2 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
THIS WEEK // 5.30.18-6.5.18 // VOL. 32 ISSUE 9 COVER STORY
POISON
[10]
PLACE
Two decades ago, SOLITE CORP. abandoned contaminated land in Green Cove Springs. Now they want to sell it to a residential developer—who will clean up their hazardous mess later. story by SUSAN CLARK ARMSTRONG photos by DEVON SARIAN
FEATURED ARTICLES FEATURED
ANTHEM APOTHEOSIS
BY A.G. GANCARSKI Why Shad Khan’s protest days are behind him
[5]
PIFF N PIFFLES ARE [18] COMEDY (DRAGON’S) GOLD BY DANNY KELLY Talented Chihuahua Mr. Piffles brings his stage act and pet dragon Piff to town
MAYOR’S CREDIBILITY DOUBTED
[39]
BY DR. JUAN P. GRAY Curry’s moves aren’t in sync with Jacksonville’s best interests
COLUMNS + CALENDARS MAIL/B&B FIGHTIN’ WORDS OUR PICKS NEWS AAND NOTES NEWS BITES ARTS FILM
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THE MAIL BOXED OUT
RE.: “Read All About It—If You Can Find It,” by Mary Maguire, May 15 THEY SAY THAT THIS IS AN AESTHETICS ISSUE? IF they are so concerned with aesthetics and the safety of Downtown [Fernandina], maybe they could actually do something about the non-functioning eyesore of a marina and dilapidated docks that have been in an unusable state for what—two years now? They really need to rethink their priorities. And of course the “local” newspaper was OK with this change because the new acceptable box color is green and the local paper boxes are green.
Rita Duke via Facebook
PUBLIC GOOD?
RE.: “Sell Off,” by Georgio Valentino, May 16 FOLIO WEEKLY AND GEORGIO VALENTINO, I THANK you for the informative discussion even though the sale of wonderful and treasured artwork saddens and depresses me. How can our city leadership equate money with the prestige and pride Iva bestowed on Jacksonville? I equate Iva to what I feel in my heart and her sale to monetary obsession. The public declaration of intended disbursement of her proceeds can not and will not reflect favorably upon Jax. A public discussion was avoided and the opinion of its inhabitants was not sought as the process moved forward to sell a world-class painting and prized possession. $2.7 mill is a disgrace. The donor, Prudential Insurance, did not make this gift to the people of Jax to have it snatched from their innocent hands.
Bill Basford via email
CAN YOU READ THIS? THANK A TEACHER
RE.: “Where’s the Outrage,” by Chris Guerreri, May 2 I COME FROM A PLACE WHERE SPORTS ARE provided by community associations until high school, though you can still play them in ninth grade. Actually, the county parks and recreation offers sports programs until high school. That way, instead of a few select players, many children experience the opportunity to have the benefits of playing on a team. In theory, a school’s mission is to educate, and provide instruction in academic areas to provide a
literate society. That should always be the primary focus. I am a supporter of high school sports for number of reasons I won’t get into. Volunteers are great, but what schools really need are supportive parents: Make sure homework gets done, kids are up to date on school requirements and expectations, help their student find ways to improve possible behavioral issues. Public schools work. I know many, many people who have graduated from public schools. But teachers and the school as a whole need respect and support from the community. (That includes funding; classes of 45 and above are ridiculous.)
Penny Dennis via Facebook
MIRACLE MOMENT
RE.: “Sell Off,” by Georgio Valentino, May 16 I WANTED TO TAKE A MINUTE TO REACH YOUR readers with some additional information on the sale of Iva. Firstly, now that the painting has sold, there is a dream-come-true feeling. My comments didn’t dive deep enough into the absolute miracle this innovative deal is for our agency’s work. I regret I didn’t better celebrate the vision and forward thinking of this policy in my brief discussion with Mr. Valentino. I also regret that I didn’t hammer home that our current city leadership has helped us immensely, providing assistance in myriad departments including, but not limited to, public works, parks, general counsel, risk, parking, economic development, DIA, legislative services, the list goes on. I was already grateful just for the collaborative and collegial day-to-day relationship we have with Mayor Curry and city government. We’ve got dozens of new and conserved art coming and coming back because of the work we do with the city. Now that the miracle has happened, our entire community’s permanent collection (114 pieces at time of writing) has capacity for conservation and maintenance, likely forever. I can’t walk in City Hall or MOCA without giving hugs and high-fives. I hope your readers will do the same.
Tony Allegretti Executive Director, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
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BRICKBATS + BOUQUETS BRICKBATS TO “FOODIE” JOHN JAY SMITH Smith, 60, thinks McDonald’s burgers are for Americans only. Brandishing a knife in a St. Augustine parking lot as two men he believed to be of Middle Eastern descent tried to eat their hamburgers in peace, he allegedly said “get the f*** out of here, you don’t deserve American food.” He then pulled out his “zapper” (stun gun), and tried to use it. According to First Coast News, Smith “faces two third-degree felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one first-degree felony charge of burglary with assault or battery and a third-degree felony charge of trespassing.” BOUQUETS TO SMART, STRONG UNF STUDENT-ATHLETES The students helped “raise the banner of success” increasing their collective, cumulative GPA from 3.324 to 3.415 this spring. This marks the 14th consecutive semester the athletic department boasts a GPA of 3.0 or higher. BRICKBATS TO RIVERSIDE SPINE & PAIN PHYSICIANS The clinic billed the U.S. government for “medically unnecessary urine drug tests.” The tests used were not individually necessary as they did not account for each patient’s history and risk. Further, the tests are “very specific, very expensive and necessary only if an individualized patient assessment supports further testing,” stated the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The clinic is now paying $1.2 million to resolve these federal False Claims Act allegations. DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DESERVES A BOUQUET? HOW ABOUT A BRICKBAT? Send submissions to mail@folioweekly.com; 50 word maximum, concerning a person, place, or topic of local interest.
CORRECTION: The May 23 story, “A Natural Fit,” incorrectly identified Beth Reebs’ mother—
her mother’s name is Amy. 4 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
FOLIO VOICES : FIGHTIN’ W WORDS ORDS ORDS Why Shad Khan’s PROTEST DAYS are behind him
ANTHEM APOTHEOSIS THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE HAS FIGURED OUT its policy on the national anthem. Namely, it’s in favor of it. By God, no one will encroach on the sacred space of the anthem. And by no one, of course I mean the players—those doomed warriors, just one play from being in Ryan Shazier territory, who risk their lives colliding into each other while folks mainline liquor in the stands. The policy, laid out by Commissioner Roger Goodell last week, is simple enough. “Stand and show respect” for the anthem, which is to say, no kneeling or other performative gestures. Definitely don’t do something untoward, like making airplane noises during the Blue Angels flyover. Not only would that be a cryptic mode of social critique, odds are good that a swift Baker Acting would leave the game day roster one body short. If one cannot commit to standing for the anthem, well, there’s a solution. Stay in the locker room and come out after that last note fades. NFL clubs, meanwhile, have committed to “advance social justice,” as far as an aggressively branded social monolith is committed, by any means necessary, to reducing everything from Salute to Service on down to perspectivefree, corporate-sponsored, lowest-commondenominator bilge can be. On a day when an NBA club had to issue a statement about one of its players being tased and beaten down by cops as endemic of an ongoing social brutality, the NFL reached this great compromise. And Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan? Khan, who’s been outspoken on issues ranging from the HRO to the JEA, and supported his team last year as they navigated the London protest and its aftermath, decided to play the historical moment soft. My favorite sentence? The brilliant nonsequitur: “We all want the same thing, respect for our nation and our flag.” Khan goes on to mention a “pledge to advancing social justice that will be absolute and stand the test of time”—the very thing I think about when I think about Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones and the rest of the gang. It is nigh on impossible to reconcile the paradoxical emptiness of Khan’s statement. It’s as if he finally realized that, whatever nuance he may feel exists in a situation, it’s useless to say it in Duval. Because any critique of systemic inequities, other than absolute blandishments and meek distillations of reforms made elsewhere years or decades ago, just zips over people’s heads.
A fun game for media types is to read the comments on the stories. Oh, how we gnash our teeth in despair when we see which readers are engaged enough to type their responses. Sometimes they’re pedantic. Sometimes ill-informed. Sometimes libelous. (The sweet spot, of course, is the hat trick: the morphine drip that allows us to sleep, sometimes, into the night, before the fever dreams of staff cuts and penury [or PR work] wake us.) But enough about fever dreams of the unconscious mind. When we read the comment threads, we know who’s reading us. It’s not the readers we imagine finding our work when we first start out; it’s a different group altogether. They have their biases. They have their needs from culture. They want to be reassured, amid a world of moral chaos, economic timelapse collapse and spiritual decay, that their beliefs can at least be affirmed through the commodification in which they engage and, ultimately, subsume their spirits. In that context, Khan’s ambivalence makes sense. Give the people what they want. They can’t name a tenth of the nations where American troops kill and sometimes die. But that’s not patriotism. Patriotism is the collective experience of sentimental escapism that unanimous participation in the anthem ritual offers. The same mouthbreathers who went to the stadium to protest kneeling, you can be certain, would do it again this year had the Jaguars not put some wins together. This is, as we know, a frontrunner town. But Khan’s statement wasn’t about the past; it’s about the future. We know city money will go into development around the Sports Complex. Once the District incentives are locked in for Mr. Rummell, and elections are over, there will be more flexibility. Our policymakers, even the smart ones, still publicly say the pension problem has been “solved,” even as the debt is out there and growing, ahead of the half-cent tax kicking in. The rhetorical case to make the Complex look something like artist’s renditions will be made. There’ll be no disagreement. So Khan has finished discussing the anthem and the flag. Business is about to pick up, and taxpayers will be footing at least half the bill. So no need, none at all, to be controversial. A.G. Gancarski mail@folioweekly.com @aggancarski MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 5
HOW THE WORLD ENDS TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
FRI
1
A selection of excerpts from Wagner’s masterpiece Götterdämmerung, the final tale in the series Der Ring des Nibelungen, based on ancient Germanic gods, their all-toohuman shortcomings and notions of Ragnarok. The piece features soprano Christine Brewer, tenor Jay Hunter Morris and bassbaritone Paul Whelan, of the Metropolitan Opera. 8 p.m. Friday & Saturday, June 1 & 2, T-U Center, jaxsymphony.org, $19-$72.
OUR PICKS SUBLIME AND SPIRITUAL
REASONS TO LEAVE THE HOUSE THIS WEEK TUE
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SAM PACETTI
Music writer Nick McGregor once said that in order to fully appreciate the finger-style guitar playing of the multitalented Pacetti, one “has to see it to believe it.” The musician, who’s traveled far and wide to master MON his craft, plays regular gigs around the First Coast, but surely one of our favorite venues to watch his wizardry is Prohibition Kitchen, St. Augustine. He next plays there 6 p.m. Monday, June 4, pkstaug.com.
4
TO THE TOP
ZZ TOP & JOHN FOGARTY
For some of us, the opening chords of ZZ Top’s “La Grange” inspire a spurof-the-moment road trip to NYC in an ancient Jeep Wagoneer, augmented by lots of, ahem, smokable medicines. You, dear reader, probably don’t care about late ’90s escapades of a Folio Weekly staffer, yet you might care to know the storied band is bringing their particular brand of dirty Texas blues rock to NEFla (with John Fogarty in tow, coach), 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 5 at St. Augustine Amphitheatre, staugamphitheatre.com, $74-$154. (In case you wondered, the trip was epic).
FAMILY MEAL
A SEAT AT THE TABLE James
F. Webb III’s original work, part of PBTS’s New Voices Program, looks at family secrets and their keepers and how both can change radically over time. It opens 8 p.m. Friday, June 1 and runs through June 10, at Players by the Sea, 106 Sixth St. N., Jax Beach, playersbythesea. org, $20-$23.
FRI
1
WAVES IN SUNSHINE
PAINTING IN PARADISE: THE ART OF THE HIGHWAYMEN
FRI
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Gary Monroe discusses the legacy of the selftaught African-American painters of Florida landscapes, who have helped define art in the Sunshine State for more than 50 years. Monroe’s specialty is self-taught and vernacular art. 5-6 p.m. Friday, June 1, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, St. Augustine, flagler.edu/crispellert. pictured: a piece by Mary Ann Carroll, who was noted for her vibrant color.
6 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
JOEL BAGNAL GOLDSMITH Custom gold and silver designs 11B AVILES ST. • 904-614-4706
GEORGIA GE EORGI OR RGI GIA A NI NICK NICKS CKS CK S GA GALL GALLERY LLER LL ERY Fine art, stained glass, books and leatherworks 11A AVILES ST. • 904-342-2186
MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 7
NEWS AAND NOTES: DEATH, SEX & POLITRIX EDITION
TOP HEADLINES FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF ALTERNATIVE NEWSMEDIA
GUNS OR DEATH >
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has jumped on the political brinksmanship bandwagon by putting a teensy condition on a bill, creating a 72-hour waiting period on assault weapon purchases: Bring back the death penalty abolished in 2011. After the bill passed the state house and senate, the Chicago Reader reports that Rauner, a Republican, added an amendatory veto to revive the death penalty in Illinois and, “oddly enough,” to increase state aid to “mental health services in public schools.” CR’s Ben Joravsky points out that, if the death penalty were to be revived, mental health services could very well decrease the numbers of such cases, but notes that when Chicago’s mayor closed mental health clinics in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods in 2011, he didn’t see any Republicans protesting—nor any Democrats. Per Joravsky’s analysis, Rauner is essentially trying to appease the far-right wing of the party, with which he is persona non grata, while putting Democrats in a bad spot. “Vote with the governor’s veto and the Dems violate their anti-death penalty principles,” Joravsky writes. “Vote against it, and they expose themselves to weak-on-crime mailings, financed by Rauner, that they’re probably going to get anyway.” Tough call.
< A TEEN’S LAST CALL
Last month, a shocked nation learned the news of a 16-year-old Cincinnati teen who asphyxiated in a van after calling 911 and telling dispatchers that he was going to die. Since then, the city has tried to understand the tragedy that resulted when the Honda Odyssey’s third-row seat flipped over, pinning Kyle Plush and killing him. Cincinnati CityBeat reports the police department recently presented a 49-page report about the incident that “leaves as many questions as it answers.” Plush’s family has created a list of 31 questions they believe the report doesn’t answer. For instance, it remains unclear, according to CCB, why officers did not get out of their vehicle to search; why they didn’t have the precise GPS coordinates of Kyle’s cell phone, which may have been available to dispatch; and why some key information—including that he said he was going to die—was not relayed to officers. Following the presentation of the report, the vice mayor and all nine city councilors signed a motion seeking an outside investigation.
