Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

Archives for January 2009

Golden Spoon Awards to St Augustine and Ponte Vedra

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Restaurants receive prestigious Golden Spoon awards
Florida Trend Selects Best in Florida! ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (January 12) – Three of the finest restaurants in St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra will begin 2009 with special recognition that comes annually to less than 40 of Florida’s thousands of restaurants. Each year since 1977, Florida Trend magazine has bestowed Golden Spoon awards to Sunshine State restaurants that offer diners the very best in food, service and décor. This year, 37 restaurants received Golden Spoon honors – including Restaurant Medure in Ponte Vedra Beach and St. Augustine’s 95 Cordova and Opus 39. Located in the beautifully-restored Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, 95 Cordova features the very best in New World cuisine served in an opulent setting complete with lavish antiques, exotic silk fabric and hand-painted 24-karat gold ceilings. In its recognition of 95 Corodva’s excellence, Florida Trend said: “Class act of town in a beautifully-reborn grande dame hotel and a kitchen that is ecumenical. indie nudes “ Phone: 904.827.1888 or www.casamonica.com/95cordova/
St Augustine Florida
“A food gallery where cooking is artful,” is how Florida Trend describes Opus 39 located at 39 Cordova Street in St. Augustine. New American cuisine is the specialty at Opus 39 where all of the culinary creations allow the ingredients to speak for themselves. Simple, elegant food, in an elegant artistic setting –everything is made in-house at Opus 39, from the fresh-baked breads, to the finishing touches on the exquisite desserts. Phone 904.824.0402 or www.opus39.com

Florida Trend says Restaurant Medure, 818 A1A North, Ponte Vedra Beach, “is a smart fixture to the beach. Seafood dolls up with microgreens, shiitake and Southern buttermilk. The monkfish is as pretty as caviar.” Cosmopolitan-chic beach dining in a restaurant with sleek décor sets the atmosphere for a culinary experience featuring the freshest ingredients, an inspiring wine list and an eclectic menu. Phone: 904.543.3797

In addition to the area’s acclaimed Golden Spoon recipients, an outstanding selection of other restaurants in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches are among Florida Trend’s choices for the Best 500 restaurants in Florida. These include Ponte Vedra Beach’s JJ’s Liberty Bistro, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and The Augustine Grille located in the Sawgrass Golf Resort and Spa, a Marriott Resort. St. Augustine’s contributions to this prestigious listing include A1A Ale Works Brewery & Restaurant, Café Atlantico, Gypsy Cab Company, Le Pavillon, and Saltwater Cowboy’s.

For more information on dining, attractions and vacation opportunities in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & the Beaches, go to www.Getaway4Florida.com or call the Visitors and Convention Bureau at 1.800.653.2489.

New Mariza Brings a Smile to the World

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A Genre Reborn and a Singer Transformed:A New Mariza Brings a Smile to the World

Portugal’s voice of fado was born in Mozambique and grew up in her family’s fado house… singing songs at such a young age that her father drew pictures so that Mariza could understand the intense emotions… sadness, longing, the pain of love, the agony of love lost.

mariza“Fado” means fate, and little did anyone know at the time that Mariza’s was to bring the national treasure of Portugal to the world’s ears. She is the reigning Queen of Fado… with multiple Grammy nominations, a BBC World Music Awards honoree as Best European Act, and a new album and extensive North American tour. Mariza comes to the Lucas Theatre in Savannah on March 21s, 2009.

Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” was never supposed to end up on the latest album by Portugal’s musical grande dame. Mariza , a fado powerhouse, and Brazilian pianist Ivan Lins were just clowning around, having some fun with the sweet song that’s been covered by everybody from Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross to Judy Garland and even Michael Jackson. That is, until they realized producer Javier Limón had been secretly recording them. When she looked up and saw tears in his eyes, she wondered what she had done. “I thought we broke something, I thought we did something wrong!” she exclaims. Sung with the kind of beautiful melancholy that only a fadista can bring, it instead ends up as a bonus track on the North American release of Terra (Four Quarters Entertainment / World Connection), a musical proclamation that Mariza has come into her own. Terra will be released Stateside on January 27, 2009, to coincide with an extensive three-month 47 city tour of North America.
Mariza calls “Smile” a gift, a “present for the kindness people have given to me through all this time, trying to understand me. It’s my way of saying ‘Thank you’.” And audiences have certainly enjoyed watching her transform. If her debut album Fado em Mim was an effort to establish her knowledge of the fado tradition, having grown up in her father’s fado house in Lisbon, her second release Fado Curvo allowed her to put her own stamp on the tradition while demonstrating that there are more ways than one to move artistically from point A to point B. Her next release, Transparente, a more intimate, classically-inspired take on fado, expressed Mariza as a more experienced and sophisticated artist.
Since then Mariza has continued to wow audiences with her powerful talent as a live performer, recording the album Concerto Em Lisboa to a hometown audience of several thousand right next to that most visual icon of fado-the sea. She has also traveled the world, selling out concert halls, from Carnegie Hall and Disney Concert Hall to London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and winning awards, including a BBC World Music Award and 2008 Latin Grammy nomination.

Now a mature performer, Mariza’s Terra showcases the new voice of Portugal, a voice comfortable enough with Portuguese music to have some fun with it. On the one hand, Terra is firmly planted in tradition; tracks like “Já Me Deixou” and “Rosa Branca” rejuvenate well-worn, beloved songs of the past, and “Recurso” demonstrates her lifelong commitment to fado, having discovered this hand-written, never-published poem by David Mourão-Ferreira in a fado museum.

On the other hand, nourished by her traditional roots, Mariza branches out in new directions. The first clue of this was her choice of Javier Limón, a Grammy-nominated Spanish flamenco guitarist/producer (known for his work with Paco de Lucia, Bebo & Cigala, and Buika), as producer for Terra . At first leery of having somebody with such a different musical background working with her on her new album, Mariza invited him to Portugal to play in a taverna. It was then that it hit her: “Right then I knew he was the right one for this. With him, everything was music, for music.”

Collaboration with other musicians yielded musical fruits on the tracks of Terra as well. “Fronteira,” a lively song discussing the real and imagined borders between Portugal and Spain, features a folkloric Portuguese rhythm from the north that is made to sound gently Cuban through the playing of Chucho Valdes, the Cuban pianist and bandleader more known for his jazz stylings, and with a battery of Portuguese percussion played by Spanish master El Piraña. “Alma de Vento” was created in the highly unconventional manner of having a guitar line first sent to her by Dominic Miller, an Argentinian-born, London-raised musician who now plays with Sting, around which she had to find the right lyrics.

Perhaps the most memorable musical melding on the album happens in the morna “Beijo de Saudade.” The poem was written in misery in 1958 by one of the greatest Cape Verdean poets, B.leza, who had married a fado star, moved to Portugal, and found himself dying in a hospital bed where he saw the sea-and his tiny, faraway home island-through the window.

Joining her on the track is Tito Paris, a Cape Verdean icon, living in Lisbon who has worked before with Mariza and Cesaria Evora, among others, and who blends African influences into the Portuguese musical landscape. Half Mozambican herself, Mariza finds the collaboration on Terra deeply personal as well, saying that “Tito is putting the African part that is missing in me, and I’m putting the Portuguese part that is missing in him.” Along with an elegant muted trumpet, the track is loaded with enough fado-worthy longing to create a timeless masterpiece.

Iberian splendor is captured in the track “Pequenas Verdades,” a sweet tune written for Mariza by Limón himself. Wanting to retain the original Spanish flavor, they brought in Concha Buika-known simply as Buika-a meteorically rising Afro-Spanish flamenco singer.

It’s easy to put a star like Mariza into a musical box. Fado, the beguiling music that helped catapult her onto the global soundscape also taunts her like a jealous lover never wanting to be neglected for too long, a curious and passionate relationship she recounts on the track “Mihn’Alma.” Yet the transformed Mariza firmly stands her ground. With a new musical family surrounding her and the voice of experience and tradition behind her, she reaches out to give Portugal a new sound.


