Agenda 021116 issue 325 by Multi-Media Platforms

February 11, 2016

2 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

4 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

JUST ADAM

The week reflected back through fabulously funny eyes CAN YOU SAY ANNOYED! I mean… The Amber alert is a terrific thing… But the shrieking alarm noise on my phone while I’m in the middle of driving makes me want to kidnap a child. 90WHO?10. So Tori spelling is the new spokesperson for some crappy psychic hotline. First of all why would I ever trust Tori? Here’s a girl who grew up in the house the size of a football field with gift wrapping rooms and a separate room for Candy Spelling to wrap her qifts all day in... So what was her wise decision-making skills that led her to resort to a couple of horrifying reality shows & having to sue Benihana for somehow taking a flying leap into a hibachi table??? HALLELUJAH. Please God… I try not to ask for too much in life… But now that tax season is approaching please don’t allow H&R Block to rehire that horrible man with perhaps one of the most annoying voices ever to lead their ad campaign. Just...no! BURRR CHILL!!! This cold is unacceptable! Mother Nature fail! YOU MIGHT BE AQUITTED TOO. Fabulous news! Casey Anthony has just opened a photography business in West Palm Beach! So the next time you have an affair you’d like photographed definitely call her! SHARKNADO PIXIE CUT. Tiffani Amber Theissen’s career jumped the shark the second she dropped the amber from her name... Not unlike the chick from “Felicity,” whose career committed instant suicide the moment she had the haircut heard around the world circa 1997. MUDLAR - SCULLY FIND ME. X-Files is coming back? Whenever I hear that theme song all of a sudden I’m transported back to 1996, smoking weed from a huge bong and ordering pizza with all my college buddies. SOUND OF MUSIC IN ME. My parents’ neighbors have a gazebo, and the gay boy in me just wants to burst into song with a blond Aryan boy and waltz along to “I Am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen.”

February 11, 2016

LATE NIGHT MUNCHIES. OK OK… I’ve been eating really well and losing weight but today was totally my cheat day… But let me say that after a night of a couple of cocktails, there’s something f**king amazing about the ability to order an Egg McMufﬁn at the McDonald’s drive-through at 1 AM. .

Adam Cohen is South Florida’s favorite and most fabulous social commentator. He’s also single. Find him on Facbook to keep up with his hilarious take on the week’s headlines.

/floridaagenda

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING...

Random thoughts from social media and beyond this week

“MARCO RUBIO LOOKS LIKE CUTE, PUDGY GIZMO, BUT WATCH OUT, LURKING INSIDE HIS CUTSIE PIE EXTERIOR, IS A KILLER GREMLIN WHOʼLL RIP UR RIGHTS 2 SHREDS.“ CHER via Twitter

IT’S WORSE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, BUT IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WOMEN AREN’T HITTING THE TOP TIERS AS FAST AND AS FREQUENTLY AS STATISTICALLY THEY OUGHT TO BE, EVEN WHEN YOU COMPARE US WITH OTHER COUNTRIES. I CAN’T HELP BUT THINK THAT ELECTING A WOMAN PRESIDENT MIGHT SPEED THAT PACE A BIT. STILL, IF CLINTON GETS ELECTED, THAT’S ABOUT HER, AND HER LEGACY WILL BE DETERMINED BY HOW GOOD A PRESIDENT SHE IS. JUST BEING A WOMAN GETS YOU ONLY SO FAR. RACHEL MADDOW in an interview with Playboy for their ﬁrst non-nude issue.

REP. LOUIE GOHMERT, asserting that the Supreme Court is playing God with respect to marriage equality.

THE AMOUNT OF MAKE UP AND BABY OIL TO DO A NAKED SCENE.. I DID NOT WAKE UP LIKE THIS. #NUDE #MYBODY #BODYIMAGE JACK FALAHEE discussing preparation for gay sex scenes on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder.

FEELING BETRAYED in an anonymous letter published by The Arizona Daily Star.

“IT REALLY DISTURBS ME. FOR 50 YEARS, THE SUPREME COURT HAS BEEN SAYING, OKAY, LESS OF GOD, LESS OF GOD, NOT IN THE SCHOOLS, NOT IN PUBLIC, YOU CANʼT PRAY, YOU CANʼT TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE. AND WITH THAT DECISION LAST SUMMER, THEY SAID FORGET WHAT MOSES SAID WHEN HE SAID, ʻA MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, A WOMAN WILL LEAVE HER HOME, THE TWO BECOME ON FLESH,ʼ FORGET WHAT JESUS SAID GOD SAID AND WHAT MOSES SAID, HE QUOTED EXACTLY THE SAME THING, FORGET WHAT THEY SAID, WE, THE MAJORITY OF THE SUPREME COURT, ARE NOW YOUR GOD.“

ISABELLE SCHNEIDER via Twitter

February 11, 2016

DEAR AMY: I RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT MY SON, WHO IS 17, IS A HOMOSEXUAL. WE ARE PART OF A CHURCH GROUP, AND I FEAR THAT IF PEOPLE IN THAT GROUP FIND OUT THEY WILL MAKE FUN OF ME FOR HAVING A GAY CHILD. HE WON’T LISTEN TO REASON, AND HE WILL NOT STOP BEING GAY. PLEASE HELP HIM MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN LIFE BY NOT BEING GAY. HE WON’T LISTEN TO ME, SO MAYBE HE WILL LISTEN TO YOU.

JOE PARRISH, the ﬁrst openly asexual politician in the US, discussing what he’d like people to know about asexuality.

“NOTHING AGAINST BEING GAY, BUT CAN I PLEASE WATCH THE SUPER BOWL HALF TIME SHOW & NOT HAVE TO IT BE ALL ABOUT PROMOTING HOMOSEXUALITY?“

floridaagenda.com

RUSSELL TOVEY apologizing for making a patron faint at his Broadway show last week.

“THE ONE COMMON THING IS WE’RE NOT SEXUALLY ATTRACTED TO PEOPLE. WHEN WE’RE WITH PEOPLE, WE’RE JUST LOOKING AT THEM. THERE’S NO IMPULSE TO GO AND DO IT WITH THAT PERSON.”

/floridaagenda

“ON BEHALF OF MY ARMS AND NIPPLES, I FEEL THE NEED TO PUBLICLY APOLOGISE FOR THE EFFECTS FELT BY ONE OF OUR AUDIENCE MEMBERS ON A DARK WINTER NIGHT IN NEW YORK CITY.“

February 11, 2016

8 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

WILTON MANORS--Nominations are now being accepted by the Wilton Manors Community Affairs Advisory Board for its first Community Spirit Awards, given to underrecognized selfless volunteers who freely give of their time to help others.

Section of Key West rainbow flag flies in Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE—Twentyfive feet of the 1.25 mile long rainbow banner, known as the Sea-to-Sea flag, used annually since 2003 in the Key West Pride Parade, was flown for the first time in Tallahassee. It flew in the Florida capitol as part of A Day of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, hosted by state Rep. David Richardson of Miami Beach. The event was aimed at drawing attention to the Florida Competitive Workforce Act that would “prohibit “discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.”

NEW YORK—(AP) Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his executive power to ban gay conversion therapy in New York. “Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice” that punishes people “for simply being who they are,” Cuomo said in a statement. nn

NEW UN STAMPS PROMOTE LGBT EQUALITY

NEW YORK-The United Nations Postal Administration released six new stamps last Thursday that celebrated its Free and Equal campaign aimed at acceptance for all LGBT individuals around the world. nn

RHODE ISLAND OFFERS FREE AND ANONYMOUS HIV TESTING

PROVIDENCE—(AP) Sponsored by the Rhode Island Department of Health, free HIV testing is being made available as part of the National Black HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day. The agency says African Americans in Rhode Island accounted for 21% of newly identified cases of HIV between 2010 and 2014 despite representing only 7% of the state’s population. nn

Bill to allow discrimination against Florida gays

INTERNATIONAL Gay couple use legal loophole to marry in Australia

LOS ANGELES--Gay iconic actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was rushed to UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, CA, complaining of breathing difficulty, two days after celebrating her 99th birthday. nn

Champagne helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s, new British study discovers

READING, UK—A new study from the University of Reading in England’s Berkshire suggests that drinking three glasses of champagne a week can prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. nn

SYDNEY--James Hanley and Dan Waknin, both openly gay men, have taken advantage of a legal diplomatic loophole – to wed last week in the British consulate. nn

Zsa Zsa Gabor hospitalized at age 99

February 11, 2016

TALLAHASSEE—The Pastor Protection Act (HB 43), was approved by a vote of 12-5 by the Judiciary Committee last Thursday, its final review panel before being presented to the full state House of Representatives. Sponsored by The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Scott Plakon of Longwood, is highly controversial for its perception as being anti-LBGT.

floridaagenda.com

Wilton Manors to commemorate volunteers with its first Community Spirit Awards

NEW YORK TRIES TO STOP GAY CONVERSION FOR YOUTH

FLORIDA

nnnnnnnn

/floridaagenda

Go to floridaagenda.com to read more about these stories.

