arazoza has guaranteed to maintain the trees for a one-year period, ending
on Sept. 16, 2015.
But warranty aside, the yellowing
palm trees also concerned Karen De
Maria, the city’s urban forestry manager.
She began asking the DOT in June for
| Continued on page 8
6
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 18-24, 2014
Advertise
your restaurant
here!
(305) 296-1630
K E Y W E S T L OU
COMMENTARY
TO THE
EDITOR
Serling had
an eﬀect
Christmas . . .
A legal holiday
BY JOE DIETRICH
| PALM SPRINGS, CA
To The Editor:
I thoroughly enjoyed Mark
Howell’s piece in Howelings on Rod
Serling. Good to learn some new
tidbits about Mr. Serling of which
I was not aware, resulting in my even
greater admiration for him.
Serling’s brilliant writing and
directing in his iconic “Twilight
Zone” series had a
huge eﬀect on me
during my formative
teen years. e series
opened up my mind
about human behavior and ethics (disregarding the shows
Sterling
containing “sell your
soul to the devil” nonsense).
Here’s a little historical trivia
for you: Rod Serling was in the
11th Airborne during World War II
in the Philippines.
My father, Arthur J. Dietrich Sr.,
was also in the 11th Airborne in the
Philippines at that same time.
My father, like many war veterans,
could not talk about what happened
over there, so I never heard him
mention any names of fellow soldiers.
I thank you, Konk Life, for stirring
the memories. n
BY LOUIS PETRONE
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
e ﬁrst was by Washington Irving.
In 1809, he wrote e Sketchbook
of Geoﬀrey Crayon. It portrayed
n this wonderful
Christmas as a peaceful loving holiday.
Christmas Day 2014,
Many attribute Irving’s novel as setting
most of us are sitting back happy with
the mood for present day Christmas.
ourselves. In a joyous festive mood.
Irving actually created with words
ankful for family and friends.
Christmas Day as we know and
Pleased by gifts and food.
celebrate it. He mentally conceived
And we might believe that
his concept of Christmas and wrote it
Christmas in the United States has
on paper. Christmas to that point had
always been such. at Christmas
not been as he portrayed it.
as we know it always existed.
About the same time, there was
Shockingly, it did not!
another writing. A Christmas Carol by
Let’s go back to the Puritans. ose
Charles Dickens. is, too, captured
hearty immigrants from England to the the American imagination.
shores of Massachusetts. ose who
During the 1830s, several southern
gave us anksgiving.
states legalized December 25 Christmas
Christmas they did not give to us.
Day as a legal holiday. e ﬁrst was
In fact, they took Christmas away from Alabama in 1836.
us. e earliest Scrooges of record!
e South continued to favor and
From 1659 to 1681,
celebrate Christmas up to
Christmas was outlawed
the time of the Civil War.
in Boston. By the Puritans.
Whereas the North basically
ey believed Christmas
paid little attention to the
was not consistent with their
day. Christmas had become
Puritan ideas and religious
a Southern thing.
reforms. So one of their acts
Now comes the Civil War.
was to abolish Christmas!
Lincoln wanted to demoralChristmas remained a
ize the Confederate troops.
no-no through the American
He wanted to show that the
Revolution. e English
South’s Santa Claus was on
LOU
inﬂuence in the colonies
the side of the North. He
PETRONE
prevailed. Christmas could
authorized a famous artist
COLUMNIST
not regain its foothold.
late in 1862 to do a drawing
A few years after the Revolution,
of Santa Claus watching over Union
the colonists, rid of the English
troops. e picture was the front
inﬂuence, started celebrating
cover on Jan. 3, 1863, of a prominent
Christmas. But it was not Christmas
national magazine. It was sort of a God
as we know it.
is on our side thing. Some believe it
e early 1800s found Christmas
achieved Lincoln’s desired eﬀect.
being celebrated in a bit of a rowdy
President Ulysses S. Grant is given
fashion. Much like Mardi Gras and
credit for making Christmas a national
Fantasy Fest.
holiday. I question the accuracy of the
en came a couple of books which
representation. In 1870, Grant signed a
inﬂuenced the situation.
| Continued on page 10
O
later, there are now two Castros in
power. Repeating the same action
while expecting diﬀerent results is
one deﬁnition of insanity, and that’s
exactly what we’ve been doing
for half a century.
Because Florida is a key political
swing state, with substantial electoral
votes, the conservative anti-Castro
ﬁrst and second generation Cuban
exile votes in the past were critical to
both political parties. Today, amidst
the rise of moderate third and fourth
generation Cuban-Americans, close
to 70 percent of all Floridians and
Cuban-Americans have no problem
with diplomatic, commercial and
humanitarian relations between our
two nations. Finally, on Dec. 17,
President Obama boldly did the
right thing for the people and the
economies of both countries by
restoring diplomatic relations and
opening international travel and commerce. is step was long overdue.
Mayor Craig Cates and other local
visionaries had the foresight to predict and begin planning for just this
economic and cultural opportunity,
and the long-term beneﬁts to our
community could be substantial. All
dynamic sectors of Key West (the
arts, tourism, commerce, import/
export, healthcare, transportation
and education) should be burning
the midnight oil thinking of creative
ways to turn this opportunity into
reality. Viva Cuba, Viva the United
States. n
LATEST N. ROOSEVELT
COMPLAINT
| Continued from page 6
Finally
BY ROGER C. KOSTMAYER
| KEY WEST
To The Editor:
After more than 50 years of abject
failure, the Cuban embargo is in the
process of being lifted. e original
goal was to economically force regime
change — meaning get rid of Fidel
Castro. e truth is, not only is Fidel
still around, but nine U.S. Presidents
8
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
in March to do the same, she said.
“ey [Arazoza Brothers] are still
very involved with [the trees.] He’s
not going to walk away from anything he is responsible for,” Hart said.
And if anyone is wondering what
happened to the previous palm trees
that were removed to make way for
the bulldozers, all of them were transplanted to either the triangle or the
bridal path oﬀ South Roosevelt
Boulevard. All of the trees are thriving, De Maria said. n
THE BIG STORY
Viva Cuba!
BY RICK BOETTGER
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Both of the above were certainly
true, and have already paid oﬀ with
realized and unrealized gains for me in
a-ching! at’s the sound
the high six ﬁgures, which will make it
of my ringing up another into seven with my third reason ﬁnally
$100,000 increase in the value of my
coming true, the opening up of direct
house due to President Obama’s opentravel to Cuba. e Castro death watch
ing up Cuba. I’d been beginning to
has proven futile — at this point, I’m
wonder why I voted for him, but now
prepared to believe he is immortal —
I’m in love again.
but ﬁnally one American leader, and
In 1996 I justiﬁed to my then-wife
only one in the last 50 years, has had
spending a cool quarter million bucks
the guts to slap down the biggest
on my ﬁrst house here in Key Haven
wing-nut whack job lobby in the
with half the square footage of our
history of the United States, nay,
McMansion in Fort Worth by arguing
in the history of the world.
how prices were going to rise a lot in
e Cuban oligarchs have successKey West. For three reasons:
fully forced America to do what is
First, it’s a great sports town. I’d
arguably the stupidest international
been to my 25th reunion of my MIT
embargo I can think of in the history
pledge class of my jock fraternity (just
of, as above the United States and
booted oﬀ campus due to drinking
world. Please, tell me if any other
violations — I am actually proud of
country has done anything so useless
them), and these guys didn’t realize how and harmful to both the people of the
much money they had because they still other country and ourselves, while the
had multiple kids in expensive colleges.
rest of the world has ignored us because
Some would buy in Vail,
we are so dumb-ass stupid.
etc., but there are lots of
e Cuban oligarchs
ski communities. ey and
were smart — they really
their ilk would love Key
did have a chance of
West for the same reason
reclaiming multimillionI did — great free diving,
dollar properties if Cuba
tennis, and any other sport
caved. It actually did
you want to play instead
happen in Eastern Europe
of watch.
after communism collapsed.
Second, we’re a favorite
Large landowners got
with gay couples. I learned
mansions back from not
in my San Francisco days
RICK
only the state but from
BOETTGER
to follow gay guys as they
successor private owners.
COLUMNIST
choose great places to live
What has been so dumband make them better, as in
ass is that we have let these
the Castro district where I ﬁrst lived
one-hundredth of one-percenters make
when I moved there. I admit to having
the rest of us suﬀer on behalf of their
prejudice towards gay men in expecting own lottery-like fantasies.
them to have great taste and make
ey earned it the hard way: Voting
properties more beautiful wherever they as a block, and killing oﬀending jourmove, and improving property values
nalists. I salute them, and boo the
with both their taste and their fortunes. wussy politicians who have caved to
Not — in the old days — having to pay them for half a century.
to raise kids, they can aﬀord more
| Continued on page 10
for ﬁne housing.
K
9
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
TOUR OPERATORS FIGHT BACK
| Continued from page 5
“state of the art” directional speaker that
might reduce, but not eliminate, sound.
omas, however, took the opportunity to take a shot at his competitor, saying what he has heard throughout the
community is that the Conch Trains are
the problem.
“is may be due to the vehicle design, in the length, which would require
more speakers than the trolleys and
Ducks. A thought would be to shorten
the trains by removing two of their cars.
at would reduce the amount of speakers,” he said.
omas also objected to another
clause in the proposed ordinance aimed
at eliminating a glut of added vehicles
during the busy tourist season. e proposed number of vehicles requested by
an applicant must be placed into service
within 60 days of the date of the agreement. If they are not, the number of vehicles permitted in the agreement will be
reduced by the number not placed into
service.
“I’m not sure I can order a hot dog
cart and put it into service in 60 days,”
said omas. “ese are custom vehicles
that are not readily available for purchase
and take 12 to 24 months ordering
time.”
Belland said he had no problem with
the 60 day clause. n
LOU PETRONE
| Continued from page 8
bill into law regarding Christmas Day.
e new law read that Christmas
“...shall be a holiday within the
District of Columbia.”
e District of Columbia is not the
whole of the United States. However,
Grant is usually given credit for making
Christmas a national holiday by that act.
e last state to legalize Christmas as a
legal holiday was Oklahoma in 1907.
I suspect that it was the combination
of Grant’s signing regarding the District
of Columbia and all of the states
legalizing the holiday that ﬁnally made
Christmas Day a national holiday.
Christmas Day received a further
boost by the 1897 editorial in the Sun
of New York. We all know it. “Yes,
Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
Christmas was practiced and
recognized as a holiday through World
War II. For whatever reason, it received
its most gigantic step forward recognition and celebration wise following
World War II. Everyone got into the act
after the war! Maybe because people
were happy and grateful to have won.
Such is the story of the legalization
of Christmas Day. n
10
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
RICK BOETTGER
| Continued from page 9
It’s fantastic! We have one of the only
places arguably more magical than us a
quick plane ride and pleasant boat trip
away, closer than even to Miami.
Economically, I think it’s better than
having say, Google, move from Silicon
Valley into your county. Way more
valuable than monster cruise ships, and
at absolutely no cost to us.
e Tourist Development Council is
probably hyperventilating right now.
e only downside I can see was
brought up by my dainty wife Cynthia.