< INNOCENCE EXPIRES
Lest you think the #MeToo movement is fizzling, in Charlotte, North Carolina, the arts community has been “rocked” by allegations of sexual impropriety by high-profile men, according to Creative Loafing Charlotte. One woman, Linda Simthong, told CLC that well-known local photographer Jim McGuire, 58, for whom she then worked, had repeatedly been sexually inappropriate, despite her telling him numerous times that he was crossing the line when he hit on her, and spoke about her body and those of other women. McGuire told the outlet that the conversations weren’t as she characterized them, and that, as a fashion photographer, he talks “a lot about women’s bodies in general. She might’ve been offended by something.” Simthong also said that McGuire photographed her without her consent, in his studio, then texted her the picture with the caption “sexy.” McGuire sees nothing wrong with this. “She was laying on my couch, in my lobby, under my employment,” he said. “She knew all about the secret cameras—I don’t want to say ‘secret’ cameras—she knew all about the security cameras.” McGuire also admitted to filming another woman in the shower at his studio without that woman’s knowledge—and watching. But CDC reports that he said he’d been testing a camera for a shower scene and she just happened to go take a shower. And, besides, they didn’t see anything. That’s not good enough, according to Simthong. “Incidents like these have been a concern for me all my life. I’m in my 30s now and I’m gonna speak out. Time’s up.”
< ENOUGH STATUS QUO
If you thought it wasn’t easy being liberal in this [red]neck of the woods, take comfort in the idea of voting blue in crimson Texas. The K2-sized climb to victory isn’t stopping Democrat Vanessa Adia from challenging Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger for her seat. Fort Worth Weekly reports that the middle-school science teacher and happily married mother of two is giving her all to toppling Granger. Adia keeps knocking on doors and meeting with potential constituents, winning them over one by one—all without taking PAC money or compromising her principles. She’s pro-Planned Parenthood, pro-gun control, pro-Medicare for all, supports equal rights for ALL, et cetera, et cetera. In short, she’s not just blue, she’s royal blue. Sure, she might lose. But that doesn’t mean she’ll give up. “Then I’ll run again in two years,” she told FWW. 8 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
NEWS BITESTOP HEADLINES FROM NE FLORIDA & SE GEORGIA NEWSMEDIA
TRIBUNE & GEORGIAN Jill Helton reported May 24 on the indictment of two federal government employees who were charged with pilfering a cache of high-grade weaponry from the Marine base at Kings Bay. The armaments, buried about two feet down, were found after Camden County K-9 officer Denny dug in following an anonymous tip. The two suspects had spent the early part of the year building up a frightening arsenal, prior to their arrest in February. The first indictment fingers them for stealing C-2 and C-4 explosives. “The second indictment,” writes Helton, “details more recent activity … in which the two allegedly accepted stolen ammunition, gas masks, body armor, smoke grenades, rifle magazines, gun parts, rifle scopes and rifle accessories.” Though it’s unclear what they were gathering all this stuff for, given what’s transpired in recent months, it boggles the mind, and we should all be grateful to CCSO for averting what may have been a tragedy in the making.
CLAY TODAY Shenanigans involving the State Housing Initiative Partnership Program were reported on May 2 by Clay Today’s Wesley LeBlanc: “[State Housing Initiative Partnership Program is] a state initiative that uses Florida tax dollars to repair homes [...] the program provides funds to local governments as an incentive to create partnerships that produce and preserve affordable homeownership and multifamily housing with the goal of helping low to moderate income families in need. The program also helps the elderly and the disabled, or those not capable of making necessary repairs to their home themselves.” Allegedly, some contractors are using government largesse as an excuse to pad their billing with unnecessary work. One former client said she needed only a new roof and some tree-trimming, but upon receiving her $25,000 grant, SHIP inspectors gave her a laundry list of ancillary repairs that just had to be done, whether she liked it or not. Adding to that, the contractor who ultimately did the work claims he’s still owed about $7,000 from SHIP, for a job completed two years ago. The resulting lawsuit(s) will likely uncover similar tales.
THE BEACHES LEADER Politics is always a sketchy and contentious affair, and all the more so in the era of Trump. But one upside to all the controversy is that the 2018 midterm season has seen a veritable plethora of new, fresh candidates for office on the local, state and national level, coast to coast. The most recent addition to the ranks is Dr. Georgette Dumont, who recently declared her intent to pursue a spot on the Jacksonville Beach City Council, Seat 5, District 2. A Beaches Leader staff writer offered a primer on her provenance: “Dumont currently serves on the Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission and is a former member of Jacksonville’s Public Service Grants Council and Jacksonville’s Task Force on Consolidated Government, and a former board member for Jacksonville Beach Deck the Chairs and Beaches Watch. Dumont has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Roger Williams University, a master’s degree in public administration from Bridgewater State University and a Ph.D. in political science from Northern Illinois University. She is currently an associate professor at the University of North Florida where she predominately teaches graduate courses in public and nonprofit management.” Dumont combines the detail-oriented nature of a doctor with the laid-back style of a longtime Beach lady; she’s been a regular presence at council meetings for years, and knows the mechanics of the council as well as anyone today. Her husband George is also a professor at UNF, which has produced a number of interesting candidates for this cycle, led by the former ambassador and current congressional aspirant Nancy Soderberg. Shelton Hull mail@folioweekly.com MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 9
POISON
PLACE Two decades ago, SOLITE CORP. abandoned contaminated land in Green Cove Springs. Now they want to sell it to a residential developer—who will clean up their HAZARDOUS MESS later.
I
t was late July 1995 when neighbors of the Solite Corporation plant in the Russell Community of Green Cove Springs noticed an eerie quiet had descended upon the usually clamorous facility. Gone were the deep earthshakes and the rattling guttural sounds that echoed throughout the little community each time the big kiln’s furnaces were fired and re-fired. Gone were the dark puffy plumes from the smokestacks that darkened the skies, even on the brightest of days. The sound of grinding gears and the thump-thud of heavy equipment had been steady at the plant several days before, especially late at night. Dump trucks, their loads covered, had been seen going in and out of Solite from nightfall to still-dark morning. The stillness, while welcome, was puzzling. So a group of residents, accompanied by a reporter, decided to investigate. On an early
weekday morning, the assembly gathered at the padlocked gates and peered inside. Usually by 8 a.m., the plant’s few employees were bustling around and vehicles were parked randomly around the yard. Not that day. One daring man in the group eventually scaled the high gate and entered the facility. Within minutes, he was back, shaking his head. “They’re gone,” he said. “They’re all gone.” But the Solite plant had left a memento for the folks of Russell: enough toxic wastes to terrify even the most stalwart of individuals. Coincidentally, just when Solite vanished, there appeared to be an above-average number of people sick, dying or dead in the Russell Community. Weeks later, Solite circulated a press release, saying it had closed the plant due to the large cost of operating expenses, and its sister corporation, Oldover, would remain on the property to import, store and
story by SUSAN CLARK ARMSTRONG 10 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
transport hazardous waste to other facilities. The Oldover Corporation was simply a storage building on the property. No other activity had been seen on the property since the release. Now, 23 years later, Solite is back, but sporting a kinder, gentler name: Stoneridge Farms. The company wants to sell its 900 acres, some of which are still highly contaminated, to a residential developer. At a May 1, 2018 Clay County Planning Commission Meeting in Green Cove Springs, Stoneridge Farms showed up with an orchestrated alliance; each person in that group was careful not to utter the word Solite. The group was petitioning to raise the density on its property, so it could sell it as-is to developer Michael Danhour. Danhour wants to develop the land and sell it to builders to construct a large residential development, and possibly set aside land for a school. Unfortunately for the Farms folks, Russell
Community members, new and longtime residents, also showed up en masse to put a damper on Stoneridge/Solite’s plans. The Solite saga is an ugly and tumultuous episode in Clay County’s history, one most members of the Planning Commission and many residents have never heard about or have forgotten. The small, rural Russell Community seemed a storybook place, offering a pleasant, quiet, simpler way of life. Small and large dairy, cattle and vegetable farms were mainstays in the area. Waterfront acreage was affordable on Black Creek and its tributaries. Residents shared their land for hunting, their waterfront banks for fishing, crabbing and picnicking; neighbors lent a hand when needed. It was a good life—until it wasn’t. The Solite plant moved into the very rural area in the ’50s. Its workers dug clay from the abundant fields of its 900 acres, baking it at high temperatures, turning the substance
photos by DEVON SARIAN
into small concrete-looking pebbles. Water and chemicals were sprayed on the materials to cool them and condense gases from the burning process. This “scrubber water” was discharged into a “scrubber pond” by “overland flow.” The scrubber pond then discharged into a 21-acre overflow pond, which contained “stormwater, scrubber water and sediment soils.” The resultant product was used in building material. Until the early ’70s, Solite used nonhazardous waste fuel to fire the kiln. But with the lure of abundant and cheap hazardous materials, many companies, including Solite, would begin to import and burn some of the most dangerous wastes in the country. Then Solite erected the storage building for the property wastes, and formed a new company for it called Oldover. With forethought, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had created a safeguard to protect humans and the environment from irresponsible users of toxic wastes. The Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA), then and now, required any entity that used, transported or stored hazardous waste to sign a contract to provide safety and environmental assurances before they began using or transporting such. RCRA requires 1) closure plans; 2) post-closures plans; 3) any modification to the plans; 4) public notice for changes to the plan; and 5) a copy of the property deed showing the property was used for hazardous wastes. However, the most important requirement in RCRA is this: Any company that desires to use hazardous waste must provide assurances of up-front monies to pay for closure or make regular deposits into a cleanup fund. These assurances were created, in part, so taxpayers would not be left paying for the cleanup. Emails from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection stated Solite did have the closure plan and financial assurances in place before it was allowed to use the toxic material. Solite/Oldover began bringing in large amounts of wastes by truck and train. The EPA and FDEP also requires any company that transports, stores or burns hazardous wastes to obtain a permit guaranteeing that the equipment, and procedures for using the wastes, protects human life and the environment. The permit strengthened the EPA’s oversight on corporations that dealt with hazardous wastes. At the time, federal regulators did give temporary waivers to facilities that had previously been burning non-hazardous wastes under a Boiler & Industrial Furnace rule (BIF). This allowed those companies to stay in business and to commence burning hazardous waste while in the process of acquiring a permit. Solite, a BIF facility, applied for, and was granted, just such a waiver. According to EPA and FDEP documents, there were instances when Solite, which appeared to be in the permitting process, was fined for not meeting the standards for using hazardous wastes. The company negotiated a reduction of the fines and paid them. Solite never obtained a permit. It simply stayed in the permitting process for the duration of its existence in Green Cove Springs—almost 25 years, until it furtively stole away in the middle of a summer night. One environmental legal expert said it may have been much cheaper for Solite to pay the fines than to update the expensive equipment and adhere to the strict regulations imposed by federal agencies for burning toxic fuels. The smokestacks of the Solite plant were a common sight in Russell, and since the plant had been there since the ’50s, folks
accepted their presence. Residents said there was never any notice that the plant had begun transporting and burning hazardous materials. Current and former residents have said that, for many years, they noticed the smell from the stacks grew more acrid and the smoke became darker. Former dairy farmers said their cows’ milk sometimes tasted “funny.” In the early ’90s, and later, the southern portion of Clay County was known for its “Good Ol’ Boy” politics. But there were few places where their political power was more noticeable than the Clay County Board of Commissioners. Commission seats were sometimes bequeathed from father to son. Though Solite employed relatively few residents, its local attorney was one of the most powerful men in the county and a GOB in good standing. By association, Solite’s upper management personnel became
members-in-good-standing of the political GOBs. Ironically, Solite held a yearly Earth Day picnic at the plant, complete with free food, T-shirts and political back-slapping amid a thin layer of ash covering everything that hadn’t been hosed off. Picnickers had to pass by a green-glowing pond to get to games and festivities; the pond was later shown to contain a host of hazardous wastes that could destroy humans, animals and the environment: PCBs, benzenes, dioxin, arsenic, lead, and more. In 1993, 33-year-old lawyers Stewart and Priscilla Harris moved to the community, along with their two preschool-age sons, to care for Priscilla’s mom, who had kidney cancer. (Her father had already died from cancer.) Priscilla had grown up in Russell but she’d left the area after graduating from high
school. After her mother died, the Harrises decided to stay. They had learned to love the quiet community and its unpretentious, bighearted residents, and agreed it was a great place to raise their sons. It wasn’t long after the Harrises decided to settle down there that they realized the Russell Community had been experiencing, for several years, a large number of illnesses and deaths, disproportionate to the population of such a small community. Colon and other types of cancers were common, as were miscarriages, birth defects, allergies, headaches and an assortment of other ailments. Led by the Harrises, neighbor Kelly Grey, who had battled cancer herself, a local physician and his wife, and about 200 more
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Solite never obtained a permit for handling hazardous wastes. It simply stayed in the permitting process for the duration of its existence in Green Cove Springs— almost 25 years, until the whole company stole away in the middle of a summer night.