/floridaagenda

News Briefs

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

OUTRAGE COVER STORY

Over LGBT Anti-discrimination defeat

February 11, 2016

By Richard Hack

TALLAHASSEE—Five Florida senators assured the defeat of an LGBT nondiscrimination bill that has been debated since the start of the state legislative calendar. It is shocking to think that state representatives who are well aware of the amount of money that gay and lesbian tourists bring into this state, and the contributions in creativity and innovation that LGBT workers provide, could ignore the importance of making certain that all individuals within the Sunshine State are protected against discrimination. Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida that has actively been advocating for passage of the Florida Competitive Workplace Act, shared her outrage at the arbitrary dismissal of legislation that is essential for the state to continue to attract top talent into its workplace pool. “Five Senators killed a bill that would have provided basic protections for Floridians regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity--the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, Smith said. “The tie vote in (an earlier) committee meeting left hope that the February 9th hearing provided one last opportunity to move the legislation forward. “We are especially disappointed in Senators (Jeff)

Brandes (Hillsborough and southern Pinellas Counties) and (Lizbeth) Benaquisto (Charlotte and Lee Counties) who lead the charge to kill the legislation despite the overwhelming public support, the backing of the state’s top business leaders, and the fact that local protections cover 55% of our state’s population. “Brandes’ opposition is particularly disappointing considering he lives in a county that has had these basic protections for years,” Smith said. “Yet he couched his opposition in phony hypotheticals and irrational fears that served to dehumanize transgender people in Graphics By: HRC.org particular.” “If I go into Gold’s Gym and someone of a transgender nature is dressing in the women’s locker room, is that something that would be covered under your bill?” Brandes asked. The fact that Brandes, who is male, does not belong in the women’s locker room was made irrelevant by state senators in favor of the bill— one that aimed to amend the state’s Civil Rights Act to prohibit employment, retail and other discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Social conservatives Senator Kelli Stargel (Southwestern Orange County,

/floridaagenda /floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

Photo: georgemartinezlgbt

Graphics By: HRC.org

thinking” by unmooring sexual identity from “nature and reality.” Another waived her speaking time in opposition, claiming to speak on behalf of Jesus. Over 40 members of the legislature signed on in favor of the bill as co-sponsors. “In Broward County, we have success with this,” said activist Michael Rajner, joining them in support of the bill. “This helps businesses become more competitive, realizing that people from all walks of life have talents that will make this state a better state.” Unfortunately his logic, and the support of major corporations that agreed with him, fell on deaf ears. “While we did not win today, our work to pass a statewide bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is far from over,” Smith reiterated, with the frustrating defeat still fresh in her mind. “We will continue to work at the state and local level until protections exist for every LGBT person in Florida. This moment is not a defeat, but a call to action that the work is not over. Right now we need every single person who supports equality in Florida to lean in and help us get the job done.”

February 11, 2016

Northwestern Osceola County, and Northern Polk County) and Senator Wilton Simpson joined Brandes in raising questions over whether the law would give male sexual predators legal license to invade spaces reserved for “biological” women, as opposed to women “with male parts” as several lawmakers put it. Prefacing his comments with a remark that “not a soul” on the panel favors discrimination, “this part of the bill could turn into a lot of weirdos doing weird things in public bathrooms, with men or women,” Simpson said. Margate Senator Jeremy Ring, a Democrat, said the committee was losing sight of the main thrust of the bill – eliminating workplace discrimination – by “getting caught up in bathrooms,” though related debate dominated the meeting nonetheless. There are currently 37 municipalities and nearly two dozen states that have adopted non-discrimination laws in favor of LGBT workers and renters, without excessive litigation being a problem. According to Florida Politics, dozens of people spoke, including religiously affiliated speakers in opposition. One speaker said the bill perpetuates “misguided

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

THE AGENDA INTERVIEW

LEA DELARIA: A TRAILBLAZER OF QUEER COMEDY

BY ALEXANDER KACALA

ea DeLaria is a woman who does a lot of things, also known as a show business threat. A trailblazer, musician, comedian, and Real Housewives hater, the 57-year-old star of Orange is the New Black comes to Fort Lauderdale this Saturday for a show at Parker Playhouse. We had the opportunity to chat with DeLaria where she explained to us what audience members can expect at her show, the comics she looked up to as a kid, and why the cast on Orange is the New Black is such a tight-knit group of women. ALEXANDER KACALA: When you were younger, who were some comics you looked up to? LEA DELARIA: George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Elayne Boosler, Elaine May. Sort of the usual. Gilda Radnor please! She was a comedic actress and a comic. I will go with her. People I really looked up to were more like people I like to refer to as ‘show business threats.’ People who did a lot of things. Which is what I try to do. Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Jackie Gleason. Those guys. They were the ones I really looked up to. KACALA: Your dad was a jazz musician. Tell our readers a little bit about that and how he influenced you.

February 11, 2016

DELARIA: He was a jazz musician and instilled the love of music into me. I use to sing with him when I was a kid. He taught me how to read music. He taught me to have a certain taste of what I like. That was it. He wanted me to be a musician--not just a singer. I’m definitely a musician. I know how to read music. Because I love it so much, I try to have a big knowledge of it. I love to listen to it. I got all of it from my Pop.

Photo: Sophy Holland

KACALA: What are some of the songs you are going to be performing at the Parker Playhouse?

DELARIA: Well we’re not sure. We haven’t quite put the set together yet. I mean I haven’t spoken to Varla Jean Merman yet to figure out what she wants me to do as well as what I want to do. You will be certain that you will hear “I Can Cook Too” from the Broadway revival of On the Town for which I have won a lot of awards. You can be certain I will do the ‘Ballad of Sweeney Todd’ because that is a big jazz hit of mine. I will probably do some stuff off of the new David Bowie record. And then there could be a variety of things in between. There will be eclectic stuff off of my records and from my Broadway shows. KACALA: Were you a big Bowie fan? DELARIA: I mean, yeah. My last record was all David Bowie tunes. That came out in July. Go to Spotify right now. KACALA: Looking back now on that 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, what do you think when you look back at that moment? DELARIA: Honestly, when I think about it I’m like, “How did I even do that?” Honestly. Not only was I doing that but I was being followed by 20/20 while I was doing. I was being filmed for 20/20 while I was doing The Arsenio Hall Show live for the first time on tele-

DELARIA: The reason why nothing is happening like that is because there are thousands of queer comics now. They just work in comedy clubs. Just like black comics do. Just like woman comics do. Just like Asian comics do. Back in those days, we were basically segregated. We couldn’t get work in comedy clubs. It really wasn’t until I was on The Arsenio Hall Show that comedy clubs started opening the doors for us. We had to do a comedy special of just gay comics because nobody else would work with us. They wouldn’t let us work. Do you know what I mean? It was a ghettoization. It’s better for us that the ghettoization is gone. It is better for us that we are out there working all the time. KACALA: You are definitely a trailblazer of queer comedy.

For more of our hilarious conversation with DeLaria, visit floridaagenda.com. For tickets to her show this Saturday, please visit parkerplayhouse.org.

apr 10

an interactive gay wedding comedy

Tickets at BrowardCenter.org Ticketmaster | 954.462.0222 Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office Group Sales | 954.660.6307

KACALA: There seems to be a very strong sense of family within the Orange is the New Black cast. Tell me about that experience and what is so special about your relation-

Mar 31

February 11, 2016

DELARIA: It was really important when I was on The View with Rosie O’Donnell and she said, “Lea was the first. We all know Lea was the first.” Sometimes people forget that when she said it like that – both Scott Kennedy and Sandra Bernhard called me crying. It was just so nice to hear somebody acknowledge it. You know what I mean? There are a lot of them bitches out there trying to take that away from me and that just isn’t true. Trying to say, “They are the first.” I was the first. You can’t take that away from me. They can try and rewrite history. It even says it on Wikipedia. I was the first.

DELARIA: I always think about casts as The Island of Misfits Toys. It’s a bunch of young women who just graduated from Julliard or NYU and a couple of other places who have never worked and it was their first audition. It was starry eyed women and then the rest of us are old show business foes who have been around for a long time. There is nothing in between. There are many people on our show who almost quit show business and then they got this show. Uzo most importantly. I think the fact that all the crazy mix of people together – people you don’t know and people who thought their careers were over – that we all cling to each other the way we do. We represent the disenfranchised because we are the disenfranchised. You know what I mean? We are black women. We are Hispanic women. Butch dykes. Trans women. And older women. So I find that the disenfranchised is usually left to their own devices will then help their each other. They will become friends. They will have a camaraderie. It is when the politics and the politicians get involved that we fuck each other up. No matter right, left, conservative, liberal, radical or reactionary. Doesn’t matter when those politics get involved, it f*cks us up. When those people get involved with the disenfranchised it’s always messed up. If you leave us to our own devices - we will do the right thing.

floridaagenda.com

KACALA: Around that same time you did a Comedy Central special centered on gay comics. I feel like there is nothing really happening like that now. Or am I wrong?

ship with those women?