She wanted me to point out that now
we can import Cuban cigars. I know she
gave up cigarettes decades ago. I had no
idea she craved Cuban cigars.
I guess I’m going to have to get used
to keeping my mouth closed when
I kiss her. n
Olive oil worth knowing more
BY KERRY SHELBY
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
live oil is something that
most of us take for
granted. Most recipes usually start oﬀ
with “heat a tablespoon of olive oil” or
something along those lines, but we
rarely think about the oil, where it
comes from or what it means to people
all over the world.
Recently my friend Mary asked me to
recommend a good olive oil and, while I
did mention my go-to, a Spanish brand
called Zoe, I realized that I really didn’t
know much more to suggest. I use most
any brand when cooking, since the heat
breaks down the oil and nuance is less
important. Some experts even prefer oils
without the extra virgin designation,
since they are usually more full-bodied
and are considerably less expensive.
Quality really comes into play,
though, when you are using it as a
ﬁnishing dressing on, say, salads or
vegetables. ose are the times to pay
up and get a good extra virgin olive oil
with plenty of fruit but with a light,
clean ﬁnish.
During the 2014 growing season, the
olive crop worldwide was hit particularly
hard with drought, disease and insect
damage that severely limited the crop
and, thusly, the economic viability of a
great number of olive growers. Sources
indicate that we may be seeing a much
more limited supply of olive oil in the
coming months and almost certainly
higher prices.
O
Quality may come into question
as well as some suppliers may use lesser
oils to extend their supply. Check labels
closely for proof of authenticity, particularly on oils from Italy and Spain, two of
the hardest hit regions. Ideally, the label
will say “produced and bottled by”
which, by law, means that the olives
| Continued on page 26
Kerry Shelby is a food enthusiast, cook,
forager, adventurer and a hungry consumer of life. He is creative director and
host of Kerry Shelby’s Key West Kitchen,
a food and lifestyle brand appearing at
kwkitchen.com and on the Key West
Kitchen channel on Youtube.
11
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
KEY BUSINESS
KEY WEST
B U S I N E S S L A W 1 0 1
Exceptions to the
Civil Rights Act
BY ALBERT L. KELLEY
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
here are exceptions to the Civil
Rights Act. If an employee makes a
claim of discrimination, the employer can prevail
if they can show that the discriminatory practice
is a Bona Fide Occupational Qualiﬁcation
(BFOQ). is means that the protected trait
(sex, race, national origin or religion) is necessary to do the job. If the practice (or trait) is a
true BFOQ, it will be allowed.
How can a discriminatory behavior be an
occupational qualiﬁcation? Let me give a real life
example.
A few years ago, a group of men ﬁled suit
against the Hooters restaurant chain alleging
that Hooters practiced discrimination by not
hiring the men to be waiters. While the
restaurant would hire men to work as kitchen
staﬀ, they only hired women for the wait staﬀ.
e men argued that waiters have the
potential to make higher incomes than the
kitchen staﬀ. ey argued that this was
discriminatory as you do not have to be a
woman to serve food and beverages.
e restaurant claimed that sex was a true
BFOQ. ey argued that customers didn’t really
go to the restaurant for the food (no big surprise
there); they went there for the ambiance, mainly
to see women in short shorts and tight tops.
e restaurant argued that if they were
required to bring in male waiters, it would
destroy the main theme of their business.
is was similar to an argument raised years
earlier when the airline industry was sued for not
hiring men as stewards.
e airlines had argued that women had a
calming inﬂuence over the passengers.
e court, however, stated that the “calming
inﬂuence” was not the central part of the
stewardess job; serving drinks and giving safety
instructions were. is could be done just as
easily by men as by women. us, sex was not
a BFOQ. e airlines lost.
Unfortunately, before the court could rule on
the Hooters case, the parties reached a settlement so the answer will never be known.
T
Hooters did, however, make some front
of the house positions gender neutral.
Religion may be deemed a BFOQ if the
employer is a religious organization.
For example, a Roman Catholic school can
require its principal to be Catholic. Even
National Origin can be a BFOQ. A French
restaurant was allowed to only hire French chefs.
Race, however, can never be a BFOQ. (ere is
a First Amendment exception to Title VII
in artistic works where race is an integral part
of the story or is necessary for artistic purpose).
A BFOQ will serve as a defense to a claim
of discrimination unless the court ﬁnds there is
a less restrictive alternative. As an example, if a
business hires men because they are taller and
can reach items on high shelves, there may be an
alternative of using ladders or stepstools. If,
however, the alternative would be unduly costly
or burdensome (like renovating entire portions
of a building), the BFOQ may be upheld.
We will be looking more at the issue of less
restrictive alternatives when we discuss the
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). n
ALBERT L.
K E L L E Y, Esq.
COLUMNIST
Al Kelley is a Florida business law attorney located
in Key West and previously taught business law,
personnel law and labor law at St. Leo University.
He is also the author of “Basics of Business Law” and
“Basics of Florida’s Small Claims Court” (Absolutely
Amazing e-Books). is article is being oﬀered as a
public service and is not intended to provide speciﬁc
legal advice. If you have any questions about legal
issues, you should confer with a licensed Florida
attorney.
12
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
SHORTANSWERS
BY J E F F J O H N S O N n P A U L A F O R M A N
talking on his cell phone in a theater.
Which one of us is right? Dick
Dear Dick: is has nothing to do
with age. You can be as nasty as you
wish — and your wife can nice it up as
she sees ﬁt. No right, no wrong — do
what’s comfortable.
Strategic avoidance
Dear Short Answers: If a friend of
yours has really bad table manners — I
mean REALLY bad — is it better to
point this out and risk losing a friend?
Or should I just avoid eating with this
person if I can? Disgusted
Dear Disgusted: Assuming this
friend is old enough to vote, we suggest
go with option 2.
Queen for a day
rowing blind eye
Dear Short Answers: I have a friend
who, I think, has a serious drug problem. I’ve never mentioned it to him, because I believe that addicts can only cure
themselves. But now I’m starting to
wonder if by ignoring it, I’m enabling
him. His other friends and I have talked
about this and not sure what to do.
TWL
Dear T: You are right that only addicts can tackle their own problem,
however, one of the lies they often tell
themselves is that they are functioning
very well and that no one else notices.
In fact, they may think they are especially vivacious, charming or way cool.
You can’t cure him, but you probably
should let him know that he isn’t fooling
you. Shame isn’t the worst motivator for
change.
Dear Short Answers: Every fall there
is a big festival in town, and they crown
a “queen” who rides in the little parade
that we have. Usually, the queen is a former cheerleader or prom queen or
something like that. It’s not supposed to
be a “beauty” contest — but, of course,
the queen is always one of the prettiest
girls in town. e problem is that a
good friend of mine found out that
there is no age limit to enter the pageant, so she is going to do it this year.
She’s well over 30 and, by far, not one
of the hottest girls in town. How do
I and my other friends stop her from
making a fool of herself? A Buddy
Dear Buddy: Leave her alone.
Maybe it’s not a beauty contest and
maybe it is — and maybe it’s all in the
eye of the beholder. n
Cutie, curmudgeon
Dear Short Answers: My wife and I
are both in our late 60s and have completely diﬀerent points of view about
what it means to be getting older. I believe that age gives you the right to be
truly honest and tell people what you really think. Why beat around the bush if
someone is annoying you? In fact, why
bother to deal with people who annoy
you in the ﬁrst place? My wife, on the
other hand, feels that she has to be nice
to everybody from the rude person in
line at the grocery store to the jerk who’s
PAULA FORMAN &
JEFF JOHNSON
SHORTANSWERS SHORTANSWERS
Life is complicated. “Short Answersisnt. Send a question about whatever is bothering you
to [email protected] or go to www.shortanswers.net and a psychologist and sociologist
will answer. A selection of the best questions appear in Konk Life.
13
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
THE
LOCAL
OBSERVATION
HOWELINGS
Sup?!!!
ich Nhat Hanh lives!
BY CHRISTINA OXENBERG
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
’ve watched punters standing, or sometimes sitting,
on “paddle boards,” and honestly, I have always suspected this was not quite a “sport.”
Until I tried it, and I loved it! Everything was contrary
to my expectations. It is not boring! It is not diﬃcult!
After my few years here, the notches I count on my
belt are sightings of eagle rays, of manatees, of dolphins
and miniature deer and sunsets.
e paddle boards, for anyone not familiar, are as
big as your average house, essentially a surfboard for a
giant. My guide told me that
I could expect to fall oﬀ the
board and not to panic, but
above all else, not to lose my
paddle.
I got all suited up in one
hundred layers of sunscreen.
CHRISTINA
Of course I fell right in.
OXENBERG
After rebooting, I followed
my guide across a channel
LEiGH VOGEL photo
with houseboats and egrets
and pelicans and on the way we saw a nurse shark
sleeping, only a few feet below, and then the manatees.
ey ﬁlled up the space beneath my board, and then
some. My guide recommended we sit quietly and watch
over the side as these paved roads silently passed beneath, elephants ending in a wall of tail, like an exaggerated bumper. A tail so strong these peaceable sea
cows, with one ﬂick, can move from zero to invisibility.
Next, we entered a tangle of mangroves, and here
the world changes. Narrow passageways too tight to
paddle, so that you pull yourself along by the imploring
ﬁngers of the mangrove trees. And where the limbs
cross low over the path, you lie back on the board and
allow the woven works to pass above your eyes, and an
ethereal peacefulness inﬁltrates. Light dapples and
shadows contort, and from deep within you quieten.
An interior peace I’ve heard of, but seldom experienced.
My well-informed guide pointed out the strangest of
sea life from purple starﬁsh to white snowﬂake-shaped
jellyﬁsh and tiny balls of silver hair pulsating to beats
of their own.
For a good time on the water, I recommend
Stand Up Paddle at SUP!
INFO www.supkeywest.com, (305) 240-1426
I
BY MARK HOWELL
ich Nhat Hanh has published more than
100 books, including at least 40 in English. He
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
is a proponent of “engaged Buddhism” and has
long been active in the peace movement,
hich Nhat Hanh, known by his
promoting non-violent solutions to conﬂict.
acolytes as ay, is a personal friend
He also refrains from animal product
of Key West developer and Buddhist Pritam
consumption as a means of non-violence
Singh, has visited the Keys and made a number
towards non-human creatures.
of friends and followers here who have attended
It was in 1960 that Nhat Hanh came to the
his retreats.
United States to study comparative religion
On Nov. 11, the Vietnamese-born Zen
at Princeton and was subsequently appointed
Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace
lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia. He has
activist, experienced a severe brain hemorrhage
gained ﬂuency in French, Chinese, Sanskrit,
and was brought to a hospital where he
Pali and Japanese in addition to English
continues to show signs that a full recovery
and his native Vietnamese.
may be possible.
In 1963, he returned to Vietnam to aid his
e monks and nuns of Plum Village, the
fellow monks in their non-violent peace eﬀorts.