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citizens from the small community and those who supported them formed Florida Family for Clean Air (FFCA). They began to search for answers and solutions to their health problems. Priscilla Harris began an extensive, dogged pursuit of environmental documents pertaining to the area. Priscilla, Stewart and members of the group waded through myriad boxes of information she had gathered from all types of governing agencies, including the EPA and FDEP. Finally, in early 1995, the FFCA members felt they had the answer. They’d discovered documents which proved Solite had been burning hazardous wastes that were trucked and railed in from what appeared to be all over the Eastern Seaboard since the early ’70s. A 1990 Consent Order from the EPA and FDEP also showed Solite had contaminated parts of the land, released dangerous emissions into the air, and had toxic spills flowing into waterways. In a bizarre twist, Priscilla Harris also discovered an ordinance that clearly prohibited the disposal and dumping of hazardous waste in Clay County. “Disposal” covered the burning of the wastes as fuel. Many of the members of the FFCA were shocked by this discovery, and they began lobbying County Commissioners to do an environmental health study and enforce the ordinance prohibiting burning hazardous wastes. They feared for the lives of their families, future children and grandchildren, and their very way of life. They soon realized they would have little support from their commission. All commissioners, except Commissioner Charles “Buddy” Griffin, supported Solite and went on the attack against FFCA. While Griffin wanted to authorize a study, the other commissioners chastised them at public
meetings for even suggesting that Solite may be putting their community at risk. After a Florida Times-Union column detailed the group’s fight and its efforts to start a health study, Commissioner Pat McGovern sent a letter to his neighborhood of Foxridge, one of the largest communities in Clay County at the time, regarding the issue. He said reports in the T-U about the hazardous waste contamination in Russell were false. “I find them very difficult to deal with,” McGovern was quoted in an Oct. 8, 1995, T-U article. “It seems like nothing pleases them. They get so emotional about things that there can be no dialogue.” Three of the commissioners said if there were hazardous constituents at Solite, the EPA would know about it. They were right. In fact, the EPA and the FDEP knew all about it. A 42-page EPA document from 1990, which took three years to compile, said numerous “hazardous constituents … have been detected in the sediments at the facility. These hazardous constituents pose a threat to human health and the environment.” The document also noted that “environmentally significant releases of hazardous wastes and/ or hazardous constituents have occurred from the facility.” Additionally, the report stated hazardous compounds had been released into Mill Log Creek and Black Creek since 1983. The narrative also indicated the EPA had been working with the company to bring it into compliance and licensing. Commissioner Larry Lancaster had upclose-and-personal knowledge about Solite. He lived directly across the street from the plant, with his young wife and three little children. He said his wife had been diagnosed with cancer; after being tested, studies showed her illness was environmental. After Lancaster’s wife died, he and their children immediately moved. At the time, Lancaster, who has since died, kept silent and remained steadfastly in line with the other commissioners and Solite. The issue became hotly debated and then escalated into an all-out war, with Griffin and the FFCA on one side and the rest of the commission and Solite, with its barrage of
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representatives and attorneys, on the other. There were community meetings, commission meetings, private meetings, local café brainstorm sessions and public and private shamings of the FFCA. Solite’s representatives and legal counsels consistently presented themselves as “good neighbors.” However, on several occasions, plant representatives were caught with their proverbial pants down. Several residents testified that they had seen muddy materials being trucked out of Solite and dumped at the county landfill. Tom Poe, Solite’s public relations director, initially denied this, then later recanted and said Solite had trucked 26,000 tons of clay to the landfill from August to November 1994 to be used as a liner for garbage. A representative from the county’s solid waste division said the landfill had received “materials” from Solite but had accepted only 8,050 tons because most of it was “soupy and wet.” The representative said there was no test for hazardous constituents. A T-U reporter wrote that Solite/Oldover had received hazardous wastes from a New Jersey Superfund Site. Solite’s plant manager said it was a “one-time thing that occurred somewhere in the early to mid-’80s and was a very small amount.” A New Jersey DEP representative produced information that Solite/Oldover had accepted at least two shipments from 1988 to 1990, one totaling 19 tons, the other 45 tons. Solite’s senior plant manager, John Kuike, said the plants used the most “up-to-date” equipment. Yet federal documents showed numerous hazardous releases into the sediment, water and air at the plant. Griffin faced an uphill battle. When it came to Solite, the four other commissioners saw no wrongdoing, and refused to accept any information to the contrary. They totally ignored the ordinance prohibiting burning hazardous wastes. Some continued to ridicule
and downplay residents’ worries and refused to authorize a health study or offer any help to the community. Property records show that members of then-Commissioner Dale Wilson’s family were beneficiaries of Solite. They had originally owned much of the property and had sold it to Solite. Meanwhile, Priscilla Harris continued her research and correspondence with the EPA and FDEP. A T-U reporter also visited the plant. Ash was spread everywhere throughout the facility; workers, mostly young, wore no protective gear, as had been mandated by OSHA. After a reporter notified that agency, OSHA promised to make an unscheduled visit to Solite. Constant communication from the Harrises and other Russell residents prompted EPA and FDEP to suggest they would make unscheduled visits to the facility. Very shortly thereafter, Solite disappeared. The EPA and the FDEP finally conducted a meeting on Oct. 25, 1995. They acknowledged the hazardous contamination. They verified that ponds contained hazardous wastes and had overflowed into Mill and Black creeks. They verified their 1990 feasibility study to be correct, which revealed sediment samples from a scrubber pond and overflow pond “indicated that hazardous constituents, such as lead, PCB-1260, seven organic compounds including naphthalene and ethyldimethylbenzene, and five purgeable organic compounds including ethyl benzene, ethylmethylbenzene, were present.” Despite their “organic” designations, these are very lethal chemical compounds. The federal regulators assured citizens more testing would be done to determine the extent of the damage. Residents were troubled, because many of their wells were downstream from the areas containing hazardous materials, and many of the people had been breathing the smokestack emissions for more than 20 years. Some were also quite concerned with what they called the “fox and the henhouse” scenario: The EPA had charged Solite with conducting the tests and cleaning up its own mess. Their concern was warranted. The FFCA got one last shot at Solite/ Oldover. Although Solite was gone, Oldover, at least on paper, still occupied the property. Priscilla Harris found a little-known 1983 Florida law which imposed a 3 percent tax
A 1990 EPA document indicated numerous “hazardous constituents … have been detected in the sediments at the facility. These hazardous constituents pose a threat to human health and the environment.” The document also noted that “environmentally significant releases of hazardous wastes and/ or hazardous constituents have occurred from the facility.”
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Solite held a yearly Earth Day picnic at the plant, complete with free food, T-shirts like this one and political back-slapping, amid a thin layer of ash covering everything that hadn’t been hosed off. Picnickers had to pass by a greenglowing pond to get to festivities.
on income from the storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes. Solite/Oldover was forced to write a check to the county for $47,000. According to correspondence between federal regulators and Stoneridge Farms/ Solite, the EPA and FDEP has been doing the slow dance with Solite since the ’80s. The feds seemed to have picked out the music, but Solite was definitely leading the waltz. The October 1995 meeting with the feds and the community looked like it would be the impetus to increase the tempo of the cleanup, provide some answers and protect folks in Russell from future harm. Though residents asked again, still no health studies were ever authorized. Solite was, however, ordered to test different parts of the 900-acre property and do samplings of the more contaminated sites, including one scrubber pond and a 350-foot-long ditch between it and one of the kilns. The company was ordered to dig up barrels known to be buried across the property and test for hazardous wastes around the barrel burial sites. Solite was ordered to provide remedial plans for cleanup, maps of contamination sites and to schedule meetings to address contamination. Reams of information were required. Solite hired Golder Associates in St. Augustine to bring it into compliance with some requirements of FDEP and EPA, which began directives in 1996. Some steps took years to complete—some have yet to happen. To comply with some requirements, Solite used samplings taken years before. In its November 2010 progress report, Golder reported the discovery of “concentrations above residential exposures of some
extremely toxic chemicals in different areas of the property.”
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hroughout the years, rumors of the sale and development of the property have come and gone. Several developers interested in the rural, riverfront property have done an aboutface after finding out about the hazardous wastes there and lack of cleanup. Nearly a quarter-century after Solite sneaked off in the night, time, and death, may be on the side of development. Kelly Grey, an integral part of the FFCA, died during her second battle with cancer several years ago. Other residents have remained sick, gotten well, moved away or stayed put. The Harrises moved to Virginia. The doctor and his wife kept their property just off Black Creek, but now live in the Jacksonville Beach area. At the announcement that Solite has, at long last, found a buyer for the property, a new group of residents, along with some of the former FFCA members, banded together to get the area cleaned up and to prevent unsuspecting, innocent people from moving onto the property. A sign about the action had been placed in the community about a week before the Planning Commission Meeting. At the May 1 Planning & Zoning meeting, Stonebridge Farms, aka Solite, requested a change in the property’s zoning. Clay County’s Planning & Zoning Department recommended the change; one representative said the department would rather see large developments in rural areas than “urban
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At the announcement that Solite has, at long last, found a buyer for the property, a new group of residents, along with some former FFCA members, banded together to get the area cleaned up and to keep unsuspecting people from moving onto the property.
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sprawl.” This statement drew groans from Russell residents. Stoneridge was represented by acting agent Susan Fraser, who was a planner and then director of the Clay County Planning & Zoning Department for 10 years. Her reputation was that she drew on her vast knowledge of the county’s zoning issues. She was also known to be developer-friendly. She parlayed that knowledge and insider familiarity with county procedures to start SLF Consulting, a one-person consulting company in Jacksonville. Over the years, Fraser has become the go-to gal for anything involving development in Clay County. Including Stoneridge/Solite, three items to consider rezoning were on the May 1 agenda. Fraser represented all three, two of which had passed by the time Stoneridge Farm came up for consideration. In her presentation, Fraser painted an idyllic picture of Stoneridge Farms. She referred to the hazardous waste contamination as Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs), generally pronouncing them “SMOOS.” Yes, she inferred, Stoneridge Farms had taken a few missteps. Now, she said, Stoneridge had a buyer who would give the county $2 million to clean up the SMOOS, which would be a win-win for all involved. The land was divided into A, B and C. Sections A and C, she said, were considered “absolutely clean” by the DEP. The developer would build on the land without the SMOOS, then would use the $2 million to continue
to clean portions of the contaminated land before it was developed. As the area was cleaned, she said, the developer would build on it. All the commission had to do was lower the density from Rural Residential to Rural Fringe, which would change the zoning from one home per acre to three homes per acre. There was a lot Susan Fraser did not mention in her presentation. She failed to mention that the $2 million cleanup estimate had been made possibly as far back 1990 or 1996; nor did she bring up the fact that the estimate was not in 2018 dollars and that even this estimate may be a small start to a massive cleanup. She also never mentioned that her clients had signed contracts and been required by the federal government to clean up their mess and had failed to do so. She did not address the fate of about 70 acres identified as Tract D. Fraser then introduced the gray-haired, rotund, grandfatherly Albert Galliano as the “owner” of Stoneridge Farms. Galliano, once the affable face of Solite, is now the even-more jovial face of Stoneridge Farms. However, he is not the owner of Stoneridge. Stoneridge is an inactive company in one of the pockets of Northeast Solite, in Virginia. Galliano gave an aw-shucks presentation that maintained the “good neighbor” rhetoric. He said Stoneridge Farms was a responsible company, in business for 70 years. Galliano claimed that the kilns at Stoneridge Farms had burned 99.999 percent of the hazardous wastes away. Stoneridge, he said, had probably parked some worn-out heavy equipment on its 900 acres and some gasoline may have still been in some of those pieces; that gas had probably seeped into the ground. He suggested this was not a big deal and could be easily cleaned up. In his brief remarks, developer Michael Dunhour guaranteed a positive outcome for the development. Though Dunhour wants zoning changes so builders can construct three houses per acre, he told commissioners,
“I don’t want to put houses where there is a problem.” Things were looking quite good for Fraser, the Farms and Dunhour … until the planning commissioners closed the presentation portion of the meeting. Immediately, Commissioner Belinda Johnson said she did not favor any development in that area until all the land was clean. Commissioner Ralph Puckhaber did mention that the $2 million cleanup estimate was not up-to-date, and he thought it would cost a lot more to decontaminate the property. “That money is going to run out,” Puckhaber told Fraser. “I trust the DEP’s ability to estimate this kind of work … ” Fraser responded. A chorus of snickers came from both the commission and the audience. Then things got worse for Fraser’s cadre. Russell residents were out in force; they came, one after another, to air grievances to the board. Some were concerned that a large number of developments have been allowed to be built all around their area, with only one entrance, creating hour-long traffic jams. Residents said trains often stop for long periods of time, making it impossible to get emergency services into Russell at times. One resident, Tricia Foss, said she once had to hand her young son through the cars of a stopped train to paramedics to save his life. Some folks were concerned about wildlife, some protected and endangered species that have few places left to live because the county has allowed destruction of their natural habitats. Luann O’Neal invited the commissioners to their land. “We have seen deer swimming in Black Creek, trying to find new homes,” she said. “They’re in ditches because they have no place to go. This area is their last hope.” O’Neal enumerated a plethora of animal and birds that live in the wild areas around their homes. However, most residents were concerned about their neighbors and the unsuspecting
families who would buy homes there in the future. When Russell resident Michelle Gillis approached the podium, she directly addressed Albert Galliano about the contamination. “If it’s minor, why are you on the Superfund site?” she asked. “If you are such a strong company and it has been in business 70-plus years …. They obviously have the money, then why haven’t they cleaned up this, if it’s just a $2 million cleanup? If that’s all it [costs], that’s pocket change to them.” “No one really knows what needs to be cleaned up,” said resident Bob Attal when it was his turn to speak. “How many drums did they bury? We don’t know! The open pond has had breaches already and contaminated other property—we don’t know how much! Will it happen again? We don’t know. There are too many unknowns in this project to go forward at this time.” Attal said he’d heard estimates for a real cleanup ranging from $15 to $20 million. “Are the Clay County taxpayers going to get stuck with the cleanup or will we have several hundred homes sitting on contaminated soil? The current owner, Stoneridge Farms, should pay up to complete the remediation of the site before any development is considered.” Matthew Hansknecht had another take. He said Solite had created the contamination and was supposed to clean it up, however, now it wants to sell the property and have others clean it up. “My thought process is, ‘I don’t give a bonus or prize to my kids for bad behavior. I don’t give my dog a treat for bad behavior.’ I would like you to reconsider giving a bonus to somebody who polluted the land in the first place.” Gary Clark also challenged Galliano. “If Solite burned 99.9 percent of the material … then how come we have arsenic and lead? Somebody’s lying,” Clark said. “I want the property cleaned up. I back up to that property. I have 12 acres. I have animals. I don’t want to see my grandchildren, my family, get sick.” Dr. Kristen Burke, one of the community organizers, said archival reports depicted different results for hazardous constituents on the property. She said a neighbor, who was unable to attend, had hunted on the Solite property with his father, who had worked there. While hunting, long before the plant’s closure, the neighbor told Dr. Burke he’d seen barrels being buried all over the property. When he returned, after being gone for several years, there were pine trees planted over a large barrel burial site. She produced a map where the man had drawn a diagram of the area indicating where the barrels were buried. Dr. Burke had lots of questions for the commission. “There was documented overflow into Black Creek at the plant— why would there not still be overflow? The scrubber pond is 100 feet deep. We have heard there is equipment buried there. Who’s going to find that out?” Burke challenged. “People in our neighborhood have been sick. No one ever addressed it. No one ever helped these people, ever! They were made fun of back then. So, who’s going to take the liability if my kids get sick? These chemicals go into your DNA and affect future generations. This cannot be allowed! You have to make sure you protect us!” The commission’s comments were not much better for Stoneridge Farms. Commissioner Joe Anzalone said he moved to Clay County “from a community that had a problem with a major manufacturer who contaminated five miles. And I saw some
children get very sick … I personally don’t think you should be developing anything around a contaminated site.” Commissioner Robert Machala agreed. He suggested the county take a step back and find out the actual cleanup cost. “I have heard an exhaustive history of what went on at Solite. I didn’t hear the same kind of history as for it getting cleaned up, because nobody wanted to develop it at the time. Nobody cared about the people. When the operation shut down, everybody knew it was contaminated. Why was it not taken care of then? Make the people who contaminated it clean it up.”