/floridaagenda

vision an openly gay comic. Crazy, right? So back then I guess maybe it was ignorance is bliss. It didn’t even occur to me how really scary it was. I just did it.

/floridaagenda

two grooms and broward center present

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

14 February 11, 2016

Publisher Maura “Mumball” Lane

2000 Oakland Park Blvd. Suite 106 | Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306 Phone: 954-380-8563 | www.ﬂoridaagenda.com

AS I SEE IT

Editor-In-Chief Richard Hack richardhack@wirld.com

Art Director Kevin Broady

GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES

erhaps it was wrong to think for a second that the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States allowing gays and lesbians to enter into same-sex marriages would make it easier for the LGBT community to be accepted within the heterosexual world at large. There are, of course, a whole generation, known as the Millennials, that could care less about our sexuality—or their own. Sexually ﬂuid, these guys roll with the moment.

Then there is the religious right and nearly all Republican politicians who seemingly can think of nothing else then chipping away at our right to equality. They typically defer to God as their moral compass, or to children as the group in need of protection. They really, really, don’t like us. For the Ls and the Gs among us, this dislike borders on hate. But this is nothing compared to what the Ts out there must endure. To Republican zealots, transgender By folk are two Richard layers beneath Hack scum—a confused group that want to invade opposite sex bathrooms to rob our children of their innocence. It does not matter than they base this assessment on nothing more than what they’ve heard or read. It is too much to ask them if they actually have met a transgender, live and in living color. They have no interest in discovering the truth. To do so

would ruin their sound bites on the political stage. Take David M. Omdahl, for example. He’s the state senator in South Dakota who last week labeled transgenders as “twisted.” He was speaking at a coffee event in which he declared he would vote to keep trans people from using gender appropriate restrooms and locker rooms. “I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t even know who you are,” he said. His comments were so stupid that even the coffee crowd in South Dakota realized he had gone too far and attempted to out-shout this dialogue with some of its own. But Omdahl would not be silenced. Pointing to his head, he added, “They’re treating the wrong part of the anatomy. They ought to be treating it up here.” State representative Steven Haugaard added that he thinks that transgender identities are a “choice of lifestyle.” Can he seriously think that anyone would select to endure ridicule, hormone treatments, and extensive surgery on a whim? The bill (HB 1008) passed easily in the South Dakota House by a vote of 58-10. Not to be outdone, Washington state has its own ridiculous campaign against transgenders.

Bill 6548 wants to limit access to restrooms to those with appropriate genitalia. “Nothing in this chapter grants any right to a person to access a private facility segregated by gender, such as a bathroom, restroom, toilet, shower, locker room, or sauna, of a public or private entity if the person is preoperative, nonoperative, or otherwise has genitalia of a different gender from that for which the facility is segregated,” the bill currently reads. The only way to know, of course, who to let in and who to keep out would be to check genitalia at the door. A genitalia checker at every restroom throughout the state of Washington. I wonder how much that job would pay? And then I give you Indiana, whose reputation for equality has seen better days. A bill introduced by Senator Jim Tomes called the “Single-sex Facilities Act,” makes it a crime for a man or trans woman to “knowingly or intentionally enter a single sex public facility that is designed to be used by females” – or for a woman or trans man to “knowingly or intentionally enter a single sex public facility that is designed to be used by males.” Adding to the laughing stock that Indiana has become, the bill actually states that a female is deﬁned as having “at least one X chromosome and no Y chromosome”, while a male is deﬁned as having “at least one X chromosome and at least

one Y chromosome.” The ﬁne for using the wrong restroom is up to a whopping $5,000 or a year in jail. And you thought it was tough being gay. To all this lunacy, we can only respond that God Makes No Mistakes. Straight, gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender, we are all equal to the Divine one. And, lest some forget, to each other. It’s right there in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And the occasional bathroom break. Amen.

Richard Hack is the award-winning author of 26 books, and the Vice President of Content for Multimedia Platforms’ publications.

/floridaagenda

OPINION ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

act a certain way around me. I’m as real as they come. My being a minister doesn’t make me any less real as the next. I have a saying “The tarnish doesn’t go away when the cleric collar comes! Well, not if you’re honest!” Not that I’ve ever been in trouble with the law, but I was far from total Angelic status! I’m not a bar person. After being 15 years in the bar biz part-time, it’s not where I want to spend every weekend. Sure it can be fun, but not something I want to do all the time. I rarely drink when I’m out, so I’m considered boring. Trust me, nobody loves a very dirty martini more than I. But the truth is, I don’t often go anywhere without my own car. No taxis or Uber for me. Besides, working in the court system, I see the end results of a DUI. I’m community involved. I keep pretty active and I know a lot of people. Not everyone is

comfortable being with someone who knows people just about everywhere you go. “Can you ever be any place and not know someone?” Sorry, it comes with the territory. So, there you have a few of my reasons and there is no doubt that many of you can relate to one or more of them in one way or another. Then, the round it all out question came: “Would you give up any of it if you met someone you wanted to be with?” Give up? No. Curtail? Yes. Growing up and dating, I used to give up a lot of things I enjoyed doing just to be with someone. It wasn’t a mutual thing and something I stopped doing. So, yes. If I were to meet someone special, of course I’d consider slowing down some, but I won’t give anything up. I’d actually hope that person would have similar interests and want to join me, as I would expect he’d feel the same about me! I have a full life and love almost everything about it. Would it be nice to share it with someone? Of course it would and maybe that special someone is out there. But I won’t curl up and die if it doesn’t happen. I’m alone, not lonely. BIG difference! Table for one? Sometimes. I’ve come to realize it’s not a crime to be single and I’m not ashamed of it. My/Our day will come. When? Not even I can answer that. I’m of the old cliché “If it’s meant to happen, it will.” I haven’t given up and know one day, I’ll be able to change my Facebook status! So, my single Valentines, I leave you with this thought: “You’re single not because you are not good enough for one, it’s that you’re too good for the wrong one.” --Chris Burkmenn

Rev. Joel S. Slotnick is an ordained Interfaith minister and full time digital court reporter for the state of Florida.

February 11, 2016

PAUL BERGE

haven’t you been snatched up yet?” The questions asked of a single person is endless! Not too long ago, I had dinner with a decades long friend. His other half was working. so we decided to go out, eat & catch up on what has been going on in our lives. Of course, the conversation turned to why I’m still single. After all, at 57, it’s hardly an uncommon question! Here are a few of my reasons: One-on-one or none. I believe in total monogamy. I’m not judging those in open or triad relationships; however, it’s just not who I am. I’m selfish and I refuse to share my “other half” just to be in a relationship. If I have to be in one that’s open, I might as well stay single and keep dating. The only difference is (most of the time) your other half and you live together. I’m a minister, which scares a lot of people. They feel they must

floridaagenda.com

dozen roses: $12, a box of chocolates: $10, a Happy Valentines Day card: $2, still having $24 dollars because you’re single: priceless! (Author Unknown) Yes, Valentine’s Day is just days away. It’s also known to many of us as “Singles Awareness By Rev. Day.” The very Joel same day those Slotnick comments and questions come to fruition: “Why are you still single?” “You’re such a catch!” “Hasn’t the right one come along?” “If I wasn’t with someone, I’d be with you.” “We’re too good of friends.” “Are you dating anyone?” “Why

/floridaagenda

A Single Valentine

floridaagenda.com

CAPITOL BEAT

/floridaagenda

Closing The Curtain On Playing It Straight

February 11, 2016

Photo: washingtoncitypaper.com

/floridaagenda

Although she would never say so herself, Holly Twyford is the most sought-after actress in Washington, DC. She has played the lead in scores of dramas and is DC’s veritable Meryl Streep (she, too, has been the victim of the “not her again,” observation, such is the regularity with which she appears on stage here.) She also directs. “But I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I have played a gay character,” said Twyford, who eschewed Broadway for a home life in the DC area with her wife and young daughter.

ost recently, however, Twyford did just that, taking the lead in Bad Dog at Olney Theatre. The play epitomized what is generally viewed as a welcome and healthy trend — it was not a play about being gay or a play about straight people with a token gay character. It was about life, with not one, but three, female gay characters. Yet their sexuality was almost irrelevant, although one family did walk out after a lesbian kiss early in the play, a moment that hit Twyford as a personal comment on her BY and not just her LINDA character. PENTZ Bad Dog, however, was a step away from stereotyping that Twyford says “is still being taken I think, and is another way to see we really are all in this human condition together.” Bad Dog, she says, “really had to do with family dynamics which are absolutely universal and with addiction which is sadly incredibly universal as well. I think that was wonderful.” When British actor, Ian McKellan, first received the script of the television comedy series, Vicious, he was worried it might further stereotype gay men (he did amend the title from its original Vicious Old Queens but only because, quipped the 76-year old, “I’m not old!”) But Vicious is also somewhat of a departure. The leads went to McKellen and Derek Jacobi, both gay, and unlike the earlier traditional sitcoms, they do not play the lovable gay neighbors. The neighbors are everyone else in the show. Cole Burden enjoyed flinging himself on a pool table in a hot embrace with co-star Christine