Dordogne Monastery where Nhat Hanh lives in
He has established two monasteries in
France and from where he travels internationally
Vietnam and several “dharma centers” in the
to give retreats and talks, have recently commuUnited States, including Magnolia Village
nicated to Keys residents that “ay continues
Practice in Mississippi.
to surprise the doctors with his strong vital signs
Students of Nhat Hanh include author and
and steady, peaceful breathing. ey are still
teacher Natalie Goldberg, Joan Halifax, founder
amazed that he has been able to survive and
of the Upaya Institute, and environmentalist
even to show small signs of progress.”
Stephanie Kaza.
One of the doctors shared that “ay is an
Pritam Singh is editor of several
enigma,” another said they were “witnessing
of Nhat Hanh’s books.
a miracle.”
In 2014, for the ﬁrst time in
In recent days, Howelings has
history, major Anglican, Roman
heard that the ailing monk has been
Catholic and Orthodox Christian
showing “some indications of wakeleaders, as well as Jewish, Muslim,
fulness but continues to remain in a
Hindu and Buddhist leaders including
deep coma.
representatives of Nhat Hanh, met
ere have been times when he
to sign a shared commitment against
has had his eyes open for more than
modern-day slavery; the declaration
two hours, and is responsive, but he
they signed calls for the elimination
is not yet showing clear signs
of slavery and human traﬃcking
MARK
of communication.”
HOWELL
by the year 2020. n
e doctors say it may be weeks
COLUMNIST
or months before they can understand
the damage caused by the hemorrhage
and discover the extent of healing
*****
that may be possible.”
Every day, nurses help him sit in a chair while
Quote for the Week
acupuncture and massage attendants join
physiotherapists in activating his body. e
“Eternity can be touched in the present moment
monks sing to him and share chants and the
and the cosmos in the palm of your hand.” —
sounds of nature.
ich Nhat Hanh
T
14
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
IN REVIEW
‘e Last Night of Ballyhoo’
knocks your socks oﬀ
BY DIANE JOHNSON
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
assy and compelling “e
Last Night at Ballyhoo”
Louisiana boy who loves to tease and
will knock your socks oﬀ. You know
have fun.
you’ve experienced a ﬁne production
Rock Soloman’s performance
when all your worries slip away as you
reﬂected the values of those Jewish
immerse yourself in the show, now
immigrants who were not born into
playing at e Red Barn eatre.
money. His role as Joe Farkas was the
Alfred Uhry is a brilliant playwright
portrayal of someone who has embraced
who has won an Academy Award, a
and is proud of his Jewish heritage.
Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for
Seth Yates played Uncle Adolph
dramatic writing. “e Last Night at
Freitag, the hardworking guy who
Ballyhoo” is his second play in the
displayed the patience of a saint living
Atlanta Trilogy. “Driving Miss Daisy”
with four women.
was his ﬁrst in the trilogy and why he
e setting is Atlanta in 1939 on
won the Pulitzer.
Habersham Street, where only two
Joy Hawkins did a fabulous job
Jewish families live. It is Christmastime,
directing this dramatic holiday
and the Levy’s have a tree a.k.a.
production with sensitivity and ﬁnesse.
Hanukkah bush in their front parlor.
She masterfully integrated new cast
ey are also preparing for Ballyhoo,
members with experienced ones
an end of year celebration
creating a seamless ﬁt.
the Jewish community has invented for
Lisa Elena Monda made
their young adults.
her Key West debut and
Being Jewish can be a chaldelivered a lively performlenge, whether you were born
ance as Lala Levy, a highin the United States or came
spirited young woman in
over from Germany or Eastlove with Clark Gable and
ern Europe. We all have the
Gone with the Wind.
need to “ﬁt in” but to deny
Jessica Jackson, another
your roots is the real tragedy.
DIANE
newcomer to Key West, took
When the performance
J
OHNSON
on the role of Sunny Freitag,
ended, I had tears of joy
COLUMNIST
a college girl challenged by
in my eyes.
her professors to think outRJ Conn did an admirable
side the box.
job with the set and lighting, and
Laurie Breakwell’s performance is
Carmen Rodriguez delivered period
always a delight. She was perfectly cast
appropriate costumes and props.
for the part of Reba Freitag. Laurie’s
I loved the women’s shoes!
comic timing is extraordinary and
Treat yourself to the unique and
reminded me of Gracie Allen.
captivating production of “e Last
Karen Grant let her emotions run
Night of Ballyhoo,” now at Red Barn
free in the role of Boo Levy, the matrieatre until Jan. 17. eatre is located
arch of the extended family. Her acting
at 319 Duval between Eaton and Carowas spot on as the critical yet caring
line in Old Town. Tickets available onmother and sister.
line, www.redbarntheatre.com or call
Kaleb Smith is back at the Red Barn
the box oﬃce, (305)296-9911. n
after a hiatus. He played the part of
INFO
Sylvan Peachy, a nice rich Jewish
redbarntheatre.com
S
15
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
WHAT‘S HAPPENING
Schooner Wharf Bar
Paul Cotton
Schooner Wharf Bar
202 Williams St., 292-3302
n
Thursday 1225
Island Time Duo 7pm-Midnight
Longtime Keys’ resident and one
of the area’s favorite steel drummers,
Dave Herzog, joined by friend Chuck
Fox on guitars and steel drums. Tight
harmonies to perform a repertoire of
island hits, beach music and oldies.
Friday-Saturday 1226-27
Paul Cotton Band Band
7pm-Midnight
As main songwriter, lead vocalist and
lead guitarist for the country-rock
band Poco, Cotton’s 45-year career
has yielded countless albums and acclaim, and his staying power is endless. Born in the Deep South and
Schooner Wharf Bar
Southern Drawl Band
raised on the south side of Chicago,
the soulful influences of his roots can
still be heard in his songs. Backed by
local musicians Russ Scavelli, Joel
Nelson, Greg Shanle, and Din Allen,
Paul performs classic favorites and
some new originals.
Sunday 1228
The Doerfels 6:30-11pm
Monday-Tuesday 1229-30
Southern Drawl Band 7-11pm
Southern Drawl Band is a melting
pot of sound and attitude. Country,
southern rock, trop rock, reggae,
bluegrass, Americana. Bring own
brand of music and high energy.
They started a few years ago as a
duo in Knoxville and evolved into a
five-piece group while becoming one
of the Southeast’s premiere bands.
Wednesday 1231
Taylor & Clayton 5-9pm
Southern Drawl Band
9:30pm-2:30 a.m
NEW YEAR’S EVE:
LOWERING OF THE
PIRATE WENCH
Smokin’ Tuna Saloon
4 Charles St., (305) 517-6350
n
Thursday 1225
Caffeine Carl/Holt Ericson 9pm
Friday 1226
Nick Norman 5pm
South Carolina singer-songwriter
tours many of the club scenes in his
native South Carolina as well as in
North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Saturday 1227
Clint Bullard/Alfonz 5pm
Caffeine Carl and Friends 9pm
Sunday 1228
Leetu 5pm
Rusty Lemmon Band 9pm
Singer-songwriter Rusty Lemmon
Monday 1229
Scott Kirby 5pm
Key West troubadour/songwriter
(see highlight at right)
Caffeine Carl/Nick Norman 9pm
Tuesday 1230
Scott Kirby 5pm
Chad Burtch and Friends 9pm
Wednesday 1231
Scott Kirby 5pm
Key Lime Pirates 5pm
| Continued on page 20
18
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
Scott Kirby
5 p.m. Dec. 29-30-31
Key West troubadour/songwriter:
Kirby’s music can be heard
regularly on Jimmy Buffett’s
Margaretaville Radio
on Sirius Radio.
www.smokintunasaloon.com
Key Lime Pirates
5 p.m. Dec. 31
Since their worlds collided in
Boston 2010, Claire Finley and
Jeff Clark have entertained with
their infectious musical take on
living the good life. Combined
they have played countless solo,
duo and full band shows in the
Florida Keys, as well as other
national and international
destinations.
WHAT‘S HAPPENING
| Continued from page 18
Hog’s Breath Saloon
400 Front St., (305) 296-4222
n
Thursday-Sunday 1225-28
Chad Burtch/Tim Williams
5:30-9:30pm
Tim and Chad come together four
weeks a year at the Hog to put on
high energy, comedic, acoustic duo
show. Classic rock, modern country,
singer/songwriter and Top 40.
Key Lime Pirates 10pm-2am
Since their worlds collided in Boston,
in 2010, Claire Finley and Jeff Clark
have entertained with their infectious
musical take on living the good life.
Combined they have played countless
solo, duo, and full band shows in the
Florida Keys, as well other national
and international destinations.
Monday-Wednesday 1229-0103
Dennis McCaughey
5:30-9:30pm
Lead vocals, rhythm guitar and harmonica for trop-rock band Tropical
Soul. Formed Tropical Soul 12 years
ago, and prior to that, has been a
member of the duos, Double Play and
Jigsaw, including a solo career that
lasted several years.
Dan Harvey Band 10pm-2am
Hog’s Breath
Dennis McCaughey
High-energy show keeps rockin’ New
Year’s Eve. With more than a 1,000
song-set list, it’s the perfect blend of
‘80s, ‘90s rock. His musical talent
earned him the opportunity to travel
and play on Six Man Cruises with
such bands as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Zac
Brown and Sister Hazel.
| Continued on page 22
Hog’s Breath
Dan Harvey
20
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
WHAT‘S HAPPENING
| Continued from page 20
Sunset Pier
Zero Duval St., (305) 296-7701
n
Thursday 1225
C.W. Colt 1-4pm
Rolando Rojas 5-7pm
Friday 1226
Rolando Rojas 1-4pm; 5-7pm
Saturday 1227
The Doerfels 1pm
Happy Dog 4:30-7:30pm
Sunday 1228
Nina Newton Band 1pm
Robert Albury 5-7pm
Monday 1229
C.W. Colt 1-4pm
Robert Albury 5-7pm
Tuesday 1230
Tony Baltimore 1-4pm
Robert Albury 5-7pm
Wednesday 1231
BURLESQUE
| RALPH DE PALMA
The Survivors
n Din Allen
La Te Da
A true survivor
BY RALPH DE PALMA
KONK LIFE COLUMNIST
in Allen came to Key
West from New York
City in 1978 to play jazz at the
Rose Tattoo (currently, Bagatelle).
He stayed because he believes Key
West is the best place to work.
Din has seen other musicians leave
Key West and struggle in new
environs. Key West has plenty
of work, plenty of places to play,
he says. “I could work every day
if I wanted to.” And, he added,
“It’s warm in February.”
e Survivors started as a trio
at the Pier House in 1979, playing
calypso and junk-a-noo music.
e trio stayed in town during the
lean summer months when most
bands would leave and travel
north to Maryland and Virginia.
e Survivors would play gigs
D
Well known for his big sound and hilarious antics on stage, Bootle is the
ultimate entertainer and enjoys a
great following who knows he lives up
to his slogan “sing, dance, laugh . . .”