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eeing the writing on the commission wall, Susan Fraser requested a break to discuss the issue with her clients. Afterward, she asked for a continuance for the next Planning Commission meeting to be held on June 5. In the meantime, Fraser said, she and her clients would schedule a community meeting to allay citizens’ fears. When Folio Weekly asked, planning commissioners said they had no idea or information that Solite had been required by RCRA to provide funds to clean up the site. The FDEP seems to be waltzing around some issues as well. FDEP representative Bryan Baker originally said he thought the developer was buying the entire 900 acres but wasn’t sure how much of the acreage Stoneridge planned to purchase. Baker originally wrote in an email to Michele and her husband Randy Gillis that the “eastern” portion of the property was “clean.” However, when the Gillises started making inquiries, he retracted this statement. Baker said he should have said “we have no indication that it’s contaminated.” Reassurances from the FDEP are becoming less and less reassuring. In fact, Bryan Baker admitted in an email to Randy Gillis that his “historical knowledge of the site is lacking; until recently it wasn’t a project I was involved with and as you’ve noticed, not a lot has happened for several years.” Meanwhile, there’s speculation that Solite’s parent company, Northeast Solite, dumped the Solite name, divested all company holdings and transferred the Solite name to Stoneridge Farms to avoid cleanup costs. On its website, Northeast Solite portrays itself as a company that is “a world leader in the process, innovation, construction application, and design of lightweight concrete for use in bridges, building, road and geotech application for over 70 years.” Lots of questions are still up in the air. Will the “world leader” lead a cleanup or leave the residents of Russell Community to live in the mess it created? Will Michael Dunhour take the risk to purchase land that abuts contaminated land—which could cost him a fortune to clean up if Clay County holds him responsible—or will he develop part of the land and pass it off to builders? Will, and can, the Planning Commission force Northeast Solite to abide by the terms of the RCRA contract or will commissioners allow Dunhour to buy some of the land and hope he gets stuck with the cleaning bill? Can Fraser pull a rabbit from her extensive bag of tricks so her clients will be spared from paying their tab? And, finally, will the land at the Solite plant in Green Cove Springs be cleaned up at last, or will the issue be swept under the filthy rug for another 23 years? Stay tuned.
Susan Clark Armstrong mail@folioweekly.com MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 17
FOLIO A + E
FILM Actress Marion Davies MUSIC VINYL Record Pressing ART Artist Tracie Thornton LIVE + LOCAL MUSIC CALENDAR
PIFF N PIFFLES ARE
COMEDY (DRAGON’S)
GOLD
to imagine that John van der Put is in the same line of work. He might be able to make landmarks disappear, too, except he’d do so with a deadpan delivery, à la Bill Murray, and in a dragon costume, accompanied by a Chihuahua. Van der Put is better known as Piff the Magic Dragon, and the Chihuahua is–obviously–the inimitable Mr. Piffles. Both comedic forces of nature appear at the Comedy Zone on June 1 and 2, showcasing their blend of humor and hocus pocus, delivered by a dragon who doesn’t seem too stoked to be there–but actually is. Piff has earned acclaim from multiple magic associations (with which I am not familiar), toured arenas opening for Mumford & Sons and bagged his own German supermodel–hey, Heidi Klum. You may have seen him on America’s Got Talent (where he was way, way better than everyone else and should’ve won), or at his residency at Las Vegas’ infamous Flamingo. Recently, Piff put down his deck of cards and discussed where the costume idea came from, magic cooking and Mr. Piffles’ origin story.
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hen I was a kid, David Copperfield tried to make the Statue of Liberty disappear. Or maybe he didn’t try, maybe he actually did, I don’t know. And that is magic, folks. It’s sleight of hand or, sometimes, sleight of giant hunk of anthropomorphic metal. Magicians who were prestidigitating when I was young seemed rather moody and approached their craft like it was quite serious business. I guess all that smoky, smoldering magic worked, because Copperfield pulled a nifty trick, getting engaged to Claudia Schiffer. It’s hard 18 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
Folio Weekly: Where did you get the idea to dress like an annoyed or upset dragon? Piff the Magic Dragon: I was a magician for about 10 years and the grumpiness has come naturally. It’s quite difficult, when you’re doing magic at weddings or corporate parties, to be grumpy and stay employed. One day, I was going to a costume party and I didn’t have a costume. My sister had a dragon costume under her bed, so I borrowed it and went to the party. When I got there, nobody was in costume. Just me. So I was very grumpy, drinking red wine in the corner. My friend said, “You should incorporate this into your act.” I tried it and it was a big hit, and it was a way for me to make my natural grumpiness socially acceptable. And how did Mr. Piffles [a dog] become your partner? About a year and a half later, I did my first Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was an hour-
long show. I thought it might be fun to add another element to it, and the woman who was running the venue had a Chihuahua, so we put the dog in the act. It was so much fun, the next day I went out and got Mr. Piffles. So Mr. Piffles is a Scottish Chihuahua? He is, yeah, he’s from Dundee originally. Do you have a better show combining comedy and magic? Is that where you’re most comfortable? I find it’s the only way I can do it. When I was doing magic seriously, it wasn’t really working for me. So, this is really the only way I know how to do it. I [said] most of these things in everyday life. It’s much better to get paid for it. What inspires specific tricks or acts? How often are you reinventing things or new bits? Every time we come back to somewhere we’ve been before–this will be our third time in Jacksonville–we come back with a brand-new show. Usually it’s, like, 80 percent new magic tricks, and maybe some fan favorites we’ve added a little twist to. I spend a lot of time coming up with new material. A lot of it is thinking about what a funny idea would be, or going back through old magic books to see if there’s something we can reinvent for today. I like that there are actually “old magic books.” What magicians influenced you? Penn & Teller, without a doubt. Since I’ve moved to Vegas, I’ve actually developed a friendship with those guys, and they’ve been a huge help to me. Really, anyone who’s irreverent with magic and doesn’t take it too seriously, but is still quite good at it. That’s my favorite thing; that display of skill but also the awareness that it’s a ridiculous thing to spend your life doing. You moved from London to Las Vegas. They’re quite different. Have you acclimated to the differences? What’s it like being a British Dragon in the desert? I love it out here. I spent 33 years in London. By the end, I couldn’t deal with the weather anymore. I love being in Vegas where it’s sunny most of the year. Last year, I bought a house out here. I have a show at the Flamingo four or five times a week. I also like being in America so much more. It’s such an optimistic culture.
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Talented Chihuahua MR. PIFFLES brings his stage act and pet dragon PIFF to town
Really? Yeah, without a doubt. Over here, it’s, like, “Yeah, we can probably do that.” In the UK, it would be, “Why would you even try?” I read you’re a magic consultant to The Fat Duck. What’s the job description for that position at a Michelin 3-Star restaurant? They’ll do dishes like “hot & cold tea,” a clear tea that’s hot on one side and cold on the other side, with no divisible [discernible] divide. So, they were already doing magic tricks with the food. I went in and we worked on three or four projects together; like, we’d take a flower and throw it in a frying pan and it would turn into an egg. They’d crack it and scramble it into bacon-and-egg ice cream. It was a great project to work on. Ever thought of taking the costume off or is being Piff your happy place? At the moment it’s one of those things, it’s a bit of a gift horse so it’d be crazy to change it now. But, yeah, I’ve thought about changing things up. A couple of years ago, I did an hourlong standup show as myself in Edinburgh. It was great; I just showed up about three minutes before I went on. What’s the future of magic? What’s happening there that excites you? For me, I love the live work so much. The fact that I’m able to do so many shows a year is amazing, and I think that has so much to do with people like Penn & Teller or David Blaine, people who are still generating excitement with live magic. I saw David Blaine levitate once. I can’t figure out how he does that. Yeah, that’s the general idea of all magic. Then he’s doing it right, I guess.
Danny Kelly mail@folioweekly.com
PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
7:30 & 9:45 p.m. June 1 & 2, The Comedy Zone, comedyzone.com, $25, $50 & $119.50
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FOLIO A+E : MAGIC LANTERNS Marion Davies, MORE THAN a lovely face
FUNNY > BEAUTY I
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n the early 1950s, Tennessee Williams, who had a love/hate affair with the movies, said “Marion Davies makes up for the rest of Hollywood.” By that time, the actress, who died in 1961 at age 64, hadn’t made a film since 1937. She’d been a very successful star in silent films and made the transition to talkies, not without difficulty but still more successfully than her contemporaries. When Williams knew her, she was still known as William Randolph Hearst’s exmistress. Hearst was the model for Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. In Hollywood, she was a has-been. To many Americans, she was a fallen woman. To Williams and those who knew her well, she was a kind, witty friend, a savvy businesswoman and a generous philanthropist, especially to children’s charities. Since Citizen Kane, Marion Davies has been almost indelibly identified with the film’s fictional Susan Alexander, an untalented singer Kane tries to turn into a star. She leaves him, and becomes a drunk. In real life, as Welles asserted, Davies had little in common to Susan—except they were both objects of a very rich man’s obsession. According to Welles, “We had somebody very different in the place of Marion Davies. And it seemed to me to be something of a dirty trick, and does still strike me as being something of a dirty trick, what we did to her.” It has taken decades for the real Davies to emerge from the cloud of Kane and the shadow of her liaison with Hearst, and many of her films have begun to appear on video, so film historians and new viewers alike can reevaluate and appreciate a truly unique person. A good starting point for the uninitiated is the 2001 documentary Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies, co-produced by Hugh Hefner and Turner Classic Movies. Narrated by Charlize Theron, the hour-long doc details how Davies first came to Hearst’s attention as a Ziegfeld girl, and his elaborate, costly efforts to make her a major star of the Silent Era. With scenes of her storied film career, Captured on Film also deals in depth with her complicated relationship with the married media tycoon, 34 years older than she. Davies was devoted to Hearst, by his side until he died at 88 in 1951. Though the details of her life, scandalous and otherwise, are fascinating, Davies is best served today by her films, more and more of which are becoming available, showcasing her real charm and talent. When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), just dropped in a restored Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, is a great example of the extravagant stardom Hearst envisioned for his young paramour. The kind of historical period piece
so admired by Hearst, Knighthood had a total budget of $1,500,000, an absolutely staggering sum for the time. Hearst demanded authenticity, as evidenced by the film’s meticulously correct costumes, armor and massive sets. Supported by an heavy publicity push by Hearst’s publishing empire, the movie, based on a popular novel, was a major hit. By today’s standards, though, much of the acting is hamfisted, the plot rather silly. Davies plays Mary Tudor, feisty younger sister of Henry VIII, who marries her off to ancient King Louis XII of France. Mary loves a young captain of the guards. Fear not—and no spoiler here—it does have the requisite happy ending. Hearst produced the film to showcase Davies’ beauty and talent, but she knew her real strengths were in comedy. She was a gifted mimic and, despite a stammer, was able to use that when the talkies came, an innovation she both feared and loathed. Her best film—a real comic gem of the Silent Era, among the first movies about Hollywood—is also out on home video, though not yet in HD. In Show People (1928), Davies plays Peggy Popper, a Georgia belle who goes to Hollywoodland with the usual hopes and dreams. Landing a job with a comic troupe (modeled on Mack Sennett’s shenanigans), Peggy then forsakes comedy and love for high drama and publicity before she finally comes to her senses. With cameos by the likes of heartthrob John Gilbert, Charlie Chaplin, William S. Hart, Douglas Fairbanks and even Marion Davies herself (at whom Peggy thumbs her nose), Show People is a delightful comic romp from beginning to end. If only her life could have imitated her art, Marion Davies might have had a similar silver-screen ending of her own. She deserved better than she got.
Pat McLeod mail@folioweekly.com
NOW SHOWING CORAZON CINEMA & CAFÉ Lean on Pete and Keep the Change screen. Throwback Thursday is 2003’s Johnny English, noon May 31. Chappaquiddick and Borg McEnroe starts June 1. Summer Sundays screens Goosebumps, 6 p.m. June 3, $2; Princess Bride runs June 10. 36 Granada St., St. Augustine, 697-5736, corazoncinemaandcafe.com. IMAX THEATER Solo: A Star Wars Story and Pandas 3D screen. A rep from Forest Animal Rescue is on hand for a meet-andgreet, 9-11:45 a.m. June 2; check website. St. Augustine, 940-4133, worldgolfimax.com. SUN-RAY CINEMA Solo: A Star Wars Story and Deadpool 2 screen. Summer Kids Series runs Coco, June 6 & 7. Best Friends with Greg Sestero Live, 7 p.m. June 7, $10. Hereditary starts June 8. Check website. 1028 Park St., 359-0049, sunraycinema.com.
ARTS + EVENTS ARTS + EVENTS
Salamat Datang-Welcome to Malaysia, new works by DENNIS HO, display through August at Cathedral Arts Project, Downtown, capkids.org. (Image courtesy of Ho and CAP.)
PERFORMANCE A SEAT AT THE TABLE This play is about family secrets and their keepers; it opens 8 p.m. June 1; and runs through June 10 at Players by the Sea, 106 Sixth St. N., Jax Beach, playersbythesea.org, $20-$23. The original work by James F. Webb III is part of the playhouse’s New Voices Program. COME BACK TO THE FIVE & DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN What does it mean to be a “disciple of James Dean”? Find the answer 7:30 p.m. June 1 at Limelight Theatre, 11 Old Mission Ave., St. Augustine, limelight-theatre.org, $20-$26. Runs 7:30 p.m. Thur.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. through June 24. ANTISOCIAL When “social” media goes awry, this is the result! Written by Don Zolidis, the play is mounted 5 and 7:30 p.m. June 2 at Amelia Musical Playhouse, 1955 Island Walkway, Fernandina Beach, 277-3455, ameliamusicalplayhouse.com. ACADEMY OF DANCE The spring show is held 2:30 p.m. June 3 at Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts, 283 College Dr., Orange Park, academyofdancejax.com. DAVID BLAINE The wizard pushes his limits in an attempt to give a unique (as in singular) performance, 8 p.m. June 5 at The Florida Theatre, 128 W. Forsyth St., Downtown, floridatheatre.com, $36-$126. GUYS AND DOLLS The quirky Broadway musical that’s stood the test of time opens 7:30 p.m. June 7 and runs through
June 25 at Amelia Musical Playhouse, Fernandina, $15-$20, ameliamusicalplayhouse.com. A FOX ON THE FAIRWAY A nod to English farces, the comedy is reminiscent of Groucho and company; i.e., hilarious chaos. It runs 7:50 p.m. Wed.-Sun., 1:15 p.m. Sat. & Sun., through June 10 at Alhambra Theatre & Dining, 12000 Beach Blvd., Southside, $38-$54, alhambrajax.com.
CLASSICAL + JAZZ TWILIGHT OF THE GODS A selection of excerpts from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, played without pause, features singers of the Metropolitan Opera, 8 p.m. June 1 & 2 at Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, 300 Water St., Downtown, jaxsymphony.org, $19-$72. JAZZ NIGHT The music starts 6 p.m. May 30 at Prohibition Kitchen, 119 St. George St., St. Augustine, 209-5704, pkstaug.com. JAZZ NIGHT Leelynn & Danielle appear, along with Cookin In Da Kitchen, 6 p.m. June 6 at Prohibition Kitchen, 119 St. George St., St. Augustine, 209-5704 pkstaug.com.