Dwyer, night after night during a run of the musical, Murder Ballad, at Studio Theatre in DC last summer. But Burden also recognized early in his career that “if you can’t play straight then you won’t work.” While Burden is routinely cast as the leading man type, his personal history finds him gravitating toward parts that offer a little more edginess. “Growing up in the south in a small town where I was really terrified of coming out — I was actually fearful for my life — I think there was a lot of me that lived in the shadow,” said Burden who’s now based in New York. “I can identify with some of these darker characters. As a gay actor coming out and learning how to love myself, I had to know that about me and also start to love me. But I never really lost the understanding of what it’s like to be unconscious, to hide, and to be stressed and frustrated because you are hiding part of yourself.” That notion of needing to hide hit home most painfully when a drama school teacher told Burden to “look into a mirror and any physicality that was gay, write it down and not do it.” It was tough advice that felt like an assault on Burden’s authentic self. “The first part of my career in New York was a lot of looking at what do I have to be in work versus who I am as a person,” he said. It’s a difficult dilemma. Twyford was recently working with a young actor who was, she says, “very, as we used to say, flamboyant, fairly effeminate and very talented. And I had the debate with myself at least ten times, should I say something to him?” She paused. “And then I’m thinking, ‘what am I saying?’ Basically I am saying he needs to straighten up, you know, to get more work, which sadly I think is the truth.” Stepping outside of who you are and pretending, is one reason gays

Photo: whut.org

floridaagenda.com

Photo: avclub.com

BAD DOG

Photo: hitfix.com

VICIOUS OLD QUEENS

Photo: moviepix.com

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEHIND THE CANDELABRA

February 11, 2016

Linda Pentz is the Washington correspondent of the Florida Agenda. She can be contacted at lindapentz@mmplgbt.com. Follow her on Twitter @ CapitolAgenda

/floridaagenda

lenhaal and Ledger achieved flawlessly in Brokeback Mountain. “I’m absolutely an advocate for heterosexual playing homosexual if they really understand the story and if they really are the right person to tell the story,” said Burden. Twyford agreed. “I think the only way that Brokeback Mountain was going to be made was if two straight actors did that,” she said. That observation caused Twyford to remember lines from a play — The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane — in which she played Diane, a hard-nosed lesbian theatrical agent with a closeted client who wants to come out in a film in which he would be playing gay. “If a perceived straight actor plays a gay role in a feature film, it’s noble,” Diane tells him. “It’s a stretch. It’s the pretty lady putting on the fake nose and winning an Oscar. If an actor with a “friend” plays a gay role it’s not acting, it’s bragging.” Burden did finally get to play gay, in a small independent film called Rainbow Bridge Motel. “It was the first time professionally that I had gotten to play a gay character at a time when gay marriage had just been fully accepted,” said Burden of the project in which he played one half of a gay couple and which filmed last summer during the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. “From my audition process to actually shooting, that law was passed.” In keeping with the new trend, Rainbow was not made as a gay film but is about “two people in love that are just trying to navigate a ridiculous situation,” said filmmakers Scott Rubin and J. Garrett Vorreteur on their Indiegogo website. “Dean and Darren are not different, or odd, or depraved because of who they are or who they love, they are just people.” Ironically though, only Burden’s role and a female character were played by gay actors. “I was playing opposite a straight actor, and I fell a little bit in love with him,” Burden said with a laugh. “And there was this scene where I had to throw him down and kiss him and there was a little bit of me that said, ‘wait a minute, this is my job?’ Because I kind of wanted to do this the first time I saw him!”

/floridaagenda

and lesbians gravitate to theatre, asserts Michael Bobbitt, artistic director at Adventure Theatre/MTC. Bobbitt recently choreographed Olney’s Guys and Dolls in which, he laughed, “I looked at all those manly gangsters shooting craps and virtually half of them are gay.” Bobbitt says “the theatre is just a way to escape. A lot of gay people are either ostracized from other people or they feel themselves ostracized. In theatre, you can make a living from pretending so yes, the odd man out does sort of gravitate toward theatre, because it’s a chance to express something you have been doing all your life in many ways.” There are also, says Bobbitt, “so many gay people that play straight parts. All the time.” McKellen, who has spent a storied career playing countless straight roles until Vicious, would doubtless agree. “One of the reasons I became an actor was that you could meet gay people,” he once told an interviewer. The welcome emergence of gay — and even transgender — roles from sidekick to center stage is apparent in film as well as television and theatre. In the case of McKellen and Jacobi, there is finally a chance to play gay. But gay lead roles, especially in the film world, which Twyford says “feels like a much more straight atmosphere” than the theatre, still tend to go to straight actors. Think Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in 2005‘s Brokeback Mountain and, more recently, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol. Gyllenhaal, however, feels that Brokeback Mountain might have helped create a more accepting environment that paved the way for the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. “I felt like we had been part, a little part and parcel of that movement,” he said in an interview. “I was proud, you know? To me that’s really a pretty incredible moment.” Matt Damon, who played gay icon Liberace’s lover in Behind the Candelabra, caused a bit of a stir when remarks he made suggested he thought gay actors should not come out at all. He pointed to openly gay British actor, Rupert Everett, saying: “This guy – more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor – it’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a hit for being out.” The counter argument of course is that the play’s the thing and the sexuality of an actor cast in a particular role should disappear in the performance, which all the gay actors I talked to thought Gyl-

GAY ROLES PLAYED BY STRAIGHT ACTORS

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

CREEP OF THE WEEK By D’Anne Witowski

Louie Gohmert

February 11, 2016

OPINION

think Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails said it best: “Bow down before the one you serve. You’re going to get what you deserve.” And if you’re Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, you’re up in arms about the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that God doesn’t exist any more and since they’re the highest court in this land, well, they’re God now. But what’s a Texas rep supposed to do with all that anger? Well, take to the airwaves before the Supreme Court takes those away, too! On Jan. 22, as Right Wing Watch reported, Gohmert was interviewed on The Joyce Kaufman Show, a Florida radio program hosted by, duh, Kaufman, who calls herself “South Florida’s leading independent voice,” for whatever that’s worth. She also seems to think of herself as quite the comedian. Her online bio states that she is “Divorced and remairried (sic), just like you…” Apparently the gays have so ruined marriage that heterosexuals can’t even spell it any more. Then it says, “Heterosexual, probably unlike you.” Um, okay. I mean, she’s right that I’m not, but I also don’t think I’m her intended audience. Which leads me to believe that “Heterosexual, probably unlike you” is supposed to be a joke. Because ha. While the bulk of the interview is about Benghazi, at one point Kaufman suggests term limits for Supreme Court Justices saying that lifetime appointments prevent “any kind of honesty.” Let me point out that term limits for Supreme Court Justices is a popular idea in some Republican circles right now, especially since the Court voted to let the gays get married.

Gohmert is on board with this idea. “Last June was the biggie,” he said, referring to Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that won marriage equality for all. He then rambles a bit about how for 40 years the Supreme Court said that people can’t talk about God (not true) and then he goes on about Moses and Jesus and God and their view on marriage according to the Bible and/or a Chick Tract Gohmert got with his Halloween candy. According to Gohmert, “The Supreme Court said, ‘You know, we told you you couldn’t use God, now here’s the new line: We’re God. We are your God. Forget what God, Moses, Jesus ever said, we are your God now, the five of us in the majority, you do as we tell you.’” I think it’s only fair in this new reality that Ruth Bader Ginsburg get to be Chief Goddess, am I right? “And I’m telling you,” Gohmert continued, “that is a Supreme Court that is out of control.” Supreme Court Gone Wild: Spring Break edition! Woo hoo! Everybody must worship our supreme beach bods! We rule! But wait, what’s Gohmert talking about? “Two of the justices were illegally participating in that decision because the law’s very clear: if there is even a question that could be raised about your impartiality,” he said, “you must disqualify yourself. We have two of them who had done same-sex marriages before they participated.” Gomert is referring to Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, who did in fact preside over the weddings of same-sex couples. This doesn’t make them “disqualified,” but it does make them awesome.

Louie Gohmert

Photo: dailysignal.com

What’s your opinion? The Agenda wants to know...

The Florida Agenda welcomes signed Letters to the Editor, up to 400 words in length, on topics of general interest to our readers. You may e-mail submissions to Editor@ﬂoridaagenda.com. We welcome comments on our Facebook page also.