Tuesday 1230
Cabaret: Randy Roberts LIVE! 9pm
Piano Bar: Dave Bootle, 9pm
Wednesday 1231
Cabaret: Christopher Peterson
EYECONS, 9pm
Christopher Peterson is a master of
impersonations, and his comic timing
is impeccable. The show is all live, no
lip-sync, and audiences will be thrilled
with his characterizations of Joan
Rivers, Better Midler and more.
Piano Bar: Dave Bootle, 9pm
1125 Duval St., (305) 296-6706
n
Thursday 1225
Piano Bar: Debra and Patrick, 9pm
This dynamic pair entertains with
their Jazz, Blues and Pop repertoire.
Worked the international club circuit
from New York and Miami to Italy and
the Middle East.
Friday 1226
Piano Bar: Debra and Patrick, 9pm
Cabaret: Randy Roberts LIVE! 9pm
The Randy Roberts Show is an all
live tribute to some of the world’s
most loved performers. Randy’s
uncanny impersonations of Cher
and Bette Midler have kept him
in the spotlight for over 20 years.
Saturday 1227
Piano Bar: Debra and Patrick, 9pm
Cabaret: Christopher Peterson
EYECONS, 9pm
Sunday 1228
Tea Dance with DJ Rude Girl , 4-7pm
Key West’s infamous Tea Dance,
every Sunday at La te da. Music and
dancing with resident DJs Rude Girl
and Molly Blue.
Piano Bar: Debra and Patrick, 9pm
Monday 1229
Piano Bar: Dave Bootle, 9pm
wherever they could ﬁnd them
and just “survived” the summer,
thus the name of the band.
e Survivors grew to a ninepiece band with two vocalists.
e band played mostly reggae
and then moved into Latin music,
later downsizing to ﬁve pieces.
When the Survivors started playing at Mangrove Mamas, a horn
was called for, and Marty Stonely
and his amazing sax came along.
One night while playing trombone with brother Woody Allen,
and Marty Stonely on sax, with
Barry Cuda on keyboards at the
Private Ear, Dan Simpson’s recording studio, the Survivors were
trying really hard to get the New
Orleans R&B sound that Barry
wanted. e recording session
lasted for hours and required a few
libations to complete. Barry said
after that night they were called
| Continued on page 30
22
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
La te da
Dave Bootle
McConnell’s Irish Pub
900 Duval St., (949) 777-6616
n
Mondays
8-11pm — Eric from Philly
Tuesdays
8-11pm — Fiona Malloy
Wednesdays
8-11pm —
Tom Taylor
Thursdays
7-9pm —
Trivia Mania
9pm-1am — Chris Rehm/Open Mic
Fridays
8pm-Midnight — Love Lane Gang
Saturdays
9pm-1am — Eric from Philly
Sundays (Brunch) 11am-2pm
Rick Fusco/Oscar Deko/Kerri Dailey
9pm-2am — Industry Appreciation
Pinchers
n 712 Duval St., (305) 440-2179
Carl Hatley 1-5pm
Bobby Enloe 1-5pm
Carter Moore 7-11pm
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
n
Dec. 27-28
Architecture, atmosphere
showecased in house tours
From its cigar-makers’ cottages to its Victorian
mansions, Key West architecture is as individualistic
as the island itself. Explore houses exemplifying that
rich architectural tradition, as well as contemporary
Keys’ design, during weekend house tours in Decem-
ber 2014 and January, February and March 2015.
Now in its 55th year, annual tours are presented by
nonproﬁt Old Island Restoration Foundation, established in 1960 to promote the restoration and preservation of Key West’s historically signiﬁcant buildings.
e island city’s Old Town contains what is believed
to be the largest predominantly wooden historic district in the United States with 3,000 structures.
e ﬁrst tour is Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 27-28,
spotlighting ﬁve Old Town homes and gardens for the
holidays. Featured properties on self-guided 4-7 p.m.
excursions include a tropical colonial residence
renowned for its over-the-top holiday lights displays.
Also planned are tours Friday-Saturday, Jan. 16-17,
Feb. 13-14 and March 13-14. Each showcases homes
chosen for signiﬁcant historic buildings, creative renovations or examples of Keys’ lifestyle. Discover interiors with art collections and antiques and lush gardens
and imaginatively designed outdoor living areas.
January tours 4-8 p.m. Free transportation aboard
select Conch Tour Trains. Train seating limited; early
reservations encouraged. Tour tickets $30 and include
list of houses and map. n (Home listing, see below)
INFO oirf.org
LI V E M U S I C U PDATE
Love Lane
Gang gigs
scheduled
SPECIAL TO KONKLIFE
he Love Lane Gang is a
homegrown band that
charms and thrills locals and visitors
with their rollicking raucous ruckus.
With an age range among the members
of over 30 years, they bring a wide
variety of experience and musical tastes
to bear and appeal to music lovers of all
ages. ey’ve brought back skiﬄe and
updated it for the present. It’s impossible
to keep from smiling amidst their
mirthful musical mayhem!
e emphasis is on ragtime and
swing from the 1930s and 1940s, done
in a refreshing new style that melds Hot
T
Club gypsy jazz with island ﬂourishes.
Also, Dust Bowl ballads, old school
country from Hank Williams and Dolly
Parton, rockabilly and surf music classics
and rarer gems, tunes from Sixties stars
like e Beatles, e Kinks and e
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
n ORIF House tour, Dec. 271-7
Featured homes are:
• 523 Eaton St. and Simonton Court — Victorian
houses arose in lots cleared by the great ﬁre, including
this home of a woman born in e Oldest House.
Pass through this stately Gay ‘90s mansion and go
back in time to a cigar factory village of workers
cottages. Now transformed into tropical
Christmas wonderland.
Rolling Stones, and carefully chosen
songs from current artists like Andrew
Bird, Mason Jennings and e White
Stripes all ﬁt in alongside original songs
that sound like they could have come
from any of those eras.
721 Eaton St. — After the 1846 hurricane scoured
the harbor areas, Bahamian seafarers and carpenters
built homes uphill from the shoreline. is example of
shipwright craftsmanship rehabilitated as single-family
residence after years of service as apartments.
• 320 William St. — is old house has gone through
many changes in 150 years. Converted from large
family domain to apartments, one home and garden
for its proprietor and local journalist, Barbara Bowers.
• 730 Eaton St. — Among hardy Bahamian émigrés, a
few carried their homes with them. is grand dame
has stood strong ever since her legendary arrival in
24
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
Oﬀbeat instrumentation, including
mandolin, ﬁddle, accordion, ukulele,
washboard, and a kazoo horn section,
added to familiar guitar, bass, and
harmonica, creates a broad musical
palette which they use to color their
performances.
ey play regular gigs at McConnell’s
Irish Pub on Fridays at 8:30 p.m., Saluté
On e Beach on Sundays at 5 p.m.,
and Sunset Pier on Wednesdays at
4:30 p.m. Some other appearances
in the next few weeks:
• McConnell’s Irish Pub And Grill,
900 Duval St. — Friday, Dec. 19,
8:30- 11:30 p.m.;
• Saluté On e Beach, 1000 Atlantic
Blvd. — Sunday, Dec. 21, 5-8 p.m.;
• Sunset Pier, 0 Duval St. — Wednesday,
Dec. 24, 4:30-7:30 p.m.;
• McConnell’s Irish Pub And Grill,
900 Duval St. — Friday, Dec. 26,
8:30-11:30 p.m.;
• Saluté On e Beach, 1000 Atlantic
Blvd. — Sunday, Dec. 28, 5-8 p.m.;
• Sunset Pier, 0 Duval St. — Wednesday,
Dec. 31, 4-7 p.m. n
1847. She has endured “facelifts” since the 1960, but
the old mahogany bones remain from Green Turtle
Cay.
• 600 Elizabeth St. — “Casa Sapodilla” has been a
perennial winner in the holiday lights competition.
Surprises abound inside this tropical colonial package
which, despite its traditional appearance and towering
trees, was built in 1996. Find owner/artist Fran
Decker cheerfully creating in her studio. (is is the
last year for the delightful decorations crafted by Bob
Decker, so plan on enjoying the exterior display after
sunset.) n
CULTURE
VULTURE
By C.S. GILBERT
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Culinary art,
theater and . . .
otally unexpectedly, I was
treated to a culinary delight
in what seemed to me an unlikely
venue: Sippin’ Internet Cafe. It’s a place
for coﬀees, smoothies and wiﬁ, right?
Well, yes — but they also have a small
but interesting menu that, in terms
of one item, reaches the sublime.
After that virus, I ﬁnally ventured
out to Sippin’ for a book signing for
“e Funerals of Key West” by Edgardo
Alvarado-Vazquez (see CV for Dec. 11).
Having eaten little during the infection,
I was surprised and pleased to see a
modest but very appealing menu
oﬀering items for breakfast (8 a.m. to
2 p.m.) and lunch (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
— although baker and chef Cynthia
said she was happy to make whatever
one wished for when she was on duty
Tuesdays through ursdays.
e “chef ’s choice” omelet, pancetta,
rosemary and brie served with a grilled
tomato and homemade multigrain
toast, sounded wonderful and was.
ere would be a new menu after the
ﬁrst of the year, she said, but the savory
omelet and yummy, homemade bread
would remain. Sounds like a lovely
lunch before a matinee at the Tropic.
T
***
It’s Broadway in Key West, or as
close as we get. e Fringe has already
closed a ﬁne ﬁrst production and is set
to open Arthur Miller’s classic, “e
Price,” on Dec. 26. For details go to
www.fringetheater-keywest.org
e madcap “Noises Oﬀ” opened
Waterfront Playhouse’s 75th season
Dec. 18 and runs to Jan. 10.
Box oﬃce: (305) 294-5015.
And something a bit more unusual
(and to me more interesting), “e Last
Night of Ballyhoo” opened the Red
Barn’s 35th season on Dec. 16
(305-296-9911).
For anyone who isn’t into Christian
family Christmases, B’nai Zion has
reserved the entire 80 or so seat theater
for Dec. 25; if there are seats left, you’re
welcome to join them — -and start
with dinner.
How lucky are we to have so much
good theater in what is really quite a
small town? Enjoy!
***
ere’s a reason performing artists
and the people who produce their performances aren’t journalists. Normally,
our skill sets are diﬀerent. Maybe our
perception of time is diﬀerent as well.
Weekly newspapers set a deadline
almost a week before publication for
receipt, editing and processing of news.
Too many of you whose work I respect
and enjoy have a habit of slipping me
info that just misses our print deadline.
To miss out on coverage is no doubt
distressing to you, but not to be able
to provide interesting coverage
drives me nuts.
As Christmas falls on ursday, this
edition of the paper comes out Dec. 24.
Skipper Kripitz hosted the amazing
Tim Mayer this past Sunday and
Tuesday, with the bonus of Larry Smith
and Christine Cardone.
Tuesdays, featuring Skippo’s League
of Crafty Musicians at Virgilio’s, always
oﬀer good music and a welcoming
dance ﬂoor, but they’ve grown even
more popular with Smith’s fans from
Sunday Showcases at the Pier House
days ﬂocking to the friendly club
when Smith and Cardone appear.
I’m picking on Skippo here, but
he’s far from the only one. Especially
maddening is Key West’s favorite
crooner, Peter Diamond, who never,
never does press on himself. at’s
carrying modesty too far.