COMEDY GODFREY He’s all over TV; Godfrey appears 8 p.m. May 31 & June 1; 7:30 p.m. June 2 at The Comedy Club of Jacksonville, 11000 Beach Blvd., Southside, 646-4277, $22-$150, jacksonvillecomedy.com. MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 21
FOLIO A+E : MUSIC
DROP
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apitalism is a strange thing, and market forces often work in defiance of anyone’s pretenses of “expertise.” The music industry is a case in point; a cursory glance at the charts on any given day will reveal very little that would have made sense the year before. And it’s not just the music itself, but the forms in which the music can be had. Jonathan Grant Berlin knows this better than most, having first emerged from Duval’s indie scene to go national as the leader of Sunbears!, and then striking up a side hustle as the proprietor of VINYL Record Pressing, based on Mayport Road in Atlantic Beach but rooted in what all the “experts” would’ve written off as a bygone time. Until recently, that is. The spectacular growth in vinyl record sales might be the single most counterintuitive development in a global economy built largely around the idea that archival media was on its way out. And, for a while, it really seemed to be, until vinyl began to percolate a decade ago. In 2007, domestic vinyl sales were $55 million, with a million units moved; in 2016, more than 13 million units were sold, generating some $435 million. (David Bowie’s last album was the biggest seller that year; Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band took the lead in 2017.) Like much of the music being pressed today, the medium of vinyl itself serves a niche market comprising an intensely passionate customer base, the kinds of folks who spend hours flipping through the bins, then pay extra for something special. It’s an object lesson for print media, which still struggles to replicate that dynamic. In fact, if you factor in CD sales as well, archival media moved more units than digital downloads and streaming services last year—great news for the wave of independent music stores that have opened around the nation in recent years, following a long decline. We went to Berlin to get the latest scoop on the local hot wax industry and find out where he’s taking it.
Folio Weekly: What made you want to get into the record-pressing business? Jonathan Grant Berlin: This all just started out of my own love for music and vinyl records. My parents are musicians and always had records around. At some point when I was a kid, I was handed down my greatgrandpa’s record player and all of his LPs. 22 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
THE NEEDLE
Some of the first records I owned were Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and Louis [Prima] and Keely’s [Smith] first self-titled collab record. Of course as I grew up, being a musician, I always dreamed of putting my own music on vinyl. So when SUNBEARS! was about to record our album, You Will Live Forever in 2011, I took to the internet to find out what it would take to press it on vinyl. I found out quickly that it was an expensive process and I tried to figure out how to do it myself. It was during that time that I started researching record lathes and found a system that would eventually become my first record lathe; I coowned it with Walter Hill at Twin Hill Studio in 2014 (Walter is now my business partner at VINYL Record Pressing). In the meantime, the super-kind folks at Jacksonville label Syncopation Records (Cash Carter, Brenton Crozier and Ian Latchmansingh) offered to finance and press our first pressing of 500 units of You Will Live Forever with United Records in Nashville. The process took what felt like an extremely long time, but once I finally had that first listen of my own music on vinyl, I was hooked. You see, I like to make 3things myself, get hands-on: most of the SUNBEARS! merch has been made by [only] me or with the help of my close friends. I always want to be a part of the process and records were going to be no different for me. Why did you choose the Mayport area to establish your business? Well, there’s only a few places in Jacksonville that you can have an “industrial” business; Mayport is one of them. Walter’s family owns an industrial business out here and let us build our factory on their property. It all just worked out. It’s perfect! Also, the food [along] Mayport Road is ace! What’s it like to press a record? How many steps are involved? The actual pressing is not too involved, but it’s everything leading up to the pressing that’s kind of crazy! First, you have to have a completed recording, which is a task all unto itself. Once Walter and I have your audio, we have a master lacquer cut, [which] gets electroplated and a negative is formed, called a stamper. We then take that stamper and have it fitted for our record presses. Then we mount stampers and run the pressing. It’s kind of like making Music Waffles. We can do
On the record with JONATHAN BERLIN
about three records a minute on our current system and on a good eight-hour day, we can output about 1,000 great records.
One day, I do dream of doing print in-house, and I can work with my favorite local print artist, Tom Pennington.
How many records have you pressed so far? How many of each album is usually pressed? We have to be getting close to 150,000 pressings. As far as projects go, we did nearly 100 in our first year. The count per project has ranged from as few as 100 units to as many as 6,000 units.
How much does it cost to press an individual title? There are many different options that go into making a record, from weight to color, to the type of jacket that you want to use. But I would say it starts around $1,500 to get around 100 copies of your record made (which is our minimum order!).
What’s the first record you pressed? What is pressing now? The first project, serial number VRP0001, was by a band from Austin called The Rocketboys. We’ve been friends with them for a few years, and they were gracious enough to let us try to learn how to press records with their project. Right now, we have two projects on the press, Tennis System’s Pain EP and ex-Jacksonville natives SWIMM’s debut LP, Sentimental Porno. How long did it take to be comfortable with the process? I would still not say that I’m comfortable, but I am growing more confident in the process with every passing day. You see, it’s a delicate process, so every time I put new stampers on the press, or set up a project for pressing, I’m on high alert to make sure that everything goes perfectly. You can’t let your guard down, because as soon as you do, bad records start coming out. But, yeah, more confident, never comfortable, always on guard. How many titles by local bands have you pressed, and how many by out-of-town acts? Great question. We do a lot of local titles, but the majority of our work does come from outside of Duval. Locally, we’ve worked on John Carver Band, Fort Stories, SUNBEARS!, Whetherman, SWIMM, Shangrala, Flagship Romance and Corey Kilgannon. There’s probably more, but I just can’t remember. I’m still holding out for those Limp Bizkit, Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd represses, naturally! Do you print the jackets and liner notes inhouse too, or are those items outsourced? We use a wonderful company called Imprint Indie Printing out of Sarasota. They’re the best in the business. No need to reinvent the wheel with print. That’s a whole different ball game.
Have you pressed any of your own records? Yessir! We’ve pressed the SUNBEARS! Do Christmas EP, and some other unreleased SUNBEARS! pressings. We’ve also pressed for JOHNNYSWIM which Walter and I have both played on, as well as many other albums that I’ve performed on as an instrumentalist, producer and mastering engineer. Does being a professional musician help you, as far as doing this work? Many of the relationships that I’ve made over the years of my being a professional musician have brought us business, for sure. As far as doing the actual work, nothing could have prepared me for what it takes to build a record factory. The reality is that this is a factory, and while what we are outputting is a very cool, tangible piece of art and music, it’s still just good old hard work! I degrease my hands on a daily basis; we have a toolbox bigger than I ever thought I would ever own as a musician, and I drive a forklift every day! Bottom line is though, my love for music and for vinyl brought me here so, yeah, if I didn’t have such a love for music and the vinyl format, I don’t think I’d have done this. What’s going on with Sunbears!? Will there be another album or tour? We are releasing new music. We just put a single out last month called UNDERSTANDING! or Understanding the Mysteries of the Universe via Spiritual and Sexual Awakening! There’ll be many more singles to come. Mixing some more soon with Jeremy Griffith in Fort Walton. As far as touring, I just don’t know. But some shows will be happening! Shelton Hull mail@folioweekly.com vinylrp.com
ARTS + EVENTS PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON The costumed comic is on 7:30 & 9:45 p.m. June 1 & 2 at The Comedy Zone, 3103 Hartley Rd., Mandarin, $25-$119.50, comedyzone.com. ROY HABER, BRAD ELLIS They’re on 8:30 p.m. June 2 at Jackie Knight’s Comedy Club, 828 Anastasia Blvd., St. Augustine, 461-8843, $12, thegypsycomedyclub.com. THE CLEAN COMEDY SHOW Hosted by Leroy Gordon, 7 p.m. June 2 at The UpTown Experience, 1726 E. Church St., Downtown, universe.com, $15. LAUGH LOUNGE Creative Veins hosts this standup night, 8 p.m. June 3 at Dos Gatos, 123 E. Forsyth St., Downtown, creativeveins.com.
CALLS & WORKSHOPS NATURE & WILDLIFE EXHIBITION St. Augustine Art Association’s ninth annual exhibit accepts submissions, deadline June 4; $45, staaa.org. FLORIDA BIENNIAL Artists who live in Florida and work in any media may submit original works. Juror is Sarah Fritchey, curator and gallery director at Artspace, New Haven. Deadline June 1; $50 to apply, artandculturecenter.org.
BREW 5 POINTS 1024 Park St., Riverside, 374-5789. Marlena Lomonaco shows new works: “observational studies of beauty, in relation to sight and touch,” through June. Opening reception 6-8 p.m. June 8. CATHEDRAL ARTS PROJECT 207 N. Laura St., Ste. 300, Downtown, 281-5599. Salamat Datang-Welcome to Malaysia, new works by Dennis Ho, run through August. HENDRICKS AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH 4001 Hendricks Ave., San Marco, 396-7745. An opening reception for Artists Who Mentor the Passing of Knowledge and Wisdom, works of Jax-based artists and a mentee of considerable skill, is 6 p.m. June 7; the show is up through Sept. 1. SOUTHLIGHT GALLERY 1 Independent Dr., Downtown, southlightgallery.com. UNF Art & Design Portfolio Projects in Ceramics & Photography is on view. Photographer Garry McElwee’s works show through June. ST. AUGUSTINE ART ASSOCIATION 22 Marine St., staaa.org. An opening reception for Honors Show is held 5-9 p.m. June 1; the show runs through July 1.
EVENTS FIGURE DRAWING Life model drawing is offered, 7 p.m. May 30 at The Art Center Jacksonville II, 229 N. Hogan St., Downtown, tacjacksonville.org. SURPLUS PROPERTY AUCTION UNF is selling stuff no longer needed ... computers, chairs, janitorial gear, plus a whole lot more, 9 a.m. June 1 at University Center, Bldg. 43, unf.edu. STORYTELLING: FRENCH ART FROM THE HORVITZ COLLECTION Tea and a sweet treat and art talk–there’s nothing better. Associate curator Nelda Damiano discusses art, 1:30 p.m. June 6 at Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, members free, nonmembers $6, cummermuseum.org. FASHION SHOW Fashion Group International focuses on rising fashion designers, during the June First Wednesday Art Walk, 6:30 p.m. June 6 at Regions Bank, 51 W. Bay St., Downtown, $15-$25, 904tix.com. LOVE BOMB An arts-focused benefit to raise funds for Ugandan orphanages is held 5 p.m. June 6 at 1904 Music Hall, 19 Ocean St., Downtown.
BIKE NIGHT This weekly meet-up is 6-10 p.m. June 6 at Dick’s Wings, 6055 Youngerman Cir., Orange Park. LAURIE WILSON The author of Louise Nevelson: Light and Shadow discusses the artist and signs books, 7 p.m. June 7 at MOCAJax, free, registration required, eventbrite.com. STEVE BERRY Dinner and discussion with the best-selling author, 6-7:30 p.m. June 7 at Café Karibo, 27 N. Third St., Fernandina Beach, bookloftamelia.com, $25. BILL KIMBERLIN His name may be familiar to die-hard Star Wars fans, but we bet after the tell-all Inside the Star Wars Empire, the ex-LucasFilm Department director will be an *almost* household name. Kimberlin signs copies of his book 4-6 p.m. June 14 at The Book Loft, 214 Centre St., Fernandina Beach, bookloftamelia.com. __________________________________________ To list an event, send the time, date, location (street address and city or neighborhood), admission price and contact number to print to Madeleine Peck Wagner; email madeleine@ folioweekly.com or mail 45 W. Bay St., Ste. 103, Jacksonville FL
ART WALKS + MARKETS DOWNTOWN ART WALK This month celebrates the fifth annual Bold City Brewery Summer Sizzle, 5-9 p.m. June 6, with more than 60 venues for live music, restaurants, galleries, museums, businesses and hotspots, spanning 15 blocks in Downtown Jacksonville. iloveartwalk.com. DIG LOCAL NETWORK The weekly network hosts several farmers’ markets: Beaches Green Market, 2-5 p.m. Sat., Jarboe Park, Florida Boulevard & A1A, Neptune Beach; Midweek Market, 3-6 p.m. Wed., Bull Park, 718 Ocean Blvd., Atlantic Beach; ABC Market, 3-6 p.m. Fri., 1966 Mayport Rd., Atlantic Beach. ST. AUGUSTINE AMPHITHEATRE FARMERS MARKET Live music, yoga, flowers, baked goods, art, artisan wares, local produce, 8:30 a.m. every Sat., 1340 A1A S., 209-0367. RIVERSIDE ARTS MARKET Local/regional art, produce, snacks, live music–Ronan School of Music, Allie & the Kats, Sketchy Raccoon, Miss Marie’s Kids–10:30 a.m. June 2 under Fuller Warren Bridge, 715 Riverside Ave., free admission, 389-2449, riversideartsmarket.com. FERNANDINA BEACH MARKET PLACE The produce and goods of farmers, growers, vendors, local goods are featured, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Sat., North Seventh Street, Historic District, fernandinabeachmarketplace.com. JACKSONVILLE FARMERS MARKET Open daily dawn to dusk, the Beaver Street farmer’s market has an art gallery, food, crafts, etc., at 1810 W. Beaver St., Westside, 354-2821, jaxfarmersmarket.com.
MUSEUMS CRISP-ELLERT ART MUSEUM 48 Sevilla St., St. Augustine, flagler.edu/crispellert. The exhibit Selections from the Guidi Collection, runs through June 15. CUMMER MUSEUM OF ART & GARDENS 29 Riverside Ave., 356-6857, cummermuseum.org. The exhibit Thomas Hart Benton & the Navy through July 1. The Lost Bird Project exhibits through Oct. 21; Fields of Color: The Art of Japanese Printmaking exhibits through Nov. 25. KARPELES MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY MUSEUM 101 W. First St., Springfield, 356-2922. PlayPlay, an exhibit of Tracie Thornton’s new works, exhibits through June 9. MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART JACKSONVILLE 333 N. Laura St., 366-6911, mocajacksonville.unf.edu. Project Atrium artist is Anila Agha. A Patterned Response exhibits. A Dark Place of Dreams revisits monochromatic assemblages of Louise Nevelson alongside contemporary artists Chakaia Booker, Lauren Fensterstock and Kate Gilmore; through Sept. 9. MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & HISTORY 1025 Museum Cir., Southbank, 396-6674, themosh.org. The hands-on exhibit NANO demonstrates basics of nanoscience and engineering, through June 17. Jim Smith’s Improbable Sci-Show exhibits through June 28.
GALLERIES BOLD BEAN SAN MARCO 1905 Hendricks Ave., 853-6545. Artist Madeleine Peck Wagner exhibits selections from her Heart of Butter series, madeleinewagner.com.