/floridaagenda /floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal February 27

February 11, 2016 19

Tickets at ParkerPlayhouse.com Ticketmaster | 954.462.0222 Broward Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s AutoNation Box Office Group Sales | 954.660.6307

floridaagenda.com

ELECTION SPECIAL FEATURE

OPINION

A Supremely Important Election

February 11, 2016

/floridaagenda

BY MARC PAIGE

s a fifty-seven year old gay man, I’ve seen devastating losses, and glorious victories in our march towards equality. With our new marriage rights, and a federal LGBT non-discrimination law yet to be enacted, we must maintain our forward momentum. But among those running for President are candidates intent on reversing our progress. With the balance of the Supreme Court at stake, these threats are serious. It’s hard to believe it was only thirty years ago that the Supreme Court ruled it legal to criminalize homosexuality. In Bowers v. Hardwick, a 5 - 4 majority upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex between consenting gay adults. In Georgia and a number of other states, gays and lesbians could be arrested for having sex in their own homes! The timing of the 1986 Bowers ruling was particularly cruel, coming as the horror of the AIDS crisis was unfolding. On the night of the Court’s decision, I was among hundreds of activists blocking traffic on New York’s Sixth Avenue. We were angry, but we also felt scared, exhausted, and betrayed by our nation. Seventeen years later, on June 26, 2003, sanity returned to the Supreme Court. The Bowers ruling was overruled by Lawrence v. Texas, striking down all remaining sodomy laws nationwide, and affirming the fundamental rights of equality and liberty guaranteed to all citizens. Ten years to the day after that, on June 26, 2013, an even more enlightened Supreme Court changed my life. In Windsor v. United States, the Court ruled 5 - 4 that married gay couples were entitled to the identical federal benefits as married straight couples. Three weeks later, my husband and I were married in Provincetown, MA. It took another case to bring marriage equality to every state. But on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court’s 5 - 4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges held that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples nationwide. Had Barack Obama lost the election to John McCain in 2008, I would not be married. Senator McCain had campaigned that, if elected, his models for judicial nominations would be the anti-gay Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Instead, President Obama appointed two sensible jurists, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court in 2009 and 2010, and they became key votes in the narrow 5 - 4 decisions that secured full, national marriage equality. We now face an election where all our past and future victories are threatened, in varying degrees, from every single Republican presidential candidate. Although Marco Rubio claims “this campaign is about the future, not the past,” he has pledged

to take the LGBT movement backwards. Rubio opposes ENDA, calls gay adoptions “a social experiment,” and says of the marriage equality ruling, “I don’t believe any case law is settled law. Any future Supreme Court can change it.” Ted Cruz is worse. He’s called the Court’s ruling on marriage equality among the “darkest 24 hours in our nation’s history.” Cruz is “appalled” that Houston has a lesbian mayor, and in November he appeared at a rally organized by an evangelical pastor who routinely calls for the death penalty for gay men and women. Donald Trump is also “not in favor of gay marriage.” In a response to a Fox News question whether he would appoint justices to overrule the ruling, Trump said, “I would strongly consider that, yes.” Supreme Court decisions have been overruled in the past. Thankfully, in 2003 the Lawrence decision invalidated Bowers. But solid, progressive rulings can also be reversed. When President George W. Bush replaced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with the more conservative Justice Alito, American law moved so far to the right, and so many legal precedents were reversed, that liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer declared from the bench, “It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much.” Four of the nine justices on the Supreme Court are over or near the age of 80. Just one vacancy ﬁlled by a President Rubio, or even a Kasich or Bush, could tilt the Court disastrously to the right. Two or three would change the Court for a generation. Our enemies are giddy with the prospect of conservative appointments. Tony Perkins, president of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council, said this in his endorsement of Ted Cruz: “The next president will likely appoint two or three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will impact our nation for decades to come.” In an editorial entitled “Why the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling is not ‘The End’,” Perkins writes, “This is a moment of opportunity… Every Justice of the Supreme Court has been appointed by a president of the United States. We must have a leader…who will not only stop what’s happening and change course, but undo the damage.” The “damage” Perkins wants undone includes our right to marry. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would both appoint Supreme Court justices who value the right to equality for all LGBT citizens. The Republicans will not. That’s what’s at stake in this election.

Marc Paige is a writer and speaker on LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues.

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE WHO MATTER MOST. At MassMutual Miami, we understand the unique financial needs of the LGBT community and can help you build financial strategies to ensure your loved ones are protected. For more than 160 years, MassMutual has helped policyowners on their quest for financial freedom. Gary Ciampitti – Fort Lauderdale Office Insurance and Financial Services Professional Jan Knight – Fort Lauderdale Office Insurance and Financial Services Professional

February 11, 2016

MassMutual Miami 2100 Ponce De Leon Blvd., Suite 600 Coral Gables, FL 33134 888-563-3779 www.miami.massmutual.com

LIFE INSURANCE + RETIREMENT/401(K) PLAN SERVICES DISABILITY INCOME INSURANCE + LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE + ANNUITIES

MassMutual Financial Group refers to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual), its affiliated companies and sales representatives. As of November 2015, MassMutual received a 100% score on the Human Rights Commission’s Corporate Equality Index and was named a Best Places to Work. Local sales agencies are not subsidiaries of MassMutual or its affiliated companies. Insurance products are issued by MassMutual, Springfield, MA 01111, and its subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Company and MML Bay State Life Insurance Company, Enfield, CT 06082. CRN201706-173276

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com

SUNSHINE STATE

/floridaagenda

The Florida Renaissance Festival: 7 weeks of fairies, fantasy, and fun

February 11, 2016

BY ADAM STRONG

Photos provided by the Renaissance Festival

“We are artists; we have to sing for our supper,” Richard Weber acknowledges with a laugh. The entertainment director for the Florida Renaissance Festival strikes the right balance between historic context and modern realities, as he helms the creative side of the heritage event, which begins its 24th season on Saturday, February 13, at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach. “I am beyond thrilled with our mix of new performers and popular favorites,” says Weber, who is in his 10th year shaping the flavor and tone that drives the well-known seasonal event, which is produced by Bobby Rodriguez Productions. “Every Renaissance festival across the country has its unique qualities,” Weber explains. “This show has a very loyal audience, which likes to see many of its favorite acts return year after year. The trick, if it’s a trick, is to feed that appetite while also giving people a reason to come back for something new. “Caroline Williams and her horses are something that everyone must see.” Williams, an eighth-generation circus performer who immigrated from Germany with her parents (and their 14 elephants, 18 tigers, 36 horses, ponies, and exotic birds) when she was a baby, is the niece of legendary Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performer and lion tamer Gunther Gebel-Williams. She has been performing since she was two years old. “We’re very excited to have Caroline, she has recently brought her talents and animals to perform at Renaissance festivals. Every year has its challenges and opportunities, but 2016 is, hands down, one of the best

seasons I have ever been involved with.” The 24th season of the Florida Renaissance Festival has expanded to seven weeks, running through March 27, Easter weekend. The show, and its entertainment, have undergone many transformations in more than two decades. More than two million people have seen the show over its 24-year run. The production features more than 100 costumed performers, 10 stages with continuous entertainment, and 20 stage acts from around the world, recreating a semblance of 16th Century European living, filtered through Hollywood and the art of street performance. “Living, breathing theater is what you experience at the Florida Renaissance Festival,” says South Florida showman and impresario Bobby Rodriguez, the festival’s founder and producer. “Every day is a new experience, every day is a passport to a journey complete with fairytale and fantasy.” One of the architects of that journey is Weber, a gay man and 34-year veteran of Renaissance festivals around the country. As a director, he brings an “LGBT-sensibility” to creating what can be at times a very trying production. “My artistic sense permeates all time periods and styles,” Weber jokes, a reference to the timeless—or nebulous—quality of Renaissance fairs, which seek to provide visitors with a fun taste of history, without the duller aspects. As far as history’s examples of gay culture, the Festival leaves that part to the imagination. Historically, the city of Florence had a widespread gay culture during the Italian Renais-

/floridaagenda /floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

Photo: mashable.com

and participation of the hardcore visitor. This season’s theme weekends included salutes to pirates (“Swashbucklers and Sirens,” February 13, 14, and 15), the always-popular Vikings (“Vikings and Valkyries,” February 20 and 21), movies like “The Hobbit” and series such as “Game of Thrones” (“Fantasy and Adventure,” February 26, 27, and 28), the Far East (“Voyage to the Orient,” March 5 and 6), Ireland, Scotland and the Highlander tradition (“Kilts & Colleens,” March 12 and 13, in anticipation of St Patrick’s Day), the Steampunk literary genre (“Time Travelers Weekend,” March 19 and 20), and Mardi Gras (“Carnivale Masquerade,” March 26 and 27). Weber notes that the show has adapted to the times, and he thinks that’s a very good thing. A yearly tradition at the Florida Renaissance Festival is for couples to renew their vows, and the fair remains a popular place for theme-minded guests to hold their wedding ceremonies, complete with horse-drawn carriage and costumed festival royalty in attendance. This year, gushes Weber: “We have a same-sex couple who are getting married on Valentine’s Day. The law permits it, and so gay couples can enjoy their ceremonies in costume like royalty. Who doesn’t dream of getting married like princes and princesses?” The past meets the present at the Florida Renaissance Festival, and the rendezvous promises to be fabulous.