Dears, as a holiday gift, give me
a little more advance notice, okay?
| Continued on page 26
25
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
O N STAG E
HOME CARE PLANNED
| Continued from page 5
services — homemaking, personal
care, respite, pallative care — as authorized by the county.”
e usual payments will be accepted for care. “For skilled and private duty services, we accept
Medicare, Medicaid, all commercial
insurances, long-term care policies
and private pay,” she said. “We are
happy to provide consultations for
anyone wishing to learn more about
any or all of the services provided,”
concluded Wheeler. n
INFO
Island Home Care,
(305) 735-4460
KEY WEST KITCHEN
“Noises Off’ cast
| LARRY BLACKBURN
| Continued from page 11
‘Noises Oﬀ’ has audiences
rocking with laughter
have been grown on the estate that is
selling them. Better yet are bottles
marked with a harvest date.
Chef Evan Funke of Bucato in Los
Angeles makes a spicy, garlicky olive
oil mixture that in a recent Tasting
Table article he calls his “secret
weapon.” He essentially combines
the chili-infused olio santo or “holy
oil” used in southern Italy with bagna
cauda, the garlicky anchovy oil from
the north.
He refers to it as battuto, an
Italian word (roughly meaning
“beaten”) that seems to be generically
used when referring to chopped herbs
or vegetables.
It makes a great base for Caesar
salad dressing, a marinade for sturdy
white ﬁsh or drizzled over vegetables
and cheeses on antipasti.
See kwkitchen.com for more
on how use this “secret weapon.”
White anchovies are available at
Fausto’s on Fleming in the refrigerated section across from the meat
counter. ey are absolutely delicious!
n Through Jan. 10
SPECIAL TO KONK LIFE
“Noises Oﬀ” has audiences shaking
with laughter at Waterfront Playhouse,
where it is being staged at 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays through Jan. 10.
is beloved comedy is full of shocking surprises and gut-busting humor.
New York Magazine says “‘Noises Oﬀ’
is as side-splitting a farce as I have seen.
Ever? Ever.’”
is manic romp centers around an
ambitious director and his cast of itinerant actors rehearsing a ﬂop farce called
“Nothing On.”
Doors slamming, on and oﬀstage
intrigue, missed cues, sniping actors and
multiple plates of sardines all ﬁgure into
the plot of this hilarious and classically
comic play.
Check the website for the holiday
schedule: WaterfrontPlayhouse.org.
Key TV is sponsoring “Noises Oﬀ.”
Directing the high-energy production is the Waterfront’s Managing
Artistic Director, Danny Weathers.
He has assembled an amazing cast that
includes David Black, Brandon Beach,
Carolyn Cooper, Matt Hollis Hulsey,
Tony Konrath, Erin McKenna, J. B.
McLendon, Joan O’Dowd and
Susannah Wells. Each of them deliver a
tour-de-force performance, and they
have the bruises and scrapes to prove it!
e two-level set has been designed
by the Waterfront’s resident set designer,
| Continued on page 32
26
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
Battuto
Adapted from Chef Evan Funke
of Bucato
Combine a cup of good extra virgin olive oil with 6 white anchovy
ﬁlets, 2 gloves of garlic, 1 seeded red
jalapeno and a scattering of red pepper ﬂakes in a blender. Pulse until
smooth, then whisk in another cup of
olive oil. Season with a little salt and
refrigerate for up to a week. n
CULTURE VULTURE
| Continued from page 25
***
Reminder to artists: Deadline for
submitting work for the 2015 Anne
McKee Fine Art Auction (set for Feb.
8 at East Martello) is fast approaching
with the new year (Jan. 1), and the
popular sale will be limited to 60
works.
Online submission: mckeefund.org
Click Call to Artists button. Artists
split the sale price of their work 50-50
with the grants awarding
organization.
***
Another heads up for the new year:
Sunday, Jan. 4, the Key West Poetry
Guild features a ﬁne, new established
poet from Tavernier, Elizabeth Elliott.
Meetings, still the ﬁrst Sunday of
every month come what may, are now
at Andy’s Cabana, 308 Petronia St.,
at 7 p.m. ere is always at least one
lightening round for poets in
attendance to read an original work.
at’s all for now. Gotta ﬂy! n
MARK THE CALENDAR
Artisan Market
Jan. 4
Green & Sustainability edition
Feb. 1
Key West Food & Wine
Festival Wine Market
March 1
Free Wheelin’ edition
and Custom Bicycle Show
April 5
Mote Marine Ocean Fest edition
May 3 (tentative)
Conch Republic Days edition
O N STAG E
LOCAL SERIES
Fringe ‘e Price’ opens
Dec. 26 at the Garret
n All is true:
The Naked Girl in the Treehouse
I worry and I wonder
A Serial Novel by
MARK HOWELL
THE FINAL CHAPTER,
CHAPTER XIV
I was alone with Hadi in the
Plymouth. David had gone oﬀ
with Winona in their pickup.
“Did I ever tell you you’re
my hero?” said Hadi for the
umpteenth time.
“Yeah, you did,” I said.
“Your hand feels OK?”
“No. I won’t want to try
that again. I’ve got teeth marks
on my knuckles.”
“You won’t have to do that
again,” she said. “You’ve already
earned your ticket to heaven.”
“You believe in heaven? You,
a Lakota?”
“My dad is Lakota. My mom’s
from Poland.”
“So, you’re part Indian,” I said.
“I’m not part anything,” she
said. “I’m double.”
“You are so smart,” I said.
“I am really glad I met you.”
“I’m glad I met you,” she
said with a smile that put me
in heaven.
“So why did you and Win just
doubt us both?” I asked. “You said
we weren’t Rolling Stones!”
“Because you’re too nice to be
the Stones. At least until you
punched that punk in the mouth.”
“e Stones aren’t nice?”
“e Rolling Stones are
Satanic,” she said.
“So,” I said. “Now you
believe in Satan?”
“We live in evil times, Brian
Jones,” she replied. “e vice
president just shot the president,
remember?”
I swerved to the curb and
pulled on the hand brake.
n Dec. 26-28, Jan. 2-4, Jan. 8-11
“It was Oswald shot Kennedy,”
I said, gazing at her, wide-eyed.
“And Johnson set it up,” she
insisted. “Now, we’re in hell.
You’d better believe it.”
It was then, while we were
parked, that she made me the deal.
It took a while to absorb. But I
was fully committed by the time
I was ready to share it with David,
a.k.a. Keith Richards. Here’s how
I put it.
“You’re not gonna believe any
of this, so you gotta let me explain
it slowly, okay?”
“Okay, okay,” he said.
So breathlessly I revealed the
deal. “Hadi has this uncle on her
mother’s side who’s built this treehouse on a hillside in Marin
County, which is north of San
Francisco Bay in the state of California! And he lets Hadi stay there
whenever she wants. And she
wants to go now! And she wants
me to join her because I stood up
for her! And whenever she stays
there she’s always naked!”
“Whoa!” gasped David.
“Count me in on this! Don’t
abandon me now!”
And so it was. We told Hadi
we’d be at her treehouse within
10 days, a direct shot from
Laramie through Salt Lake City,
Reno, Sacramento and directly
into Marin by the back way.
We even gave the Golden Gate
Bridge a miss!
“What’s the rush, fellas?” she
asked.
“Oh, you have no idea!” said
David.
And thus it was. Equipped with
phone numbers and addresses
‘supplied by Hadi, we set on the
SPECIAL TO KONK LIFE
Fringe eater of Key West is
presenting Arthur Miller’s “e Price”
at the Garret, otherwise known as the
attic at the Mel Fisher Maritime
Museum, for three weekends —
Dec. 26 to Jan. 11.
“Fringe eater Key West, where you
expect the Un-expected, has gained
access to the museum attic which has
never been open to the public. is
secret space is quite a gift for local
theater enthusiasts. e architecture
contains historic furniture and other
treasures. e immersion seating style,
with the audience seated among the
museum pieces, serves as the play’s set,”
says Artistic Director Monnie King.
Arthur Miller’s “e Price” involves
estranged brothers. Old scores. An
ancient furniture appraiser. A look at
family relationships, price of furniture
and the price of one’s decisions.
“…An American masterpiece…”
“e Price” begins when Victor
Franz (Michael McCabe) and his wife
Ester (Melody Moore) arrive at the attic
of the family residence to dispose of old
family furniture. ey begin wondering
whether Victor’s estranged brother,
Walter (Bob Bowersox) will show up.
Victor is a policeman who sacriﬁced
his education and a promising career as
a scientist to care for his ruined, invalid
father.
Walter is an eminent surgeon who
walked out on the demands of family
to concentrate on medicine and
personal success.
Victor has arranged for Gregory
Solomon (Peter King), a crotchety,
humorous, and wise-old furniture
dealer, to purchase the items in the
attic. Little does he know that Solomon
— long since retired — is thrilled to be
back in the game and is in no hurry
| Continued on page 32
27
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
| LARRY BLACKBURN
Michael McCabe and Bob Bowersox
star as estranged brothers in
“The Price.”
to set a price without giving the
brothers his prolonged views on them
and the value of used furniture.
e brothers parry and thrust,
revealing their characters to themselves,
each other, and the audience with
surprising poignancy.
e truth — as each of them sees it
— is ultimately revealed.
e production will be staged
Dec. 26–28; Jan. 2–4 and Jan. 8–11, all
at 8 p.m. in the Garret of the Mel Fisher
Maritime Museum; 200 Greene St.
Tickets are $39 (opening night;
reception, $67) at keystix.com or
(305) 295-7676.n
Florida Keys Celtic Festival • 2015
IN THE ARTS
Key West Seminar explores
‘Literature of Spirit’
n Marathon Community Park, Jan. 9-10
Performances by some of America’s most celebrated Celtic musical
masters at the second annual Florida Keys Celtic Festival, Friday and
Saturday, Jan. 9-10. A return of the Scottish band Albannach highlights
a diverse musical lineup for the family-friendly event. Other standout
performers include international super group Rathkeltair, e
Screaming Orphans and West of Galway.
A “Kilts in e Keys” celebration kicks oﬀ the weekend, featuring
Irish music by Bernie and Stephen of the band West of Galway 8-10
p.m. ursday, Jan. 8, at Marathon Grill and Ale House, Mile Marker
53. Other attractions include the bagpipes and drums of St. Andrew’s
Pipe Band of Miami as well as men’s and women’s Scottish Highland
athletics demonstrations.
Music fest at Marathon Community Park, Mile Marker 49, 3-10
p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10. Single-day
tickets available $12 Friday night and $17 Saturday. Children age 12
and under admitted free with a paid adult. Parking free. n
INFO celticheritageproductions.com
Seventeen leading contemporary
writers are to oﬀer insights into literature’s relationship to the inexplicable
during the 33rd annual Key West Literary Seminar.
Scheduled ursday-Sunday, Jan.