March 21st 2009, Saturday in Savannah, GA
Lucas Theatre, 32 Abercorn Street
Tickets: $20.00 – $65.00, Show: 8:30 PM
Ticket information: (912)234-3378
Visit the events calendar

Swing Central for High School Jazz Bands

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Aspiring young musicians to perform and study with esteemed clinicians including Associate Artistic Director Marcus Roberts, Wycliffe Gordon, John Clayton, James Ketch and Terell Stafford

Savannah, Georgia – Savannah Music Festival (SMF) has selected twelve outstanding high school jazz bands from eight states across the nation to participate in the fourth annual SWING CENTRAL High School Jazz Band Competition & Workshop between March 25 and 27, 2009. This year, the nationally recognized three-day workshop features some of the country’s finest high school jazz bands going head-to-head for $13,000 in cash awards. Mike Philly, Band Director of Tate High School (FL), says, “Our students are looking forward to the awesome line-up of clinicians and the chance to hear some of the other great high school jazz bands.”

“The team of instructors is a ‘Who’s Who’ of jazz greats,” says Battle Ground (WA) High School Band Director Greg McKelvey. Pianist Marcus Roberts, who recently accepted the official role of SMF’s Associate Artistic Director of Jazz Education, leads the SWING CENTRAL faculty. Many of the clinicians are also performing as part of original programs during the festival’s Savannah Jazz Party and Jazz Now & Forever concert series, giving the students opportunities to hear them in action on stage. Each competing band receives a preparatory visit by a SWING CENTRAL clinician in February. The complete faculty is Marcus Roberts, John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Dave Stryker, Wycliffe Gordon, Jason Marsalis, Roland Guerin, Gerald Clayton, Obed Calvaire, Terell Stafford, James Ketch, Jack Wilkins, and Bunky Green.

Participating bands include:

Agoura High School Jazz A, Agoura Hills, CA

Agoura High School Studio A, Agoura Hills, CA

Battle Ground High School, Battle Ground, WA

Dillard Center for the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Edmonds-Woodway High School, Edmonds, WA

Hoover High School, Hoover, AL

Overton High School, Memphis, TN

Lakota East High School, Liberty Township, OH

The Lovett School, Atlanta, GA

Pacific Crest Community School, Portland, OR

Tarpon Springs High School, Tarpon Springs, FL

Tate High School, Cantonment, FL

Held in the ballroom at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, competition rounds are free to the public. Each band plays three selections: Benny Carter’s “Wiggle Walk,” “To You” by Thad Jones, and the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer classic “Blues in the Night,” a test piece arranged especially for SWING CENTRAL by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra saxophonist Ted Nash. Judges include John Clayton, James Ketch, Wycliffe Gordon, Bunky Green and Jack Wilkins. The three top-scoring bands each receive an honorarium ($5000 for first, $2500 for second and $1000 for third place) and perform the opening set at the SMF production Battle Royale, March 27, 8:30 p.m. at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. Battle Royale recalls the long-standing tradition of jazz “cutting contests.” Two rhythm sections, the Marcus Roberts Trio and the Clayton Brothers, will face-off in spontaneous friendly competition. Various student soloists from the top bands perform, followed by special appearances by their clinicians. All SWING CENTRAL bands also perform for the public at Savannah’s Rousakis Plaza on River Street on March 26-27.

SWING CENTRAL is open to high school jazz bands from across the country. Committed to enhancing studies of the jazz tradition in the South, it fuses an established high quality mentorship program with a youth jazz band competition of national scope. The dates for SWING CENTRAL 2010 are March 31-April 2. SWING CENTRAL is sponsored by Robert & Jean Faircloth, Atlanta Gas Light and Rus & Jan Boekenheide.