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FOLIO OLIO A A+E E : ARTS
PLAYPLAY FOR REAL
REAL
Artist Tracie Thornton explores how societal structures can UNDERMINE MORALS
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he Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum’s current multimedia exhibition PlayPlay explores the roles that games play in human development from childhood into adulthood. According to Tracie Thornton, aka Thorn, the artist behind this seemingly playful collection of site-specific works, it’s not all fun and games. The Jacksonville-based artist conceived PlayPlay to be both a technical exercise— everything was tailored to the space at hand—and a nuanced meditation on a theme that pop psychology has uncritically celebrated for a long time. “The show focuses on games and pastimes that we play as children that we might continue into adulthood with simple emotional ramifications and sometimes with more tangible outcomes,” said Thorn. Ever since Freud lifted the lid on our collective subconscious, play has been lauded as the antidote to dour Victorian discipline. Thorn suggests that this light-hearted turn can also compromise our moral compass. “Some of our government leaders might have grown up playing ‘war’ or pretending to lead an army as children,” she explains. “Now, they might be in an actual position to send real people to war. I believe that sometimes they forget these soldiers are real people with families and not pieces to be moved around on a chessboard.” The work exhibited in PlayPlay is just one side of the multifaceted artist who creates across several different media and moves through the world of policy. Indeed, the project was a bit of play for Thorn herself, allowing her to stretch out and demonstrate the breadth of her training. “It is different from most work I’ve done in the past, so some people have been surprised,” Thorn says. “Lots of people think of me only in relation to adornment and jewelry. I actually have my degrees in printmaking and graphic design. I’ve designed T-shirts and several other kinds of clothing. I’ve also done photography, collage, woodworking and bookbinding.” The Urban Atelier is the multidisciplinary umbrella under which Thorn creates art and addresses social issues. She often uses repurposed materials to craft objects that defy simple questions about identity and belonging. The brand name is itself an attempt to reclaim the epithet ‘urban.’ “From my first solo show Urban Exotic,” says Thorn, “I saw myself as a flower growing in the middle of my perceived ‘urban’ beginnings. I don’t know the actual history of the use of the word ‘urban’ and how it became synonymous with people
of color. I’d guess Middle: Little Dolls Off to War, multimedia, 2018. Photo by Patrick Fisher probably during the ’50s Bottom: Plastic Harlem multimedia, 2018. Photo by Patrick Fisher and ’60s at the height of white flight, when city populations became predominantly brown. The word ‘urban’ became tainted with negative connotations. It’s now shorthand for ‘gritty.’ If I’m honest, the name Urban Atelier was initially chosen just as much in defiance of a label as well as in defiance of an identity that was imposed upon me instead of chosen. I’ve always seen myself as the opposite of ‘urban,’ the opposite of the caricature of the stereotypical AfricanAmerican artist some are most comfortable with. People look at me, they look at my hair and skin, and they don’t actually see me; they see their biases and prejudices manifest— positive or negative.” ‘Urban Atelier’ also suggests her interest in city planning. “Public art shouldn’t be exclusive to just certain neighborhoods and tax brackets,” she says. “Art is and always should be inclusive.” It’s a message Thorn has taken from galleries to corridors of power. She founded Renewed Community Initiatives (RECi) to advocate for de-centralized art, because Downtown Jacksonville and its urban core receive PlayPlay at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 9. She the lion’s share of public art funding. plans to include the story of her evolution as Tracie Thornton and RECi want to see an artist and her use of recycled materials in that attention distributed more equitably. her discussion. The organization’s latest project featured Georgio Valentino a Community Pride Mural unveiled in mail@folioweekly.com Harborview during Public Art Week this ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– past April. And Thorn is involved with the PlayPlay is on exhibit through June 28 at Karpeles Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Manuscript Library Museum, 101 W. First St., its Art in Public Places Program. Springfield, theurbanatelier.com Tracie Thornton discusses her exhibit
The PURPLE HATTER’S BALL takes off, boasting some big-deal bands, like SPAFFORD, giving their all in the name of electro funk therapy. June 1 & 2, Spirit of the Suwannee, musicliveshere.com.
LIVE + LOCAL MUSIC CONCERTS THIS WEEK
HYMN FOR HER, DIXIE RODEO 8 p.m. May 30, Blue Jay Listening Room (BlueJay), 2457B S. Third St., Jax Beach, bluejayjax.com, $20. THE COATHANGERS, THE WOOLLY BUSHMEN, MERCY MERCY 8 p.m. May 30, Jack Rabbits (JackRabbs), 1528 Hendricks Ave., San Marco, 398-7496, $10. PAUL WANE 6 p.m. May 30, Boondocks Grill & Bar, (Boondocks), 2808 Henley Rd., Green Cove Springs, 406-9497. NICK IZZARD 9 p.m. May 30, Surfer the Bar (Surfer), 200 N. First St., Jax Beach, 372-9756. LUKE PEACOCK 7 p.m. May 31, Mudville Music Room, 3104 Atlantic Blvd., 352-7008, raylewispresents.com, $10. COURTNIE FRAZIER, WHO RESCUED WHO 6 p.m. May 31, Prohibition Kitchen, (ProhibitKitch), 119 St. George St., St. Augustine, 209-5704. THE FIREWATER TENT REVIVAL 9:30 p.m. June 2, Cheers Park Avenue, 1138 Park Ave., Orange Park, 269-4855, $2. MATTHEW BRIAN KIRKLAND 8 p.m. May 31, BlueJay, $10. MARK JOHNS 6 p.m. May 31, Boondocks. PURPLE HATTER’S BALL: THE HEAVY PETS, SPAFFORD, VLAD THE INHALER, CATFISH ALLIANCE, ROOSEVELT COLLIER BAND, BREAKING BISCUITS, LETTUCE, MORE June 1 & 2, Spirit of the Suwannee, musicliveshere.com. AMPLE ANGST 7 p.m. June 1, Mudville, $10. SAM BURCHFIELD 8 p.m. June 1, BlueJay, $20. CHASING JONAH, LANNDS, GABE DARLING 7 p.m. June 1, JackRabbs, $8. HONEY HOUNDS 9 p.m. June 1, Surfer. MATT KNOWLES, ERIC COLLETTE & BAND 7 p.m. June 1, Boondocks. BOBBY LEE ROGERS 8 p.m. June 2, BlueJay, $20. SONDRA HUNT 8 p.m. June 2, SpiritSuwannee. LONGINEU PARSONS 7:30 p.m. June 2, Mudville, $10. LYNDIE BURRIS, DAKOTA BAND 6 p.m. June 2, Boondocks. BREAKING THROUGH, BLEEDING IN STEREO 8 p.m. June 2, Cheers Park Avenue, $2. LEE BRICE, RANDY ROGERS BAND, LAUREN DUSKI, HA HA TONKA, CARLTON ZEUS 1 p.m. June 2, Naval Station Mayport, basefest.com, $20-$75. DANCE GAVIN DANCE, I SEE STARS, ERRA, SIANVAR 6:30 p.m. June 2, Ponte Vedra Concert Hall (PVCHall), 1050 A1A N., Ponte Vedra, 209-0399, pvconcerthall.com, $28.50-$31.50. THE HIGH DIVERS, SALT & PINE 8 p.m. June 2, JackRabbs, $10. SALT & PINE 8 p.m. June 3, BlueJay, $20. MICHAEL WARD BAND Noon June 3, Palms Fish Camp, 6359 Heckscher Dr., 240-1672, palmsfishcamp.com. THE DICKIES, THE QUEERS, BLURG, FRIENDLY FIRE 7 p.m. June 3, JackRabbs, $20. DISCORD CURSE, BECOMES ASTRAL 8 p.m. June 4, JackRabbs.
GRANT PEEPLES, JAIMEE HARRIS 8 p.m. June 5, Café Eleven (Cafe11), 501 A1A Beach Blvd., St. Augustine Beach, theoriginalcafe11.com, $15-$18. JOHN FOGERTY, ZZ TOP 6:30 p.m. June 5, St. Augustine Amphitheatre (StAugAmp), 1340 A1A S., 209-0367, staugamphitheatre.com. MINDEX, HYPERBOLIC HEADSPACE 8 p.m. June 6, JackRabbs, $10.
UPCOMING CONCERTS
THE ASSOCIATION, THE TURTLES, CHUCK NEGRON, GARY PUCKETT, MARK LINDSAY, THE COWSILLS June 7, FlaThtr ASTRONAUTALIS, SHREDDERS June 7, JackRabbs REDFISH RICH June 7, Boondocks LE TOUR DEVORE III June 7, Café11 ROBBIE LITT June 7, Cheers LEE HUNTER June 7, Mudville COMMUNITY CENTER June 7, RainDogs HARRY CONNICK JR. June 8, StAugAmp CHATHAM COUNTY LINE June 8, Café11 BRANDON LEINO, KEVIN SKI June 8, Boondocks AMPLE ANGST June 8, BlueJay LIFT June 8, Cheers BRICK + MORTAR, THE UNLIKELY CANDIDATES, FAZE WAVE June 8, JackRabbs HARD 2 HANDLE June 9, Boondocks SNACKS BLUES BAND June 9, BlueJay BUSH DOCTORS June 9, Palms Fish Camp AUTOMATIK FIT, BLOOD BATH & BEYOND June 9, JackRabbs KELLEN VINCENT June 9, SpiritSuwannee SIXES, HOLLOW LEG June 10, JackRabbs JOHN PARKERURBAN & FRIENDS June 10, BlueJay BLUEPRINT, WILLIE EVANS JR., GEEXELLA June 10, RainDogs PERPETUAL GROOVE, HONEY HOUNDS, INVISIBLE FRIENDS June 10, 1904MH BAY KINGS BAND PREVIEW June 12, BlueJay PARAMORE, FOSTER THE PEOPLE June 12, StAugAmp THE HOLOPHONICS June 12, RainDogs JUST US TWO, BILL HECHT June 13, Boondocks LA LUZ, TIMOTHY EERIE June 14, Root Down JUNCO ROYALS June 14, BlueJay BRANDON LEINO June 14, Boondocks GINGER BEARD MAN June 14, Cheers DAVID RYAN HARRIS June 15, Café11 MERE WOODARD June 15, BlueJay CRAZY DAYZIES June 15, Boondocks SHANE MYERS, FRATELLO June 15, Cheers JUKEBOX OLDIES June 15, SpiritSuwannee DANKA June 15, Surfer CYCLOPEAN BLOOD TEMPLE, BURN TO LEARN June 15, RainDogs MERE WOODARD June 15, BlueJay
McFARLAND June 15, JackRabbs SALT N PEPA, SPINDERELLA, KID ’N PLAY, COOLIO, TONE LOC, THEA AUSTIN, C&C MUSIC FACTORY, FREEDOM WILLIAMS June 16, StAugAmp MATT KNOWLES June 16, Boondocks KYLE JENNINGS June 16, BlueJay BLUE HORSE June 16, Mudville COME BACK ALICE June 16, Surfer STARBENDERS, 5 CENT PSYCHIATRIST, THE DOG APOLLO, SECRET CIGS June 16, JackRabbs CHAMPAGNE JERRY June 16, 1904MH ALPHA QUADRANT, MOONDRAGON June 16, RainDogs PHIL KEAGGY June 16, Murray Hill Theatre BRIT FLOYD ECLIPSE June 17, FlaThtr JOHNNY BULFORD June 17, BlueJay TIMOTHY EERIES, THE YOUNG STEP, REELS June 17, Sarbez JESUS WEARS ARMANI, IN CONFIDENCE June 19, JackRabbs SUMMER OF LOVE TRIBUTE: MUSIC OF LAUREL CANYON & MONTEREY POP, RETHREADED BENEFIT June 20, BlueJay RIES BROTHERS, LITTLE BIRD, LORETTO June 20, JackRabbs COMBICHRIST, WEDNESDAY 13 June 20, Mavericks NOBIGDYL, WHATUPRG, WREKLESS ABANDON, OATMEAL June 20, Murray Hill Theatre IVAN PULLEY BAND June 21, Cheers LATE NIGHT SPECIAL June 21, JackRabbs SOUTHERN BURN BAND June 22, SpiritSuwannee LYN AVENUE June 22, BlueJay BLACK CREEK RI’ZIN June 22, Boondocks JIM MURDOCK, LOVE MONKEY June 22, Cheers SUMMER SURVIVORS June 22, Surfer LUKE BRYAN, JON PARDI, MORGAN WALLEN June 22, VetsMemArena CHARLIE FARLEY June 22, JackRabbs THE CONCH FRITTERS June 23, Anastasia State Park BOBBY TARANTINO June 23, Dailys HORROR CLUB, JANE EYRE, SECRET KEEPER, IDLE HABITS June 23, JackRabbs URBAN PIONEER, CAIN’T NEVER COULD June 23, Nighthawks CIARAN SONTAG June 23, Boondocks JESSE McCARTNEY, NINA NESBITT June 23, Mavericks LOGIC June 23, Dailys BDW BAND June 23, Boondocks PIXIES June 24, FlaThtr ANNIE GUTHRIE June 24, BlueJay REBELUTION, STEPHEN MARLEY, COMMON KINGS, ZION I, DJ MACKLE June 24, StAugAmp CITY IN THE CLOUDS, MODEST IMAGE June 24, JackRabbs JOHN THOMAS GROUP June 25, Mudville INANIMATE EXISTENCE, THE LAST OF LUCY, FIELDS OF ELYSIUM June 25, JackRabbs ANGEL VIVALDI, HYVMINE June 26, 1904MH MICAH SCHNABEL June 26, JackRabbs
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LIVE + LOCAL MUSIC FRED HEINTZ & LATE NIGHT SPECIAL June 27, BlueJay AMERICAN AQUARIUM, TRAVIS MEADOWS June 27, JackRabbs BELLE & THE BAND June 28, Mudville TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND, DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, MARCUS KING BAND June 29, Dailys MELODY TRUCKS BAND, BONNIE BLUE June 29, 1904MH ADAM LATIFF, FAT CACTUS June 29, Cheers CHASE FOURAKER, MEGAN & LIZ, JONATHAN LEE June 29, JackRabbs BOY GEORGE & CULTURE CLUB, B-52S, TOM BAILEY June 29, StAugAmp JOSEPH SOLOMON, SWOOPE, NATALIE LAUREN June 29, Murray Hill Theatre DION TIMMER June 29, Myth CHEAP TRICK, POISON June 30, Dailys AS CITIES BURN, MY EPIC, TIGERWINE June 30, JackRabbs JASON EVANS BAND June 30, Cheers SANDRA LYNN June 30, Ritz Theatre THE TOASTERS June 30, 1904MH COPPER BONES June 30, RainDogs THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS, WALK THE MOON, MISTERWIVES, JOYWAVE July 1, Dailys DONNY & MARIE OSMOND July 1, StAugAmp TERRAIN, SATYR, FRIENDLY FIRE, PROBLEM ADDICTS July 1, 1904MH DAN & PHIL July 5, StAugAmp STABLE SHAKERS July 5, BlueJay BARENAKED LADIES, BETTER THAN EZRA, KT TUNSTALL July 6, StAugAmp HELIUS July 6, JackRabbs SACRED OWLS BEWARE! TAKE CARE!, DOUGIE FLESH & THE SLASHERS, APPALACHIAN DEATH TRAP July 6, Nighthawks CITY OF BRIDGES July 6 & 7, Cheers 3 DOORS DOWN, COLLECTIVE SOUL July 7, Dailys SOMEDAY HONEY July 7, BlueJay SWITCHBLADE VILLAIN July 7, JackRabbs COHEED & CAMBRIA, TAKING BACK SUNDAY July 8, Dailys CHRISTINA VANE, MADI CARR July 8, BlueJay NIGHTHAWKS, DEAD BOYS July 8, Nighthawks LUKE PEACOCK, JACK RINGCA July 11, BlueJay ADVENTURES OF ANNABELLE LYN July 12, Mudville ROGER THAT July 12, Cheers WRONG WAY, CRANE July 13, Surfer LOWERS ORDERS, SMART BOYZ July 13, RainDogs AJ GHENT July 13, BlueJay OLYMPVS July 13 & 14, Cheers FLORIDA SUN UNITY FEST July 14, Mavericks THE GEORGIA FLOOD July 14, JackRabbs ALLEGRA KRIEGER July 14, BlueJay ORDINARY BOYS, KISSES ONLY July 14, 1904MH CRAIG WAYNE BOYD July 14, Ritz Theatre A STORY TOLD July 14, JackRabbs REMEDY TREE, MADI CARR July 15, BlueJay SLIGHTLY STOOPID, PEPPER, STICK FIGURE July 19, StAugAmp IVAN PULLEY BAND July 19, Cheers CAT & NAT July 19, FlaThtr RASCAL FLATTS July 19, Dailys OAK RIDGE BOYS July 20, Thrsh-HrnCtr STEVE MILLER BAND, PETER FRAMPTON July 20, StAugAmp LIFT July 20, Cheers VILLAINFEST: FILTH, NEAR EMPTY, KILL THE SOUND, A MATTER OF HONOR, DENIED TIL DEATH, FACES OF MANY, DEFY THE TYRANT, INVIOLATE, AUDITORY ARMORY July 21, Mavericks SONDRA HUNT July 21, SpiritSuwannee
JAIMEE HARRIS performs her Americana-vibed folk (with a few dark undertones) with rant-aficionado Grant Peeples, June 5 at Café Eleven, St. Augustine Beach, originalcafe11.com, $15-$18.