8-11, the seminar is themed “How the
Light Gets In: Literature of the Spirit.”
e novelists, journalists, poets,
essayists and others scheduled to speak
include Marilynne Robinson, author
of the Pulitzer Prize–winning “Gilead”;
Wally Lamb, who has penned ﬁve New
York Times bestselling novels including
“We Are Water”; Barry Lopez, who
earned a National Book Award for
“Arctic Dreams”; celebrated poet
Marilyn Nelson, recipient of Newbery
and Coretta Scott King honors; and
Pico Iyer, whose books include
“e Open Road” about his annual
travels with the Dalai Lama.
Most presentations are to take
place at Key West’s historic San Carlos
Institute, 516 Duval St.
e seminar begins with a keynote
address by Iyer 7:45 p.m. ursday, Jan.
8. Following the keynote, the Paul
Winter Consort jazz ensemble is to take
the stage to present “Unbridled Joy,” a
blend of musical and literary performance that incorporates the voices of
poets including seminar presenters Mark
Doty, Jane Hirshﬁeld and Marie Howe.
Both events are scheduled at the
Tennessee Williams eatre,
5901 College Road.
Subsequent days feature readings,
lectures, informal talks, panel discussions, book signings, receptions and
gatherings where seminar attendees and
authors can mingle. Highlights are to include a Saturday night presentation by
Robinson titled “Grace” and a Sunday
session with Iyer and Lopez titled
“Wonder: Entering and Exiting the
Great Mystery.”
In conjunction with the seminar,
11 writers’ workshops are planned
Sunday through ursday, Jan. 11-15.
While the 2015 seminar is sold out,
each year’s program includes Sunday
afternoon presentations open to the
public. ese include readings and commentary by several of the seminar’s featured writers, and admission is free with
ﬁrst-come, ﬁrst-served seating. n
INFO kwls.org, (888) 293-9291
e Key West Literary Seminar welcomes
readers and writers to this subtropical
island city. Our ﬂagship program is the
annual Seminar, a four-day readers’ event
that explores a unique literary theme each
January. At the Seminar, readers from all
over the world join the best writers of our
time for the conversations, readings, lectures, and events that make up today’s
smartest and most high-spirited literary
gathering. Writers’ Workshop Program also
takes place in January but is distinct from
the Seminar; writers of all levels meet in
small groups with esteemed faculty to share
their work and explore the craft of writing
in a focused and nurturing environment.
During the years
Tennessee Williams
lived in Key West,
he swam at South
Beach each morning
before sitting down
to write. “I work
everywhere,”
Williams said of Key
West, “but I work
best here.”
| KWLS.ORG
28
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
TROPICSPROCKETS
Interstellar
irector Christopher Nolan,
of the popular “Dark
Knight” ﬁlms, hits us again with a
punchy, existential outer space epic
that is one part cowboy ﬁlm and
one part enigmatic voyage.
Astronaut Cooper (Matthew
McConaughey) is a former pilot and
farmer, coping with the spoils of his
land. While the location is never
explicitly identiﬁed, it is safe to say
that it somewhere Midwest. e main
crop, after all, is corn.
All is not the Emerald City, however.
e ﬁeld is under a blight. Nolan
consulted documentarian Ken Burns
(e Dust Bowl) in creating these
details and, in its interpretation of a
menacing Nature, Nolan’s “Interstellar”
is nothing short of marvelous.
| Continued on page 30
D
Wild
ean-Marc Vallee (“Dallas
Buyers Club”) gives us
another collaged and stream of consciousness trip in “Wild.” Both the
book and the ﬁlm are based on the
memoir by Cheryl Strayed, detailing
her life on the Paciﬁc Crest Trail as
she journeyed up it in the eﬀort
to reassemble and reassert her being.
Reese Witherspoon plays Strayed
as a pale, hatchet-like hiker who is both
worried and fearless. Every gesture,
every motion she makes brings pain,
and in this incarnation Witherspoon
is an indigenous, ambulatory Christ
ﬁgure, her blood mixed with the thorny
berries that she picks from a tree.
Strayed is driven, each individual act
is a hindrance or an obstacle. Her pack,
named Monster, is gargantuan. Like a
huge man-hand, it presses upon her,
squashing her into a blonde thimble. If
that is not enough, her foot is a bloody
pulp, blistering and scorched.
Still, she carries on.
rough it all, her mother (Laura
Dern) sustains her, a spirit of memory.
True to form, director Vallee delivers
wondrous poetic verve, at times almost
reaching the anxiety of a phantasmagoria. Strayed is both driven and pursued
by the element of blood. e blood of
an unfortunately killed horse, the blood
jabbed from a needle during her drug
addiction, and the blood of her mother,
dream-drenched by guilt. A hiker she
is, but she is also a dream walker, half
voodoo princess, half day-of-the-dead
observer and participant.
e ﬁlm is subversive in the fact
that even under a heroin haze, Strayed
remains in control and powerful with
J
her quest clearly in place. e men in
the ﬁlm, from Cheryl’s ex Paul (omas
Sadowski) to fellow hiker Greg (Kevin
Rankin) and farmer Frank (W. Earl
Brown) are either passive, neutral or
generic.
And if the men are not in retrograde
they are quickly stripped of desire under
Cheryl’s gaze as in the case of the hopeful ranger (Brian Van Holt) or the
predatory and wolﬁsh T.J. (Charles
Baker). is is a ﬁlm where women
are made for power and men are either
meek, mundane or seen as abusive.
e omnipotence of feminine power
comes to the fore.
Vallee gives a tribute provocatively as
well: In one scene, a fox appears, ﬁxing
Strayed with a piercing but questioning
look. Given the heavy snow and the
dark-pointed woods, this moment
is right out of Lars von Trier’s
“Antichrist.”
e ﬁlm can also be seen as a more
benign and naturalist version of “Gone
Girl.” Like Amy, Cheryl is constantly
patronized, though all the while, she
alone has a plan in her head. Mystery is
paramount and, just as in Gillian
Flynn’s story, the men here remain
stumped and mystiﬁed by Cheryl’s
resilience in a desert terrain.
“Wild” creates a rich satisfying
prism of a woman walking between
the shades. It is Reese Witherspoon’s
strongest ﬁlm, and under Vallee’s
direction her fun-loving debutante
persona all but disappears.
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www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
Reese Witherspoon plays Strayed
as a pale, hatchet-like hiker who is
worried and fearless. Her pack,
named Monster, is gargantuan,
squashing her into a blonde
thimble.
TROPICSPROCKETS
DIN ALLEN
| Continued from page 22
“e Mount Gay Horns.” Apparently,
quantities of the famous Jamaican rum
seemed to be the only way to get that
sound.
Roberto’s Cafe was a Mexican food
restaurant that occupied part of the
property currently called the Smokin’
Tuna. e Survivors played a regular gig
there for quite a while. en one night
when the band arrived for what was
supposed to be their gig, they saw
Dave Pike, a jazz bebop legend in the
1960s, already playing the vibraphone.
Din asked proprietor Roberto what
was going on and he said, “I book him,
too, so you will play good together.”
Roberto was right. e double
booking led to a year-long association
between the Survivors and Dave Pike
that worked out very well.
e ownership of the venues can be
an important factor in the type of music
played there. In the late 1970s and
1980s, owners such as Danny Knowles
of Captain Hornblower’s really cared
about the music in their clubs. Danny
would often sit in with his famous
ﬂugelhorn.
Some owners liked to make a
personal statement with their club and
its music. Roberto’s Cafe became Boston
Billy’s Blues Club, where the current
Smokin’ Tuna is located. e owner was
in the club every night making sure the
club met his expectations for music.
Din’s brother, Woody Allen, left
town in 1995 and that was the end of
the active Survivors band.
Din’s two sons, Janiah and Jamiel,
and a nephew, Zeph, come down from
Virginia, and Din plays bass with their
band, the Alliens. ey will be in town
playing gigs at Virgilio’s on New Year’s
Eve, then Jan. 1-2 at Schooners Wharf
and at e Green Parrot on Jan. 6.
Last year, Din had three generation
of Allens on stage at the same time,
including Uncle Billy and a grandson
playing drums.
Din continues to play gigs with the
Paul Cotton Band and others in Key
West and remains a survivor. n
INTERSTELLAR
| Continued from page 29
Cooper cannot make ends meet
and his family is becoming ill. Despite this being the age of the iPad,
we may as well be in the realm of
Dorothy Gale’s sepia Kansas. is
gives the ﬁlm a striking and evocative
edge. Nostalgic, poignant and emotional, the visuals quote directly from
a diverse ﬁlm history.
When seeing a drone, Cooper ﬂips
out and runs for the ﬁelds. His
daughter Murphy (McKenzie Foy)
thinks she sleeps with a poltergeist, as
books and toys ﬂy oﬀ the shelves occasionally. In the manner of an M.
Night Shyamalan ﬁlm, Cooper becomes obsessed and drives to
NORAD. Murphy hops on board.
Cooper approaches the fence. ere is
a jolting buzz and a blinding terrible
white light. But our hero, Coop, is
ﬁne. As it turns out, he is being
briefed by NASA and asked to participate in a mission: Earth is becoming
extinct and another planet must be
found suitable for human residency.
Although the ﬁlm evokes E.T.,
2001, and 3:10 to Yuma with its suspenseful tension and Western style
climaxes, the philosophical puzzles
are uniquely Christopher Nolan.
McConaughey is terriﬁc as the
bronze space traveler as torn apart
from being a single dad as he is from
G force.
Another highlight is the forceful
| RALPH DE PALMA
Three generations of Allen’s making music — the Alleins
30
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
battle of life and death between
Cooper and the egotistical Dr. Mann
(Matt Damon) all set on the wastes of
a hostile ice planet, which in reality, is
set in Iceland.
“Interstellar” in the mode of a
21st century cliﬀhanger will never fail
to keep you guessing. Yes, the casting
of Anne Hathaway is reminiscent of a
certain Sigourney Weaver heroine and
certain set pieces imitate the “Alien”
franchise but Nolan still has enough
sleight of hand in his quantum thrills
to make it both contemplative and
tense. e sight of a single huge
wave, Lucifer horned like a leviathan
is a sensation, and the last of “Interstellar” sneaks up on us with an unexpected punch, making a ﬁtting retro
“Twilight Zone” episode, while also
speaking of our primal human impulse of love and the perils of loss.n
Write Ian at [email protected]
Tropic Cinema
Four Screens in Old Town.
Rated Best Cinema in Florida.
www.TropicCinema.com
(877) 761-FILM
IT‘S YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Oﬀ the beaten path
Sprawling Deer Refuge protects numerous species
BY ROBIN MAYER
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
I went for a walk in the woods
today, through a slash pine forest on
No Name Key. e trail led me past
marshlands to a large man-made lake
where I held a one-sided conversation
with a small alligator. On my way, I
saw a cardinal, numerous turkey vultures that watched me carefully, and
at least eight Key deer.
e deer were no surprise,
as the area I walked in was part
of the National Key Deer Wildlife
Refuge, and as a former resident
of Big Pine Key, I know how brazen
these little beggars can be. But some
might be surprised at the diversity
that can be found in this area, aside
from the endangered Key Deer.
e National Key Deer Refuge
encompasses more than 8,000 acres on
25 islands. It is home to 22 endangered
animals and crucial Keys habitats including pine rockland forests, tropical
hardwood hammocks, freshwater wetlands and salt marsh wetlands. e
refuge is critical habitat for
hundreds of species, 17 of which are
endemic to the Keys.