February 11, 2016

sance, which included same-sex relationships structured on differences in age and wealth (in this regard, some things never change). Florence, home to the powerful banking Medici clan, had a popular saying in the 1500s: “If you crave joys, tumble boys.” Here in the 21st Century, patrons both gay and straight find plenty to enjoy in the Festival’s hundreds of acts, artisans, and activities. “Every year, we try to introduce new acts, or to bring back performers who haven’t done the show in a while. It keeps things fresh, and provides variety to our patrons who return year after year. Among the elements that make the Florida Renaissance Festival popular with a variety of audiences are the show’s theme weekends, which provide a background context for many patrons (“playtrons”) to dress the part, and get into the act with street performers in the show’s cast. That interaction between guests and cast has been a major draw to the show for many years, and Weber says those guests are in for a pleasant surprise with this year’s season. “Those characters are really what brings many people to the shows, year in and out. We have elevated the street performances to a level that we haven’t seen in some time,” he brags. Also popular with regular fair guests (Justin Flippen, you know who you are) is the show’s themed weekends, which lend an extra element of fun and “flavor” for the enjoyment

February 11, 2016

26 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

28 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

DEEPER DIVE: JOHN TONNISON

February 11, 2016

ech Data Corporation is one of the world’s largest wholesale distributors of technology products, services and solutions, generating $27.7 billion in net sales for the fiscal year that ended on January 31, 2015. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, the company is ranked No. 107 on the Fortune 500, just behind Nike and beating other large brands like McDonalds and Exelon. Tech Data is also one of Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired Companies” and is ranked No. 450 on the Global 500. A key leader in the success of Tech Data is John (“JT”) Tonnison. The company’s executive vice president and chief information officer (CIO), he was appointed to lead the strategic direction, operations, and go-to-market execution of the company’s worldwide cloud business in July of 2015. In this expanded role, Tonnison will oversees Tech Data’s cloud leadership in the Americas and Europe. One of our ‘Movers and Shakers’ profiled in last year’s inaugural roundup of Florida’s 100 brightest LGBT community members, we had the opportunity to dive deeper with Tonnison. We discussed work life balance, obstacles he has had to overcome, and the Competitive Workforce Act. Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Tonnison began his career in the ‘tech.com boom’ and held executive management positions in the U.S., United Kingdom and Germany with TSN, Ameriquest, Log 2000, Frontline Distribution

BY ALEXANDER KACALA

and Mancos Computers. Tonnison joined TechData in 2001. One obstacle Tonnison had to overcome on his path for success was himself. In his early years at TechData, Tonnison had a very solid reputation for delivery, getting tech done, and for creative and pragmatic solutions to problems. “I did not have a good reputation for developing a leadership team that would sustain without me. I was not considered a people leader.” The company then paired Tonnison with a Doctor of Psychology in a mentoring relationship to help him re-frame his approach to guiding his team. The doctor would shadow Tonnison throughout his work days and then sit at dinner with him with some very candid feedback. “He substantially changed my operating mode and that was to move me away from answering questions as a virtue when being asked them. When getting into that rapid fire where somebody would ask me for an answer for a problem.” Dr. Frank Merritt was Tonnison’s executive coach. With a PhD in Psychology, Merrit was and is the CEO of TalentQuest. He pointed out to Tonnison, “You seem to think that you are doing this great macho high velocity thing. Very high energy. You are getting thorough lots of answers really quickly but what you are actually doing is you are negating the need for the people to come to you to find their own thoughtful answers because they know you are going to do it very quickly. So why waste the time if you can do it

quicker? Secondly, if they have had a thing that they have been thinking about or worrying about, and they can’t solve and bring it you and you solve it quickly, they are insulted. This is not good.” “This very profoundly shifted me into a more questioning style in response to questions,” Tonnison remembers. “To go back and respond in ways to help someone unblock their limitations and road blocks in their own thinking. To throw another idea out there to explore. but to do it in a questioning style so they can find their own way.” When asked about work life balance, Tonnison quickly jokes, “What’s that?” “IT in the tech industry is very high velocity, very fast moving, an ‘always on’ business, “ Tonnison continues. “One of my responsibilities as CIO is for all of the technology throughout the world. Running our business at this high speed velocity - there is not exactly downtime in IT.” Tonnison continues to explain that while his role as CIO is overwhelming and fast paced at times, his home life maintains an important balance. “We find that balance in our household down to the individual person. My partner is a not-for-profit guy. And I think my work and lifestyle become his balance. My needs become high velocity capitalist commercial engine. His needs are far more about hearts and minds and mission and about what society needs.” Tonnison has been with his partner for eight years. “In any relationship you have to be able to

/floridaagenda /floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

JOHN TONNISON AWARDS

· Silver Medallion Award by Community Tampa Bay in May 2015. · Named to Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders list.

TECH DATA: BY THE NUMBERS PUBLICLY TRADED (NASDAQGS: TECD)

$27.7

IT DISTRIBUTION

SALES FOR 2015

YEARS IN

BILLION IN

EMPLOYEES WORLWIDE

RANKED NO.107 ON THE FORTUNE 500

115K+ IT RESELLER CUSTOMERS

150K+

IT PRODUCTS SOLD

100+

COUNTRIES SERVED

NAMED ONE OF FORTUNE’S “WORLD’S MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES”

For more information, please visit FloridaAgenda.com.

February 11, 2016

talk about both of your interests and both of your jobs. I actually think it is that balance that provides the balance for me. You reconnect with someone who is so deeply mission centric, who is so focused on real world harm, real world hurt, real world inequalities, and imperfections in our societies to improve people’s lives. That is what creates balance for me. It reminds me even though I am a leader of this huge corporate entity that outside there are lots of real life people with real world problems and challenges and absence of fairness. Those things still need our attention, still need our compassion, and still need time.” Describing his household as capitalistic and caring, Tonnison is the self proclaimed capitalist half of that. “When it comes to the equality causes, what I do and bring to there with the full support and faith of my corporation, we bring the economic imperative into the equality conversation. There are numerous forums of voices. When it comes to my role as I represent this Fortune 500 company, we bring the voice to strongly argue why equality is a powerful positive economic force.” Tech Data is a leading voice in the Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce coalition, promoting the Competitive Workforce Act (SB120). “I personally have been very active on behalf of the corporation, expressing to the Florida legislature the economic motive and moral imperative of expanding the state’s definition of equality to catch up with society’s overall evolved thinking and standards. I have spent face time with the chair of the house committee on who’s desk the bill lies, and the state senator who’s district the majority of our Florida employees reside, and who sits on the judiciary committee that is hearing the bill this session. I have spoken publicly on behalf of the coalition, appeared in Tallahassee in person to give testimony in the hearing of this bill.” On February 8th, Tonnison gave again testimony to the judiciary committee of the state senate, in favor of SB120, seeking to add LGBT protections to the 1992 Civil Rights Act. He stayed in Tallahassee as the bill was carried forward into the next day’s agenda. Shifting the overall culture of Florida is extremely important to Tech Data, who has to compete with more progressive states like California and Washington when it comes to recruiting tech talent. “We are a heavily technical based company. That means the products we sell and service use technology on a massive scale to make our business work. So we need technology talent. Technology talent and Florida are not terribly synonymous. There are states that are far more clearly defined as technology states. Establishing and growing Florida’s relevance, reputation and appeal to technology companies, students and talent comes out on a number of fronts that need to be progressed.” One of those fronts is to demonstrate some of those characteristics of the places where technology is more obviously at home. “One of the characteristics of that is open inclusive equatable freedom where you have a tremendously diverse industry. As you try to appeal to students, to talent, to businesses for investors - to try and echo some of that progressive thinking and openness we believe is a very important aspect of placing Florida on the map.”

February 11, 2016

32 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

#STREETBEATAGENDA By Jameer Baptiste

MATTHEW EATON

MONICA SALGADO

ZACHERY JEFFERSON

“I believe Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to really reflect on each other and celebrate love with happiness and authenticity,” conveyed Program Coordinator Matthew Eaton. “With that said, I do think some companies love to use this day as a sales pitch with a lot of over the top products.”

“Well, I think that Valentine’s Day is a great way to keep your relationship refreshed and interesting,” commented a humble Customer Care Specialist Monica Salgado. “It’s a great way to have a date night with such a busy schedule.”

“Googling Valentine’s Day it states it’s a day when people traditionally send a card to someone they are romantically attracted to,” said Zachery Jefferson, a Sales Advisor for H&M. “So yes, I think it’s another way for corporations to make money off of consumers. Forget love, buy me diamonds – LOL.”

“To be honest with you, it’s just another way for them to get us to spend our money,” said the hopeless romantic Princess Trina who is taxi driver. “True love is celebrated or at least recognized everyday. And not to be extreme but in my mind every second of the day.”

RICKY GREEN “Valentine’s Day is another corporate creation to make money,” said DJ Ricky Green. “Personally, when I love someone my first thought isn’t a heartshaped box of chocolates. Honestly, I wouldn’t know what would come to mind... It depends on the person and longevity of the relationship.”

We want to hear from you. Search #StreetBeatAgenda on Facebook to share your opinion on the above topic. Florida Agenda also welcomes Letters to the Editor, up to 400 words. E-mail your submissions to: Editor@floridaagenda.com. Your opinion matters!