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LISA & THE MAD HATTERS, THE FIREWATER TENT REVIVAL July 21, Cheers DAKOTA BAND July 21, Boondocks DJ WILL’S SUMMER SLAM July 21, Murray Hill Theatre VIOLENT FEMMES, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN July 21, StAugAmp CHICAGO, REO SPEEDWAGON July 22, Dailys FRACTURED FAIRYTALES July 26, JackRabbs DON McLEAN July 27, PVCHall POCO, PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE, ORLEANS July 27, FlaThtr SAMUEL HERB, COTTER HILL & BERNARDUS July 27, BlueJay THE FRITZ July 28, 1904MH SUN-DRIED VIBES July 28, Surfer DISPATCH, NAHKO, MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE, RAYE ZARAGOZA July 29, StAugAmp DONAVON FRANKENREITER July 30, Surfer MS. LAURYN HILL Aug. 2, Dailys HIPPIEFEST 2018: VANILLA FUDGE, BADFINGER, JOEY MOLLAND, MITCH RYDER & THE DETROIT WHEELS, RICK DERRINGER Aug. 2, Thrasher-Horne Center VANS WARPED TOUR: 30H!3, THE INTERRUPTERS, KNUCKLE PUCK, MAYDAY PARADE, REEL BIG FISH, STATE CHAMPS, THIS WILD LIFE, WATERPARKS, LESS THAN JAKE, THE MAINE, MOVEMENTS, REAL FRIENDS, SIMPLE PLAN, TONIGHT ALIVE, WE THE KINGS, AMITY AFFLICTION, CHELSEA GRIN, DEEZ NUTS, ICE NINE KILLS, MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE, SHARPTOOTH, TWIZTID, WAGE WAR, AUGUST BURNS RED, CROWN THE EMPIRE, EVERY TIME I DIE, IN HEARTS WAKE, MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, NEKROGOBLIKON, AS IT IS, ASSUMING WE SURVIVE, DON BROCO, PALACE ROYALE, SLEEP ON IT, STORY UNTOLD, TRASH BOAT, WITH CONFIDENCE, FAREWELL WINTERS, LIGHTERBURNS Aug. 2, Old Cypress Lot near Met Park COUNTING CROWS, LIVE Aug. 4, Dailys POWERGLOVE Aug. 4, 1904MH PAUL IVEY & SOULS OF JOY Aug. 4, Boondocks O.A.R., MATT NATHANSON, THE NEW RESPECTS Aug. 5, Dailys 311, THE OFFSPRING Aug. 7, Dailys BRADFORD LOOMIS Aug. 9, BlueJay ATTILA, SUICIDE SILENCE, VOLUMES Aug. 10, Mavericks MR. MELLOW Aug. 10, BlueJay ELLIS PAUL, DONNY BRAZILE Aug. 10, Café11 LONELY HIGHWAY BAND Aug. 11, SpiritSuwannee MARIE MILLER Aug. 12, Café11 WIZ KHALIFA, RAE SREMMURD, LIL SKIES, O.T. GENASIS Aug. 15, Dailys THE ALARM Aug. 15, PVCHall JONAH MATRANGA Aug. 15, JackRabbs JASON MRAZ, BRETT DENNAN Aug. 17, Dailys BLUEJAY’S 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY: THE YETI TRIO, MIKE KENNEALLY, BRYAN BELLER Aug. 18, BlueJay YUNO Aug. 18, JackRabbs UMPHREY’S McGEE, SPAFFORD Aug. 18, StAugAmp LINDSEY STIRLING, EVANESCENCE Aug. 20, Dailys JEFF BECK, PAUL RODGERS, ANN WILSON Aug. 23, Dailys FORT DEFIANCE Aug. 24, BlueJay STEPHANIE QUAYLE Aug. 25, Ritz Theatre THE BRIDGE STREET VIBE, MADI CARR Aug. 30, BlueJay NOCHE ACUSTICA CON TITO AUGER Sept. 1, JackRabbs SING OUT LOUD FESTIVAL Sept. 1-23, St. Augustine venues DANIEL CHAMPAGNE Sept. 4, Café11 KICK OUT THE JAMS 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR: MC50 (WAYNE KRAMER, KIM THAYIL, BRENDAN CANTY, DUG PINNICK, MARCUS DURANT) Sept. 6, StAugAmp
DEEP PURPLE, JUDAS PRIEST Sept. 12, Dailys WIDESPREAD PANIC Sept. 14, StAugAmp ROGER McGUINN Sept. 19, PVCHall LEE ANN WOMACK Sept. 21, PVCHall JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT, THE DECEMBERISTS, LUCERO Sept. 22, StAugAmp HERE COME THE MUMMIES Sept. 22, PVCHall DREAMERS, WEATHERS Sept. 22, JackRabbs DAVID BYRNE Sept. 26, FlaThtr KIM RICHEY Sept. 27, Café11 COLONY HOUSE Sept. 29, JackRabbs NEEDTOBREATHE, JOHNNYSWIM Oct. 2, Dailys DELBERT McCLINTON Oct. 5, PVCHall ARCH ENEMY, GOATWHORE, UNCURED Oct. 6, 1904MH DANNY GOKEY, TAUREN WELLS, RILEY CLEMMONS Oct. 6, T-U Center SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION OF PRINCE Oct. 6, FlaThtr (HED)PE Oct. 7, 1904MH PETER BRADLEY ADAMS Oct. 11, Café11 SUWANNEE ROOTS REVIVAL: KELLER WILLIAMS’ PETTYGRASS, THE HILLBENDERS, DONNA THE BUFFALO, JIM LAUDERDALE, VERLON THOMPSON, TORNADO RIDER, THE LONELY HEARTSTRING BAND, THE LEE BOYS, THE SAUCE BOSS, BELLE & THE BAND, WHETHERMAN, MORE Oct. 11-14, SpiritSuwannee GENE WATSON Oct. 13, PVCHall WELCOME to MOCKVILLE Oct. 13, 1904MH STEEP CANYON RANGERS Oct. 14, FlaThtr ANDERSON EAST Oct. 16, Mavericks BOB LOG III Oct. 19, JackRabbs DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, CHARLY BLISS Oct. 20, StAugAmp GRIFFIN HOUSE Oct. 23, Café11 SUWANNEE HULAWEEN: STRING CHEESE INCIDENT, ODESZA, JAMIROQUAI, JANELLE MONAE Oct. 26-28, SpiritSuwannee AMY RAY Nov. 8, PVCHall JASON CRABB Nov. 9, Murray Hill Theatre IRA GLASS Nov. 10, FlaThtr JENNIFER KNAPP Nov. 14, Café11 KATHLEEN MADIGAN Nov. 15, FlaThtr THE AUSTRALIAN BEE GEES Nov. 16, FlaThtr STRAIGHT NO CHASER Nov. 18, FlaThtr PIANO GUYS Nov. 26, FlaThtr DAVE KOZ & FRIENDS: MINDI ABAIR, JONATHAN BUTLER, KEIKO MATSUI Nov. 29, FlaThtr OLD DOMINION Nov. 30, StAugAmp PETER WHITE CHRISTMAS: RICK BRAUN, EUGE GROOVE Dec. 11, PVCHall Swingin’ Little Christmas: JANE LYNCH, KATE FLANNERY, TIM DAVIS, THE TONY GUERRERO QUINTET Dec. 17, Ritz JEANNIE ROBERTSON Jan. 26, FlaThtr INDIGO GIRLS Feb. 9, PVCHall PINK March 5, VetsMemArena ELTON JOHN March 15, VetsMemArena
LIVE MUSIC CLUBS
AMELIA ISLAND, FERNANDINA GREEN TURTLE TAVERN, 14 S. Third St., 321-2324 Buck Smith every Thur. Dan Voll Fri. Vinyl Nite every Tue. SLIDERS SEASIDE GRILL, 1998 S. Fletcher Ave., 277-6652 King Eddie & Pili Pili May 30. Tad Jennings May 31. Hupp de Huppman 2 p.m., Charlotte P Band 7 p.m. June 1. Cyrus & Lindzy 2 p.m., Radio Love 7 p.m. June 2. JCnMike 1 p.m., Michael Hulett 7 p.m. June 3. Two Dudes from Texas June 4. Mark O’Quinn June 5
LIVE + LOCAL MUSIC DANCE GAVIN DANCE (pictured) performs 6:30 p.m. June 2, along with I SEE STARS, ERRA DANCE GAVIN DANCE and SIANVAR, at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
AVONDALE, ORTEGA
CASBAH CAFÉ, 3628 St. Johns Ave., 981-9966 Goliath Flores every Wed. Jazz every Sun. Live music every Mon. ECLIPSE, 4219 St. Johns Ave. KJ Free every Tue. & Thur. Indie dance every Wed. ’80s & ’90s dance every Fri. MONTY’S/SHORES LIQUOR, 3644 St. Johns Ave., 389-1131 Qwister 10:30 p.m. June 2. DJ Keith 10 p.m. every Thur.
THE BEACHES
(All venues in Jax Beach unless otherwise noted)
ATLANTIC BEACH BREWING CO., 725 Atlantic Blvd., 372-4116 Jaime Noel 7 p.m. June 2 BLUE JAY LISTENING ROOM, 412 N. Second St., 834-1315 Hymn For Her, Dixie Rodeo 8 p.m. May 30. Matthew Brian Kirkland May 31. Sam Burchfield 8 p.m. June 1. Bobby Lee Rodgers June 2. Salt & Pine June 3 FLYING IGUANA, 207 Atlantic Blvd., NB, 853-5680 Evan Michael & the Well Wishers 10 p.m. June 8 & 9 GUSTO, 1266 Beach Blvd., 372-9925 Groov 7:30 p.m. every Wed. Michael Smith every Thur. Milton Clapp every Fri. LYNCH’S IRISH PUB, 514 First St. N., 249-5181 Soulo Lyon 10 p.m. June 1. Sol Rydah 6 p.m., DeSean Kirkland Band 10 p.m. June 2. Different Folk every Fri. Chillula every Sun. MEZZA RESTAURANT & BAR, 110 First St., NB, 249-5573 Gypsies Ginger 6 p.m. every Wed. Mike Shackelford, Steve Shanholtzer 6 p.m. every Thur. Mezza House Band 6 p.m. every Mon. Trevor Tanner 6 p.m. every Tue. RAGTIME TAVERN, 207 Atlantic Blvd., AB, 241-7877 Red Fish Rich May 30. Four Play May 31. Party Cartel June 1 & 2. Lunar Coast June 3 SEACHASERS, 831 First St. N., 372-0444 Blast of Bluegrass 9 p.m. June 1. Folk is People 9 p.m. June 2 SURFER THE BAR, 200 First St. N., 372-9756 Nick Izzard 9 p.m. May 30. Honey Hounds 9 p.m. June 1 WHISKEY JAX, 950 Marsh Landing Pkwy., 853-5973 Ramona 7 p.m. May 31. Acoustic Women every Tue.