Just a few of the rare animals in this
area include the Lower Keys marsh rabbit, the silver rice rat, rare frogs and
turtles, according to Park Ranger
Kristie Killam, who works at the
Florida Keys Refuges Complex. Killam
says time and patience and a willingness to follow the refuge’s numerous
foot trails are all that is needed
to see plentiful wildlife.
Key Deer (Odocoileus virginianus
clavium) are an endangered subspecies
of the White-tailed deer.
As adorable and approachable as the
deer might be, Killam reminds you not
“You just have to get
off the beaten trail.”
Park Ranger Kristie Killam
to feed them. “If we could eat candy
and cookies and ice cream every day,
we would, too.”
Intern Lauren Breza, who works at
the refuge, added that the deer are not
starving. ey can ﬁnd hundreds of
plant species they love to eat that grow
naturally here, such as red mangroves.
Feeding the deer is what makes them
unafraid of humans.
Killam said that about 150 Key
Deer were killed by cars in 2014. When
I pulled my car oﬀ the road on No
Name Key, the deer crossed the road to
greet me.
e Key Deer story began as long as
20,000 year ago, when white-tailed
deer roamed from Virginia to Florida
with the waters much lower around
the Florida Peninsula. As the Wisconsin Glacier began to melt, the sea level
rose and trapped some of the deer that
had migrated south. As the land area
diminished, so did the food. Key Deer,
out of necessity, adapted to survive on
less food and water and became a
smaller species (about 55-80 pounds).
e ﬁrst written record of the Key
Deer was in 1575 by a Spaniard held
captive by Keys Indians. Ship logs
from this century collaborate the
deer’s existence.
During the early 20th Century, new
residents in the Keys hunted the deer
to near extinction.
An editorial cartoon by Ding Darling sparked national interest in the
plight of the Key Deer. Ding Darling
was a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist
n More than Key Deer
You will find more than Key Deer
if you take time to explore any
random trail on Big Pine Key or
No Name Key.
Upcoming Events
Friday, Dec. 26 Bike Refuge
at Saddlebunch Key (8 miles),
offroad
Friday, Jan. 2 Marsh Meander,
Big Pine Key (2-3 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 7
Outdoor Film Series:
Get Vegucate
Saturday, Jan. 3 Full Moon Kayak
(monthly)
Friday, Jan. 9 No Name Key
pinelands and hammocks
(2 miles)
Saturday, Jan. 17 Big Pine/
No Name Historical/Natural History
Bike Ride (13 miles) on road
Wednesday, Jan. 21 Outdoor Film
Series: A Fierce Green Fire
31
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
and a key player in the early conservation movement of this nation.
e cartoon, which called them
“Toy Deer,” led to the state legislature
banning hunting them in 1939.
Hunting continued, however, and
the deer population had dropped to
about 25 by the mid-1940s.
In 1947, 11- year-old Glenn Allen
from Miami organized Boy Scouts and
others in a letter-writing campaign that
led to the establishment of National
Key Deer Refuge in 1957, according to
an Endangered Species Bulletin published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
Killam said there are now between
800 to 1,000 deer living on Big Pine
Key. e deer now range from Sugarloaf Key to Bahia Honda State Park.
“e Key deer are a success story,”
she said. “When you protect an area
for a species like the Key deer, you
protect it for everybody.”
She said the refuge shelters hundreds and possibly thousands of diﬀerent species.
A bright and colorful visitor center
for e National Key Deer Refuge and
the Lower Keys Refuge Complex
tucked away in the back corner the Big
Pine Key Plaza.
Volunteers like Bob Mundro and
Carol Houserman answer questions
from visitors. e refuge oﬀers regular
guided walks, bike rides, ﬁlm series and
moonlight kayak trips, among
numerous other activities. For regular
updates, search for the Florida Keys
National Wildlife Refuges Complex
or call the refuge, (305) 872-2239.
You will ﬁnd a lot more than key
deer if you take the time to explore
any random trail on Big Pine Key or
No Name Key.
“You just have to get oﬀ the
beaten trail,” Killam said. n
FOR THE
HOLIDAYS!
n New Year’s Eve
Going to the Dogs!
Some 200 short-legged, tail-wagging canine “revelers” are to stage a
promenade before thousands of spectators Wednesday, Dec. 31, during
the 10th annual Key West Dachshund Walk. e procession of
pooches and human companions begins noon at the corner of Whitehead
and Fleming streets in downtown.
e walking route encompasses
the 400 block of Fleming Street, 500
block of Duval Street and one-block
length of Appelrouth Lane. e 2013
“wiener walk” included 200 dogs,
many costumed, including miniature
and standard shorthaired, wirehaired
and longhaired dachshunds. Since
pedigrees aren’t checked, even “wiener
wannabes” can strut their stuﬀ.
Dogs accompanied by a supply
wagon carrying water for thirsty
walkers and plastic bags for quick
cleanup of any accidents — as well as
providing transport for dogs that get
tired along the way.
No cost to participate but donations of dog and cat food requested
for the community pet-food pantry
operated by St. Mary Star of the Sea
Outreach Mission. Spectators can
meet the canines on Fleming Street
between Whitehead and Duval.
INFO
[email protected]
A KW New Year’s Eve
Southernmost City celebrates with
a conch shell drop at Sloppy Joe’s Bar,
201 Duval St.; the descent of a supersized red high-heel shoe carrying drag
queen Sushi at Bourbon St. Pub, 724
Duval St.; the lowering of a pirate
wench from atop a tall ship’s mast at
Schooner Wharf Bar, 202 William
St.; and the splashdown of a Key lime
wedge into a giant margarita glass at
Ocean Key Resort and Spa, 0 Duval.
INFO
www.sloppyjoes.com
www.bourbonstpub.com
www.schoonerwharf.com
www.oceankey.com
‘NOISES OFF’
| Continued from page 26
Michael Boyer. David Bird has designed
the lights and Carmen Rodriguez
designed the costumes and props.
Trish Manley acts as stage manager
and traﬃc cop.
Tickets are $40 for regular performances.ere are discounts for students,
military and seniors as well as the Friday
night special of two tickets for $60.
Season sponsors for the 2014-15
season are Digital Island Media, Royal
Furniture and Key West Web Design. n
INFO
WaterfrontPlayhouse.org
(305) 294-5015
IN THE TREEHOUSE
| Continued from page 27
last lap of our Rolling Stones tour across
the United States of America.
We stuck stubbornly to our three
cardinal rules on this ﬁnal leg.
No. 1 was never to let slip our real
names when addressing each other while
in the company of strangers. David was
always Keith. om was always Brian.
Rule No. 2 was never overlook daily
hygiene. Which meant an upper-body
splash bath and shave each morning in
the men’s room of the nearest gas station.
Rule No. 3 was to endorse, every single day, om’s idealization of Mary, the
vicar’s daughter back in England whom
he foolishly forsook as the true love of
his life, the lovely lady who actually
managed to get Lawrence Durrell to use
om’s name and Jack Kerouac’s name
in the same sentence.
is last was required even as we
roared through three states to reach that
treehouse in Marin where the adored
Hadi awaited us unclothed.
But something rather strange happened
in Utah. David insisted that we stop outside a hotel in Salt Lake City so he could
make a phone call. But we never made
phone calls, let alone overseas phone
calls, which he ﬁnally admitted he just
had to make.
“You’re not asking your parents for
money, are you?” I asked. “We don’t
need that.”
“Nah,” he said. “Just some private
business.” is was the ﬁrst private business to have come between us.
e rest of the journey became a blackand-white blur. Our anticipation sped
up the passage of time, melting the day
into night, sun into moon, blacktop into
waves we surfed through dawn and beyond.
Like crusaders we fought our way
over Battle Mountain and on into the
plush warmth of inland California. We
rarely talked, too much of the unmentionable weighing on our brains. We just
counted the hours until we reached the
woodlands of Marin. It was stunning
country, a Cinerama mix of cool
Mediterranean and Technicolor. Now, all
that lay between us and the lapping sea
was the naked girl in the treehouse.
Soon we were spending agonizing
time in roadside phone booths trying to
contact Hadi’s uncle or Hadi herself.
Eventually we connected with each,
but to me there seemed something
amiss. Hadi told us the location of the
treehouse, precisely to a fault, although
she could have just met us nearby and
walked us in. David, however, seemed to
tolerate all these twists and turns and ﬁnally we did have exact directions and a
proposed time of arrival.
en it was David who started acting
funny. He insisted I get out of the car on
this gravel drive that led to the treehouse
and told me to go ahead and scope it out
alone.
I got out of the car, looked back at
him through the windshield and
shrugged my shoulders.
He leaned out of the window and
said, “Go ahead. Go up the ladder. She’s
made a new one just for us.”
“How sweet of Hadi,” I thought. And
how uncharacteristic of David to let me
take the lead.
A premonition struck home as I
reached the bottom of the ladder. Life
can be quite dreamlike if you let it. As I
climbed up the ladder I heard, bubbling
through the open door above, the distant
32
www.konklife.com • DECEMBER 25-31, 2014
echo of chiming bells. Quite a sexy
sound. French perhaps. I took oﬀ my
shirt and left it on the bottom rung.
I heard a girl singing.
Looking back at David, I saw him
wave his hand, encouraging me to keep
going.
“Whenever we kiss” I heard the voice
sing, “I worry and wonder.”
My heart leaped at this. Worry and wonder! Precisely the way I have lived my
life. And that voice…!
“Your lips may be near,” it sang, “but
where is your heart?”
She was talking the words now. “It’s
always like this, I worry and wonder.”
“Me too!” I cried out, getting near
the top rung.
“You’re close to me here,” went the
voice, “but where is your heart?”
My voice joined hers.
“When we kiss, do you close your
eyes?” we sang. “Are you pretending I’m
someone else?”
I mounted the top of the ladder and
peered into the shadows.
“You must break the spell,” we sang.
“Won’t you tell, darling, where is your
heart?”
I sprang up now through the doorway and into the treehouse.
Standing there, smiling, was Mary.
I rushed to her, reached my arms around
her to embrace her bare naked body.
We stood face to face, kissing deeply,
our eyes closed. en softly, she sang
again.
“Are you pretending to be someone
else?” she murmured. “You must break
the spell, this cloud that we’re under. So
please won’t you tell, darling, where is
your heart?”
I told Mary then that I loved her.
She told me that David and Hadi —
miracle of miracles — had conspired to
send her a return ticket from London to
San Francisco. Hadi had told her that
she she owed me, and David had told
her he’d promised to make things right
for me after I’d fallen to my knees at a
car crash.
“And I’m singing ‘Where Is Your
Heart’” she said, “because Connie Francis was our favorite singer.
“Do you remember?” n
THE END
Happy holidays, everyone!