Celebrate Art Exhibition – Ponte Vedra, Florida

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Juried artist member exhibition in Ponte Vedra on January 16 – February 21, 2009
Opening Reception January 16 — 6:30 to 8pm
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl – The Cultural Center is pleased to announce the opening of Celebrate Art 2009, a juried exhibition of artist members of The Cultural Center. This year’s exhibition was juried by Hillary Tuttle, owner of Steller’s Gallery in Ponte Vedra Beach. Mrs. Tuttle viewed over 190 pieces of media and chose 52 of the most outstanding pieces to be exhibited from January 16, 2009 to February 21, 2009. Susan Ober, Jacksonville artist, won Best of Show. Christina Foard won second place and Gordon Meggison followed in third place. Meet the exhibiting artists during our opening reception on January 16 from 6:30 – 8pm. A private reception for our Renaissance Society members will be held from 5:30 to 6:30pm.

Juror’s comments:
It was an honor to be asked to jury the annual members art exhibit for The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach. There were over 190 paintings submitted by both professional and untrained artists. Styles ranged from realism, impressionism, expressionism and abstraction with various subjects and mediums.

My criteria was to assess the works of each artist, narrow it down and choose the best three using my honest opinion based on originality, technique/execution, palette- use of color, and lastly subject.

Interacting with our represented artists each day at Stellar’s Gallery, I sometimes forget the vulnerability of putting ones work “out there” and the heart that lies behind each painting. Each artists should be commended for entering their work into this exhibit and I was impressed with the quality of work.

Rose IV, with evening sun in May, oil on linen, 2004The winner, Susan Ober, stood out because of the use of detail, light and shadow. Her oil painting of the rose had such a brilliant balance of the realism of the flower contrasting against a soft, faded background. Every vein on the leaf was executed with such precision. I am really looking forward to her being awarded a one person show at the CCPVB, so I can follow her work.

Susan Ober’s bio:
Susan Davenport Ober, a native of Virginia, moved to North Florida in 1987. She earned a BS degree in art education at Longwood College in Virginia and did post-graduate study in art education at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 1996, Susan earned a BFA, with an emphasis in drawing, from University of North Florida.

Ober has had a nearly life-long interest in portraiture and figurative representation. In this pursuit, she has used a wide range of media through the years, including pastels, oils, clay, wax and bronze. She is perhaps better recognized for her floral and still life paintings, and for her recent (and on-going) “LEAF project”. But to her, every subject is an opportunity to discover and reveal what it is that has made it special and unique.

She has participated in both solo and group shows in the southeastern states. Her work has received both regional and national recognition and is in a growing list of private, corporate and museum collections across the country.

TESTING LINK

Magellanic Penguins to be highlight of Aquarium’s new exhibit Penguin Planet

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Charleston, S.C. – January 13, 2009 – The South Carolina Aquarium confirmed today that Magellanic penguins will be arriving soon to inhabit the new temporary exhibit, Penguin Planet. The animals will be on loan from SeaWorld.

Penguin Planet SC Aqurium courtesy of SeaWorld
Penguin Planet SC Aqurium courtesy of SeaWorld

Opening March 2009, Penguin Planet will host a Magellanic penguin habitat and 550 square feet of exhibit space. Guests will have the opportunity to see these aquatic flightless birds firsthand through the exhibits 10 foot wide window allowing for underwater viewing. Included in general admission, Penguin Planet will delight and educate visitors through its awe-inspiring Magellanic penguins, children’s interactive learning games, educational exhibits on climate change effects in South Carolina and daily programs.

Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) are a near threatened species distinguished by two brown stripes on their chests. They are small birds ranging from 24-28 inches tall and average 8-11 pounds in weight. Magellanic penguins are typically found in the Falkland Islands, Chile and Argentina coasts. They prey on small fishes and invertebrates. Natural predators for the birds include Southern sea lions, leopard seals, and Patagonian foxes. A near threatened species, there is estimated to be only 1,300,000 pairs of Magellanic penguins in the world.

An accredited institution by the Association of Zoo’s and Aquarium’s (AZA), the South Carolina Aquarium’s Penguin Planet exhibit has approval from the rigorous AZA Penguin Taxon advisory group. AZA is the leading accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums and accredits only those institutions that have achieved meticulous standards for animal health, education, wildlife conservation and science. With approximately 2,400 animal exhibitors licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture, only 10% of the institutions are accredited.

Penguin Planet SC Aquarium. Photo: SeaWorld
Penguin Planet SC Aquarium. Photo: SeaWorld