February 11, 2016

What do you have to say?

PRINCESS TRINA

floridaagenda.com

Year after year we, consumers, collectively spend billions of dollars on different holidays to show that we care for one another. But is that really the reason or have the corporate giants manipulated us into spending for no apparent reason? We hit the street to find out what consumers have to say when it pertains to V-day.

/floridaagenda

How do you feel about Valentine’s Day? Do you see it as a day to celebrate love or just another way for corporations to make money off of consumers?

February 11, 2016

34 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

36 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

38 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com

Around Town - Super Bowl 50

February 11, 2016

BALLZ RUMORS

MATTY’S

/floridaagenda

PHOTOS BY: ADRIANNA CORTEZ

THIRSTY FOR MORE? OF COURSE YOU ARE. CHECK OUT ALL OF THE PHOTOS YOU CAN HANDLE AT FLORIDAAGENDA.COM!

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

Market Place /floridaagenda

CONTACT NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR, MAURA “MUMBALL” LANE AT 954-543-5947 OR MAURA@WIRLD.COM TO GET ON THE LIST.

ACCOUNTING

Sterling Tax & Accounting 2435 N Dixie Hwy Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-667-9829 / sterlingandhart.com

ATTORNEYS Dean Trantalis Attorney 2255 Wilton Drive Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-566-2226 / trantalislaw.com

BARBERSHOP

DENTAL

FURNITURE

HEALTH

Magnolia Dental 12014 E. Colonial Drive, Ste 130 Orlando, FL 32826 407-205-9585/ MagnoliaDentalFL.com

EVENTS Source Events 605 Lincoln Road, #410 Miami Beach, FL 33139 305-672-9779 / sourceevents.com

INCOME TAX

FINANCIAL

Best Books and Taxes 2201 Wilton Drive Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-565-1041 / bestbooksandtaxes.com

HEALTH

INSURANCE We Insure 1975 E Sunrise Blvd, Suite 602 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304 954-903-7519 / weinsurefl.com

CHURCH / SPIRITUAL

Marvel Quevedo Insurance Agency 5062 South Conway Road Orlando, FL 32812 407-737-7778

Las Olas Financial Group 3000 NE 30th Place, Suite 206 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306 844-779-7936 / lasolasfinancialgroup.com

FITNESS Center for Spiritual Living 1550 NE 26th Street Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-566-2868 / cslftl.com

Pump’n Inc Tom Bonanti 1271 NE 9th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 954-557-1119 / pumpnincgym.com

FOOD / GROCERY

Etz Chaim 1501 NE 26th Street Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-564-9232 / etzchaimflorida.org

Diana’s 12001 Avalon Lake Drive Orlando, FL 32828 407-207-0205 /dianasbakeryandcafe.com

February 11, 2016

Holy Angels Catholic Community 2917 NE 6th Avenue Wilton Manors, FL 33334 954-633-2987 / holyangelsfl.org

Better Hearing-World of Sounds 2450 E Commercial Blvd Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 954-491-2560 betterhearingworldofsounds.com Genesis Health Institute 1001 NE 26th Street Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-561-3175 / ghinstitute.com Ocean Therapy Center 2530 NE 15th Avenue Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-351-2299 oceantherapycenter.com

/floridaagenda

Market Place /floridaagenda

ORGANIZATIONS

REAL ESTATE

The Pride Center 2040 N Dixie Hwy Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-463-9005 / pridecenterflorida.com

floridaagenda.com

LANDSCAPING

Out of the Closet 2097 Wilton Drive Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-358-5580 / outofthecloset.org

PAWNBROKERS

UPHOLSTERY MASSAGE SPA 11 Lic#MA75718 2000 E Oakland Park Blvd, Suite 103 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306 954-945-5133 / spa11massage.com

MUSIC

Sunrise Pawnbrokers 3043 N Federal Hwy Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306 954-563-3147 / SunrisePawn.com

PHOTOGRAPHY Dennis Dean Images 3554 NE 12th Avenue Oakland Park, FL 33334 954-240-8307 / dennisdean.com

REAL ESTATE

Joe Grano Realtor 1881 NE 26th Street, Suite 212 Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-931-0031 / joegrano.com

Island City Eyecare 2301 Wilton Drive, Suite C1 Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-764-6906 / visionsource-ice.com

February 11, 2016

OPTICAL

Galleria International Realty 945 Las Olas Boulvard Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 954-234-8759 / galleriarealtors.com

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda /floridaagenda

44 February 11, 2016

ADVERTORIAL Does Back Pain have you Frustrated….. Are You Worried You Will Have to Take Pain Pills For The Rest of Your Life?…….. If this is you or someone you love, keep reading to learn about an amazing free report helping back pain sufferers!

Wilton Manors, FL Are you one of the 100 million Americans who are suffering from chronic back pain? Is your back pain stopping you from doing the things you enjoy? Are you using pain pills regularly just to get through the day? Are you afraid this may eventually lead to surgery? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we can help. We have put together a free report filled with tips to help you avoid the most common mistakes made by back pain sufferers. Back pain is not something you have to learn to live with. There are solutions, and we can help you find them. Claim your copy of “Erasing Back Pain: How to Avoid the 9 Most

Painful Mistakes and What You Should Be Doing Instead” today to take charge of your pain and get back to doing the things you love! In this report you’ll find  The 3 things you can do to avoid back surgery that will cost you nothing.  How to save yourself time and money by making the right choices for your back pain today.  How to avoid the biggest mistake made by back pain sufferers. Call (954)-351-2299 now for your FREE report or request it online at www.oceantherapycenter.com/ back.php

/floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

BOOK NOW

/floridaagenda

ALL-GAY ALL-INCLUSIVE ALL OVER THE WORLD

AND SAVE $200* *Save $100 per person on any new booking.

RATES STARTING AT $2,599!

UPCOMING CRUISES Burgundy & Provence River Cruise (July 1-9, 2016) Prague & Danube River Cruise (August 19-28, 2016) Royal Clipper Sailing Adventure (September 3-10, 2016)

2186 Wilton Drive | Wilton Manors, FL | rich@bookfreedomtravel.com

PROMO CODE: FT1602

February 11, 2016 45

FREEDOM TRAVEL at 954.565.2345

Why am I so angry?

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

YOUR LIFE: AN OWNER’S MANUAL

/floridaagenda

nger is one of the five basic emotions we feel. Have you ever wondered why, at times, you feel such strong anger? anger? There are certain payoffs we experience during, or right after, we express anger that unhealthily reinforce its usage. There are five payoffs By we experience when James we utilize anger in a Miller reactive way. REDUCE STRESS. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed in a situation that we feel we can’t tolerate one more thing. This is where the term “blowing off steam” is relevant. We explode because we just can’t take it anymore.

February 11, 2016

GET ATTENTION. When we feel as if we aren’t being heard or our feelings aren’t being validated, we will often ratchet up the emotional expression and lash out so people will listen to us.

One of the main elements that set us apart from other living creatures is the complexity of our emotions. All emotions are essentially neutral in nature, but we decide if it’s considered a “good or bad” emotion. Experiencing an emotion is a human privilege, but our expression of that emotion is our responsibility.

PUNISHMENT AND REVENGE. If we feel people have hurt us, we will respond in a way that hurts them back. This is often expressed through hurtful, cutting words meant to inflict pain on the other person. CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS. This is a form of manipulation. We may not realize it as such, but when we know our personality is dominant, we will use our anger to intimidate others to get what we want. HIDE EMOTIONAL PAIN. I like to teach people that anger is often like a castle wall. The higher the

wall, the more it protects our vulnerable feelings, e.g. rejection, hurt, etc. When anger is disproportionate to the situation, it’s usually because it’s compounded with vulnerable emotions we don’t feel comfortable expressing. Think of anger as an action. Anger changes the environment around you. When you experience other emotions, they are often expressed more passively. For example, rejection, hurt, or other more vulnerable feelings cause us to turn inward and shut down. Anger is the active expression we use to change our environment and to trick ourselves into not feeling other emotions. Anger is a powerful emotion that is just as valid and important as other feelings. However, when it becomes your “go-to” emotion, it often overshadows other relevant feelings. Once you understand which payoff the anger is reinforcing, it gives you the ability to choose other relevant emotions and not use anger as a negative defense mechanism. In reflection, it’s good to figure out what was happening inside of you just before you unhealthily expressed anger. You can file away that information for later so when you are in that predicament again, you won’t express anger in the same unhealthy way. Once you are aware of how these payoffs may express themselves the more successful you will be demonstrating the full spectrum of your emotions. In order to live a healthy, proactive life you must not allow anger payoffs to influence you to be reactive. All feelings are valid but when one emotion is used in an unhealthy way, it can hinder your personal growth and development. The loudest voice is always heard. It’s the same with anger. It’s always the loudest emotion and that’s all that you or others will hear.