Legal Rum Distillery One Year Anniversary
LARRY BLACKBURN | PHOTOGRAPHER
33
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Homeless Memorial Service at Key West Cemetery
RALPH DE PALMA | PHOTOGRAPHER
34
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Parrotheads Annual Foundation Gifting
RALPH DE PALMA | PHOTOGRAPHER
35
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Magical Sunset Key Home
by C. S. GILBERT
KONK LIFE REAL ESTATE WRITER
here are magical
moments here
during sunset,” said realtor
Bob Cardenas, gazing out across
Key West harbor from the large,
covered balcony off the majestic
master bed/sitting room of
33 Sunset Key Drive. “All of a
sudden the water turns black and
the buildings across the harbor
turn pink in the reflection of the
setting sun. Then,” he went on,
“the lights come twinkling on.
It’s magic.”
The balcony is conveniently
large enough for a massive
double chaise lounge and a tall
cocktail table and stools for two,
however one might wish to enjoy
the show.
Relatively small by Sunset Key
standards, this beautiful three
bedroom, four bath home has all
the bells and whistles, and then
some. Entering the small, bricked
courtyard, the first surprise is a
small, free-standing garage—very
nice for storage and the resident
golf cart, a necessary convenience
of the motor vehicles-prohibited
island. The home has a lot of
storage space and no expense was
spared in its design and
construction, said Cardenas.
The next notable touch is the
mahogany sun-ray patterned
entrance deck paired with a
handsome front door of the same
wood and design. Once inside,
the surprise is a full bath with a
gorgeous slate wall and sink set
“
T
33 Sunset Key Drive has its own, free-standing mini-garage for the family golf cart,
mandatory on the motor-vehicles-prohibited island.
into an antique wooden side
table immediately to the right.
Down two steps is a comfortablelooking den/media room with a
couch that, Cardenas suggested,
was actually a sofa bed to
accommodate an overflow of
young guests—hence the full
bath nearby.
Furnishings, he noted, were
negotiable. All are handsome and
perfectly suited to the home.
A top-of-the-line eat-in
kitchen is opposite the den,
sporting a marble island/
breakfast bar in the middle of a
large, serene room of custom
cabinetry, which extends onto
the refrigerator/freezer. Of note
is a deep, porcelain double sink.
Also notable is the roomy
This lovely Sunset Key home is just steps from the homeowners-only white sand Crescent Beach.
36
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Note the banquet-sized dining table in the spacious great room, with its wonderful
water view.
Key West Harbor is only steps from the back gate.
The handsome, top-of-the-line kitchen is designed for convenient cooking.
The cathedral-ceilinged master bed/sitting room opens onto a large covered
balcony overlooking the harbor, where sunsets are reported to be magical.
laundry room off the kitchen,
which itself has a pantry closet, a
second storage closet and lots of
cabinet space.
All flooring is pale beige-toned
marble tiles, with a decorative,
darker border in the great room,
down another two steps from the
covered rear porch and, another step
down, the brick-patterned pool deck.
The pool, which Cardenas said was
one of the largest private pools on
Sunset Key, is just long enough to be a
lap pool and contains a comfortablelooking sitting ledge.
Beyond the pool area is a rolling
den/kitchen level. A high-ceilinged
room of royal proportions, this
room, open at the far end to the
water view, is big enough for a
banquet-sized dining table in
addition to comfortable living and
lounging space.
Through the tall French doors is a
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www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
lawn leading down to the water and,
immediately to the right, to Crescent
Beach, a white-sand beach private to
all homeowners. There are two other
beaches on the island, one serving
the Sunset Key Resort, the other
also private to homeowners.
Continued on next page.
Magical Sunset Key Home
Cardenas noted that the resort, with
its two or three bedroom cottages,
pool, beach, tennis courts, gym, spa
and gourmet restaurant, had been
named among the top ten in the
country by both Amex Platinum and
Travel and Leisure magazines.
Describing this home’s three
second floor bedrooms is rather the
frosting on the cake. The two large
family or guest rooms, facing the
street, each have en suite baths and
small, private, rear-facing balconies;
they are mirror images of each other
with only a variation in closets and
baths; one has an extra closet and an
enclosed tub as well as a shower.
That majestic master suite
includes, in addition to the
bed/sitting room and spacious covered
balcony with the water view, a soaring
cathedral ceiling, unusual for a second
floor, a walk-in closet with built-ins
and a marble bathroom with double
sinks and a generous vanity, a jacuzzi
Continued
tub and a water
closet with a
pocket door.
All homes on
Sunset Key were
built to the
highest standards
of wind protection
and are above
flood level,
Cardenas said,
which makes
insurance on the
property
Each of the mirror-image family or guest bedrooms has its
inexpensive.
While a part of the ensuite bath and covered balcony.
Historic District
of Key West, they were able to take
the nightlife of a sophisticated, small
advantage of modern protections such
city that is fast becoming an arts
as hurricane-rated impact glass.
destination. Sunset Key is only five
“We don’t sell real estate,”
minutes from town and launches run
Cardenas said of the 60-home enclave.
24/7. This magical home is offered
“We sell a lifestyle. People want
by Engel & Völkers Florida Keys.
privacy and quiet, but they also want
Reach listing agent Cardenas
access to an international airport” and
at (305) 304-8292.
38
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Even the bathrooms have extra
storage space.
Konk Life welcomes subjects for
other articles about Keys homes
currently for sale. Contact Guy
deBoer at (305) 296-1630 or
(305) 766-5832 or email
[email protected].
1
3
2
Featured Home Locations
4
Sugarloaf
Key
5
2
1
3
Key Haven
Stock Island
Featured Homes – Viewed by Appointment
Map # Address
1
911 United St., Key West
#BR/BA
Listing Agent
Phone Number
Ad Page
3BR/2.2BA
Frank Kirwin, Preferred Properties Key West
305-294-3040
305-304-5253
40
2
2601 S. Roosevelt Blvd., 204C, Key West
3BR/2BA
Dawn Thornburgh, Beach Club Brokers, Inc.
305-294-8433
800-545-9655
40
3
1931 Sugarloaf Blvd., Sugarloaf Key
3BR/2BA
Roberta Mira, Florida Keys Real Estate Co.
305-797-5263
40
4
530 Grinnell St., Key West
2BR/1BA
Doug Mayberry, Doug Mayberry Real Estate
305-292-6155
42
5
846 Olivia St., Key West
3BR/3BA
Doug Mayberry, Doug Mayberry Real Estate
305-292-6155
42
41
www.konklife.com • December 25-31, 2014
Key West Association of REALTORS®
keywestrealtors.org
Phone (305) 296-8259
Listing Agency
Lower Keys
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Rose Dell & Assoc
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Keys Commercial
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Waterfront Keys Realty Inc.
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Prudential Knight & Gardner
Doug Mayberry Real Estate
Key West
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Sellstate Island Properties
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Richard Padron And Assoc
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Engel & Voelkers
Century 21 Schwartz
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Truman & Co.
Conch Realty
Royal Palms Realty
Doug Mayberry Real Estate
Century 21 All Keys
Truman & Co.
Selling Agency
Sold Date
List Price
Sold Price
Datashare Office
Internet Realty
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Realty World
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Keys Commercial
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Waterfront Keys Realty
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Century 21 Schwartz
RE/MAX All Keys
Beach Club Brokers
12/15/14
12/12/14
12/17/14
12/17/14
12/16/14
12/12/14
12/16/14
12/15/14
12/15/14
12/15/14
12/12/14
12/17/14
$ 110,000.00
$ 345,000.00
$ 515,000.00
$ 345,000.00
$ 100,000.00
$ 379,000.00
$ 600,000.00
$ 229,000.00
$ 449,000.00
$ 125,000.00
$1,499,000.00
$1,475,000.00
$ 93,000.00
$ 325,000.00
$ 450,000.00
$ 325,000.00
$ 100,000.00
$ 349,000.00
$ 600,000.00
$ 210,000.00
$ 440,000.00
$ 87,000.00
$1,475,000.00
$1,300,000.00
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Preferred Properties
Engel & Voelkers
Century 21 Schwartz
Tropics Reall Estate
Engel & Voelkers
Engel & Voelkers
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Truman & Co.
Conch Realty
Truman & Co.
Doug Mayberry Real Estate
Coldwell Banker Schmitt
Truman & Co.
12/12/14
12/12/14
12/15/14
12/18/14
12/16/14
12/16/14
12/16/14
12/17/14
12/15/14
12/12/14
12/15/14
12/16/14
12/17/14
12/17/14
Street #
31323
3644
29555
3928
29565
25032
518
701
22934
10
1
15
Fax (305) 296-2701
Street Address
Island
Built
Description
Bdrms
Wtrfrnt
MM
Avenue F
Landers St
Lucrecia St
No Name Rd
Big Pine St
Palm Ln
S Airport Dr
Spanish Main Dr #238
John Silver Ln
Picard Ln
Tiburon Cir
Sea Lore Ln
Big Pine Key
Big Pine Key
Big Pine Key
Big Pine Key
Big Pine Key
Summerland Key
Summerland Key
Cudjoe Key
Cudjoe Key
Cudjoe Key
Shark Key
Shark Key
1975
1979
1977
1972
N/A
2014
1981
1997
2014
N/A
1988
2003
Mobile Home
Single Family
3-4 Units
Duplex
Lots
Single Family
Single Family
Mobile Home
Single Family
Lots
Single Family
Single Family
2
2
3
4
0
3
2
2
3
0
3
4
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
31
29
29
29
29
25
25
23
23
23
12
11
2000
2005
1999
1987
N/A
1967
1964
1963
1943
2003
1991
2000
1933
1933
Condo
Single Family
Townhouse
Townhouse
Boat Slip
Condo
Condo
Duplex
Condo
Single Family
Condo
Single Family
Single Family
Condo
2
3
3
2
0
2
2
4
1
3
3
2
1
1
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
4
4
4
4
4
3
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
$ 259,900.00
$ 255,000.00
3675 Seaside Dr #240
Key West
$ 549,900.00
$ 622,000.00
37 Seaside South Ct
Key West
$ 466,000.00
$ 453,000.00
44 Spoonbill Way #2
Key West
$ 264,500.00
$ 262,000.00
3325 Pearl Ave
Key West
$ 80,000.00
$ 75,000.00
5555 College Rd #Lobs9
Key West
$ 339,000.00
$ 332,500.00
2601 S Roosevelt Blvd #218C
Key West
$ 410,000.00
$ 410,000.00
2601 S Roosevelt Blvd #509A
Key West
$ 262,800.00
$ 312,900.00
1319 2nd St
Key West
$ 330,000.00
$ 310,000.00
815 Pearl St #3
Key West
$ 295,000.00
$ 275,000.00
3 10th Ave
Stock Island
$1,250,000.00
$1,255,000.00
409 Emma St
Key West
$ 679,000.00
$ 659,500.00
327 Virginia St
Key West
$ 365,000.00
$ 360,000.00
717 Galveston Ln
Key West
$ 450,000.00
$ 395,000.00
526 William St #4
Key West
Based on information provided by the KWAR MLS from 12/11/2014 to 12/18/2014
Good Deeds sponsored by
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