James Miller is a licensed psychotherapist who is known for his weekly iTunes podcasts, YouTube channel, and his Academy where he teaches virtual classes for successful people to simplify and transform their lives. For consultation or for more information visit: www.JamesMillerLifeology.com.

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

floridaagenda.com /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

PUZZLE Piercing Remark

February 11, 2016

Across

1 Boys Don’t Cry character 5 Langston Hughes’ “Life Is ___” 9 Poet Angelou and architect Lin 14 Cabbage, to Cocteau 15 Sooner city 16 Former NFL player Tuaolo 17 Porn star Long ___ Silver 18 Go down (on) 19 How to walk when you’re tickled pink 20 Start of a comment to Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond 23 Opponent of Tinkerbell 24 Joanna of Growing Pains 25 It shoots off in a high arc 28 Served perfectly, to Mauresmo 30 Alaska native 31 Precollege ed 32 Satisfy fully 36 End of the comment 39 Cathedral of Hope area 40 Actor Richard 41 Stop with 42 Stuff stuffed under G-strings 43 Chicago’s Peter 44 Like a dancer’s diet 47 Arenas’ house 48 Character who made the comment 53 Make heady 54 Laszlo of skincare products 55 Songwriter Holly 57 Computer lang. 58 Put out 59 Frequent award for Modern Family 60 Oceans 61 Go lickety-spl 62 Amount of AZT, e.g. For the solution to this puzzle go to: floridaagenda.com/puzzle

Down

1 PC display 2 “Hey, sailor!” 3 Denial for Nanette 4 Saint who said “Give me chastity...but not quite yet” 5 Guy that cuts down trees? 6 Like someone blown away 7 Chihuahua child 8 Swirl around three men in a tub 9 Brown’s Murder, She ___ 10 Moore costar 11 Long 12 Ram as far up as you can get? 13 Poet Teasdale 21 Place for a G-string 22 Yarn buy 25 Mineral that glistens 26 One way to come 27 Scores for Burke 28 Islam’s deity 29 Stroke it 31 They get laid only once 32 Brown at South Beach, e.g. 33 Gal Friday, e.g. 34 Peter the Great, e.g. 35 Jazz singer James 37 “Faboo!” 38 They go down south for the winter 42 Rides for a crëche threesome 43 Tru story subject 44 French textile city 45 O-o-o-o-o-klahoma native 46 Size of Mapplethorpe’s opening 47 Skeptical sort 48 Anthropologist Margaret 49 Not once, to Lord Byron 50 Humorist Bombeck 51 DeGeneres’ Finding ___ 52 Tasty tubers 56 Seed spilled by some farmers

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

T he Week

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

entertainment calendar

/floridaagenda

events

nightlife 

theatre

exhibits

TONY DANZA

FRIDAY 2/12 @ 6:30PM The Colony Hotel Before Tony Danza became the “Boss,” the Brooklyn native had a stint as a professional boxer. When a talent scout found him, he earned hit starring roles on TV staples Taxi and Who’s The Boss? during the early 1980s. After the success of Who’s the Boss? he struggled to ﬁnd consistent TV work, dabbling in talk shows and reality shows before ﬁnding a niche in the theatrical world. He has performed in shows like The Iceman Cometh and The Producers. Tonight’s performance will highlight his musical chops. 6:30 p.m. The Colony Hotel. 155 Hammon Ave. Palm Beach. 33480.



d 50

SATURDAY 2/13 @ 8:00PM Parker Playhouse Lea DeLaria, better known to Orange Is the New Black fans as Big Boo, seems to have achieved overnight success after her SAG Award winning part on the hit Netflix show. The truth is that the first openly gay comic on television has had a long list of credits on numerous shows and films, often in bit parts overstressing her sexuality. She played such stereotypical roles as a police officer, a PE teacher, and the lesbian who inappropriately hits on straight women. Tonight’s performance shows off the multifaceted entertainer’s jazz vocalist skills and will also feature an intimate conversation conducted by host Varla Jean Merman. 8:00 p.m. Parker Playhouse. 707 NE 8th St. Fort Lauderdale. 33304.

PAULY SHORE

THURSDAY 2/11 @ 8:00PM Palm Beach Improv The king of MTV’s Spring Break program during its 1990s heyday, Pauly Shore returns to Florida to tell jokes at The Comedy Zone. Shore’s career was catapulted by his surfer vernacular, “weasel”-esque behavior, and classic catchphrase “Hey, BU-DDY.” His 1990 show Totally Pauly ran for six years, establishing his marketability with the youth of the time. A ﬁlm career followed, including leading roles in such silly gems as Jury Duty and Bio-Dome. Although a recent self-titled TV show didn’t live up to expectations, Shore is back to his ﬁrst love—stand-up. 8:00 p.m. Palm Beach Improv. 550 S. Rosemary Ave. West Palm Beach. 33401.

LEA DELARIA



February 11, 2016

By Patrick Robert



MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

FRIDAY 2/12 @ 8:00PM Duncan Theatre Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most popular musical theatre composers of the past century. His many musicals have created iconic singles known not only by theatre lovers but also by the general public. Tonight, a cast of vocalists and musicians will perform some of his biggest hits. Expect to hear such memorable songs as “Memory,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” and “Phantom of the Opera.” Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall soloist countertenor Terry Barber stars in the production. 8:00 p.m. Duncan Theatre. 4200 Congress Ave. Lake Worth. 33461.



MIAMI CITY BALLET: YEAR OF THE RABBIT

SATURDAY 2/13 @ 8:00PM Adrienne Arsht Center Miami City Ballet’s newest production includes three different works. Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit explores the cyclical nature of life through intricately architected dance movements. Paul Taylor’s well-received Sunset introspectively depicts the complexities of love, camaraderie, and separation experienced by six soldiers and the loves they left behind. The ﬁnal dance, Bourree Fantasque, is set to Emmanuel Chabrier’s music and includes elaborate, chic-Karinska-inspired costumes. 8:00 p.m. Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami. 33132.

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016

T he Week

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

entertainment calendar

/floridaagenda

events



nightlife

52 February 11, 2016

exhibits

By Patrick Robert

BEN VEREEN

SUNDAY 2/14 @ 7:00PM Aventura Arts Center Spend Valentine’s Day listening to a voice that has captured the hearts of millions of theatregoers throughout the last half a century. Ben Vereen’s legendary career peaked in the 1970s when he was one of the top Broadway actors, having appeared in a string of major musicals. His breakthrough success started when he played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, a role that earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. The following year he received the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Pippin. The accolades allowed him to transition to roles in both television and ﬁlm, a successful venture that earned him consistent Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. 7:00 p.m. Aventura Arts and Cultural Center. 3385 NE 188th St. Aventura. 33180.



theatre

FLORIDA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

MONDAY 2/15 @ 10:00AM Quiet Waters Park The best Renaissance Festival in the entire country takes place annually in little Deerfield Beach. Five centuries of fun all converge at Quiet Waters Park as royalty, knights, and minstrels vie for commoners’ attention. The festival recreates a sixteenth century village as chivalrous men compete for the love of fair maidens. There is continuous entertainment on twelve stages. Join in on such fun as sword fights, magic shows, street performing, and more than 120 artisan booths. 10:00 a.m. Quiet Waters Park. 401 S. Powerline Rd. Deerfield Beach. 33442.



BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND

TUESDAY 2/16 @ 7:30PM BB&T Center The New Jersey native has been an American rock God ever since he proclaimed how proud he was to be “Born in the USA.” Even a young Courtney Cox couldn’t keep herself from dancing recklessly with him on stage. His poetically written songs deﬁned a generation. From “Thunderroad” to “The Streets of Philadelphia,” Springsteen’s hit singles showcase his unique and unmatched songwriting skills. His music has maintained cultural relevancy for almost three decades—a feat in and of itself. The legendary singer arrives to the BB&T Center and will sing his 1980 disc The River in its entirety. 7:30 p.m. BB&T Center. 2555 NW 136th Ave. Sunrise. 33323.

 AS YOU LIKE IT

WEDNESDAY 2/17 @ 8:00PM Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Shakespeare’s famous pastoral comedy is most noteworthy for providing the memorable “All the world’s a stage” monologue in which the seven ages of a man’s life are described. The plot follows Rosalind, a persecuted young woman, who ﬂees her abusive uncle’s court with her cousin Celia. They embark on a journey in the Forest of Arden where the encounter eccentric characters and new love connections. 8:00 p.m. Jerry Herman Ring Theatre. 1312 Miller Dr. Coral Gables. 33146.

/floridaagenda /floridaagenda floridaagenda.com

OU ETS Y E M IS! MAN OUR R LIKE TH Y N E WH HE DOO AT T

L O O DR

WWW.LEATHERWERKS.COM Copyright © 2016 The Werks Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Werks, LeatherWerks, PaddleWerks, Lifestyle Club, BootWerks and “Where Leather is a Lifestyle” are Registered Trademarks of The Werks Company, LLC

February 11, 2016

WE HAVE MANY GIFTS FOR THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE!

February 11, 2016

54 /floridaagenda

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

/floridaagenda

floridaagenda.com

February 11, 2016