DOWNTOWN
1904 MUSIC Hall, 19 Ocean St. N., 345-5760 Billy & Bella, Emily Aldridge, Jean Street Sound, Allie & The Kats June 1 DOS GATOS, 123 E. Forsyth St., 354-0666 DJ Brandon Thur. DJ NickFresh Sat. DJ Randall Mon. DJ Hollywood every Tue. JAX LANDING, 2 Independent Dr., 353-1188 Paul Ivey & the Souls of Joy 7 p.m. June 1. 418 Band 5 p.m. June 3. Wildfire Rising, Double Down 5 p.m. June 6 MAVERICKS LIVE, Jax Landing, 356-1110 J. Cole June 2 MYTH NIGHTCLUB, 333 E. Bay St., 707-0474 DJs Spyderbot, Basilisk 6 p.m. June 5. DJs Free, Lil Yankee, Canaan, Gadjit, Q45, Johnny Oz, D3Tay 9 p.m. June 6
FLEMING ISLAND
BOONDOCKS GRILL & BAR, 2808 Henley Rd., Green Cove, 406-9497 Paul Wane 6 p.m. May 30. Mark Johns 6 p.m. May 31. Matt Knowles, Eric Collette & Band 7 p.m. June 1. Lyndie Burris, Dakota Band 6 p.m. June 2 WHITEY’S FISH CAMP, 2032 C.R. 220, 269-4198 Savanna Leigh Bassett 6 p.m. May 31
INTRACOASTAL
CLIFF’S, 3033 Monument Rd., 645-5162 Blackwater 9 p.m. May 30 JERRY’S SPORTS BAR, 13170 Atlantic Blvd., 220-6766 Sidewalk 65 8:30 p.m. June 1. Double Down 8:30 p.m. June 2
MANDARIN
ENZA’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT, 10601 San Jose Blvd., Ste. 109, 268-4458 Brian Iannucci May 30 & June 3 IGGY’S GRILL & BAR, 104 Bartram Oaks Walk, 209-5209 Eric Alabiso 7 p.m. May 31. Comfort Zone 9 p.m. June 1. City of Bridges 8 p.m. June 2. Montalvo, Hot Pocketz 8 p.m. June 3 TAPS BAR & GRILL, 2220 C.R. 210, St. Johns, 819-1554 Mark Stevens 9 p.m. May 30. Chilly Rhino June 1. Circus June 2
OVERSET
ORANGE PARK, MIDDLEBURG
CHEERS, 1138 Park Ave., 269-4855 DJ Capone May 30. The Firewater Tent Revival 9:30 p.m. June 2. Breaking Through, Bleeding in Stereo 8 p.m. June 2 DALTON’S, 2620 Blanding Blvd., 282-1564 The Litt Family June 2 THE HILLTOP, 2030 Wells Rd., 272-5959 John Michael on the piano every Tue.-Sat. THE ROADHOUSE, 231 Blanding Blvd., 264-0611 Josh Heinrichs, SkillinJah 8 p.m. June 1. DJ Keith every Tue. DJ Covert every Thur.
PONTE VEDRA
MEDURE, 818 A1A, 543-3797 Ace Winn May 30. Ryan Campbell May 31. Will Hurley June 1. The Groov June 2
RIVERSIDE, WESTSIDE
NIGHTHAWKS, 2952 Roosevelt Blvd. Appalachian Death Trap 7 p.m. June 2. RIVERSIDE ARTS MARKET, 715 Riverside Ave., 389-2449 Ronan School of Music, Allie & the Kats, Sketchy Raccoon, Miss Marie’s Kids 10:30 a.m. June 2
ST. AUGUSTINE
ARNOLD’S LOUNGE, 3912 N. Ponce de Leon, 824-8738 Jason Evans Band 9 p.m. June 2. DJ Alex every Fri. MARDI GRAS, 123 San Marco Ave., 823-8806 Vegas Grey 9 p.m. June 1 & 2 ORIGINAL CAFÉ ELEVEN, 501 A1A Beach Blvd., St. Augustine Beach, 460-9311 Grant Peeples, Jaimee Harris 8:30 p.m. June 5. Le Tour DeVore III June 7 PROHIBITION KITCHEN, 119 St. George, 209-5704 Courtnie Frazier, Who Rescued Who May 31. Spade McQuade, South City Live June 1. Aaron L Quartet, Stank Sauce June 2. Be Easy Duo, WillowWacks June 3. Sam Pacetti June 4 TRADEWINDS LOUNGE, 124 Charlotte St., 829-9336 Blistur 9 p.m. June 1 & 2. Down Low every Wed. JP Driver every Thur. Keith Godwin & the Rio Grande Band every Sun.
SAN MARCO
JACK RABBITS, 15280 Hendricks Ave., 398-7496 The Coathangers, The Woolly Bushmen, Mercy Mercy 8 p.m. May 30. Chasing Jonah, Lannds, Gabe Darling June 1. The High Divers, Salt & Pine June 2. The Dickies, The Queers, Blurg, Friendly Fire June 3. Discord Curse, Becomes Astral June 4 MUDVILLE MUSIC ROOM, 3104 Atlantic Blvd., 352-7008 Luke Peacock 7 p.m. May 31. Ample Angst June 1. Longineu Parsons 7:30 p.m. June 2
SOUTHSIDE, BAYMEADOWS
MELLOW MUSHROOM, 9734 Deer Lake Ct., 997-1955 Barrett Jockers May 31. Cortnie Frazier June 1. Ryan Campbell June 2 WHISKEY JAX, 10915 Baymeadows Rd., 634-7208 Melissa Smith open mic every Thur.
SPRINGFIELD, NORTHSIDE
CROOKED ROOSTER BREWERY, 148 S. Sixth St., Macclenny, 653-2337 Wade Barlow & Pineywood Boys 8 p.m. June 1 HYPERION BREWING CO., 1740 N. Main St., 518-5131 Ouija Brothers 7 p.m. June 7 PALMS FISH CAMP, 6359 Heckscher Dr., 240-1672 Taylor Shami May 30. Cassidy Lee May 31. Eric Alabiso June 1. Billy Bowers 12:30 p.m., Lisa & the Mad Hatters 5:30 p.m. June 2. Michael Ward Band, Paul Ivey & Souls of Joy June 3 _________________________________________ To list a band’s gig, send time, date, location (street address, city/neighborhood), admission and a contact number to print to Madeleine Peck Wagner, email madeleine@folioweekly. com or by the U.S. Postal Service, 45 W. Bay St., Ste. 103, Jacksonville FL 32202. Events run on space-available basis. Deadline noon Wed. for next Wed. publication.
MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 27
FOLIO DINING
Choose your dinner from Jax Beach’s YUMMY CRAB SEAFOOD RESTAURANT'S saltwater aquarium, where it’s said the world is your oyster, right on Beach Boulevard. photo by Devon Sarian
AMELIA ISLAND + FERNANDINA BEACH
BRETT’S WATERWAY CAFÉ, 1 S. Front St., 261-2660. On the water at Centre Street’s end. Southern hospitality, upscale atmosphere; daily specials, fresh local seafood, aged beef. $$$ FB L D Daily CAFÉ KARIBO, 27 N. Third St., 277-5269, cafekaribo.com. F Family-owned café in historic building. Worldly fare, made-from-scratch dressings, sauces, desserts, sourcing fresh veggies, seafood. Dine in or al fresco under oakshaded patio. Microbrew Karibrew Pub brews beer onsite; imports. $$ FB K TO R, Su; L Daily, D Tu-Su in season THE CRAB TRAP, 31 N. Second St., 261-4749, ameliacrabtrap.com. F For nearly 40 years, family-ownedand-operated. Fresh local seafood, steaks, specials. HH. $$ FB L Sa-M; D Nightly LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 474272 S.R. 200, 844-2225. F SEE ORANGE PARK. MOON RIVER PIZZA, 925 S. 14th St., 321-3400, moonriverpizza.net. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Authentic Northern-style pizzas, 20-plus toppings, pie/ slice. Calzones. $ BW TO L D M-Sa THE MUSTARD SEED CAFÉ, 833 Courson Rd., 277-3141, nassauhealthfoods.net. Casual organic eatery, juice bar, in Nassau Health Foods. All-natural organic items, smoothies, juices, herbal teas, coffees, daily specials. $$ K TO B L M-Sa POINTE RESTAURANT, 98 S. Fletcher Ave., 277-4851, elizabethpointelodge.com. 2017 BOJ winner. In awardwinning inn Elizabeth Pointe Lodge. Seaside dining; in or out. Hot buffet breakfast daily, full lunch menu. Homestyle soups, specialty sandwiches, desserts. $$$ BW K B L D Daily
DINING DIRECTORY KEY AVERAGE ENTRÉE COST $ $$
$
< $10
$$$
10- $20
$$$$
$
20-$35 > $35
ABBREVIATIONS & SPECIAL NOTES BW = Beer/Wine
L = Lunch
FB = Full Bar
D = Dinner Bite Club = Hosted Free Folio Weekly Bite Club Event F = Folio Weekly Distribution Spot
K = Kids’ Menu TO = Take Out B = Breakfast R = Brunch
To list your restaurant, call your account manager or call or text SAM TAYLOR, Folio Weekly publisher, at 904-860-2465 (email: staylor@folioweekly.com). 28 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
The SALTY PELICAN Bar & Grill, 12 N. Front St., 277-3811, thesaltypelicanamelia.com. F 2017 BOJ winner. 2nd-story outdoor bar. T.J. & Al offer local seafood, fish tacos, Mayport shrimp, po’boys, cheese oysters. $$ FB K L D Daily SLIDERS SEASIDE GRILL, 1998 S. Fletcher Ave., 277-6652, slidersseaside.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/ favorite. Oceanfront. Award-winning handmade crabcakes, fried pickles, fresh seafood. Open-air 2nd floor balcony, playground. $$ FB K L D Daily T-RAY’S BURGER STATION, 202 S. Eighth St., 261-6310, traysburgerstation.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Family-owned-and-operated 18+ years. Blue plate specials, burgers, biscuits & gravy, shrimp. $ BW TO B L M-Sa
ARLINGTON + REGENCY
LARRY’S Giant Subs, 1301 Monument Rd., Ste. 5, 724-5802. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK.
AVONDALE + ORTEGA
FOOD ADDICTZ GRILL, 1044 Edgewood Ave. S., 240-1987. F Family-and-veteran-owned place is all about home cooking. Customer faves: barbecued pulled pork, blackened chicken, Caesar wrap and Portobello mushroom burger. $ K TO B L D Tu-Su HARPOON LOUIE’S, 4070 Herschel St., Ste. 8, 389-5631, harpoonlouies.net. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Locally owned & operated 20+ years. American pub. 1/2-lb. burgers, fish sandwiches. Local beers, HH. $$ FB K TO L D Daily MOJO NO. 4 URBAN BBQ & WHISKEY BAR, 3572 St. Johns Ave., Ste. 1, 381-6670, mojobbq.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/ favorite. Pulled pork, Carolina-style barbecue. Delta fried catfish. Avondale’s Mojo has shrimp & grits, specialty cocktails. $$ FB K TO L D Daily PINEGROVE MARKET & DELI, 1511 PineGrove Ave., 389-8655, pinegrovemarket.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/ favorite. 40+ years. Burgers, Cubans, subs, wraps. Onsite butcher, USDA choice prime aged beef. Craft beers. Fri. & Sat. fish fry. $ BW TO B L D M-Sa RESTAURANT ORSAY, 3630 Park St., 381-0909, restaurantorsay.com. 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. French/ Southern bistro; local organic ingredients. Steak frites, mussels, pork chops. $$$ FB R, Su; D Nightly SIMPLY SARA’S, 2902 Corinthian Ave., 387-1000, simplysaras.net. F Down-home fare from scratch: eggplant fries, pimento cheese, baked chicken, fruit cobblers, chicken & dumplings, desserts. BYOB. $$ K TO L D Tu-Sa, B Sa SOUTH KITCHEN & SPIRITS, 3638 Park St., 475-2362, south.kitchen. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Southern classics: crispy catfish with smoked gouda grits, familystyle fried chicken, burgers, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free options. $$ FB K TO L D Daily
BAYMEADOWS
AL’S PIZZA, 8060 Philips Hwy., Ste. 105, 731-4300. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE INTRACOASTAL. INDIA’S, 9802 Baymeadows Rd., Ste. 8, 620-0777, indiajaxcom. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Authentic cuisine, lunch buffet. Curries, vegetables, lamb, chicken, shrimp, fish tandoori. $$ BW L M-Sa; D Nightly LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 8616 Baymeadows Rd., 739-2498. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. METRO DINER, 9802 Baymeadows Rd., 425-9142. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE SAN MARCO.
DINING DIRECTORY NATIVE SUN Natural Foods Market & Deli, 11030 Baymeadows Rd., 260-2791. BOJ favorite. SEE MANDARIN. PATTAYA THAI GRILLE, 9551 Baymeadows Rd., Ste. 1, 646-9506, ptgrille.com. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Since 1989. Family-owned place has an extensive menu of traditional Thai, vegetarian, new-Thai; curries, seafood, noodles, soups. Low-sodium & gluten-free. $$$ BW TO L D Tu-Sa THE WELL WATERING HOLE, 3928 Baymeadows Rd., Ste. 9, 737-7740, thewellwateringhole.com. Local craft beers, glass/bottle wines. Meatloaf sandwich, pulled Peruvian chicken, vegan black bean burgers. Gluten-free pizzas, desserts. HH specials. $$ BW K TO L M-F; D Tu-Sa WHISKEY JAX, 10915 Baymeadows Rd., Ste. 135, 634-7208, whiskeyjax.com. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Popular gastropub has craft beers, gourmet burgers, handhelds, signature plates, tacos and–sure–whiskey. HH M-F. $$ FB B Sa & Su; L F; D Nightly
BEACHES
(Venues are in Jax Beach unless otherwise noted.)
AL’S PIZZA, 240 Third St. N., Neptune Beach, 853-6773, thecraftpizzaco.com. F Al Mansur re-opened good ol’ Al’s, in a new spot. Dine inside or out. $$ BW L D Daily ANGIE’S SUBS, 1436 Beach Blvd., 246-2519. ANGIE’S GROM SUBS, 204 Third Ave. S., 241-3663. F 2017 BOJ winner. Fresh ingredients, 25+ years. Huge salads, blueribbon iced tea. Grom has Sun. brunch, no alcohol. $ K BW TO L D Daily BOLD BEAN COFFEE ROASTERS, 2400 S. Third St., Ste. 201, 374-5735. 2017 BOJ winner. SEE RIVERSIDE. BREEZY COFFEE SHOP WINE BAR, 235 Eighth Ave. S., 241-2211, breezycoffeeshopcafe.com. Local beachy coffee & wine shop by day; wine bar by night. Fresh baked pastries, breakfast sandwiches all day. Grab-n-Go salads, cheeses, hummus. $ BW K TO B L D Daily EUROPEAN STREET Café, 992 Beach Blvd., 249-3001, europeanstreet.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE RIVERSIDE. FLYING IGUANA Taqueria & Tequila Bar, 207 Atlantic Blvd., NB, 853-5680, flyingiguana.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Latin American: tacos, seafood, carnitas, Cubana fare. 100+ tequilas. $ FB TO L D Daily
BIG SHOTS!
DOWNTOWN
BELLWETHER, 100 N. Laura St., 802-7745, bellwetherjax.com. Elevated Southern classics in an understated setting, with chef/owner Jon Insetta’s focus on flavors, and chef Kerri Rogers’ culinary creativity. The Northeast Florida menu changes seasonally. Rotating local craft beers, regional spirits, cold brew coffee program. $$ FB TO L M-F CASA DORA, 108 E. Forsyth, 356-8282, casadoraitalian. com. F Serving Italian fare, 40+ years: veal, seafood, pizza. Homemade salad dressing. $ BW K L M-F; D M-Sa ELEMENT BISTRO & CRAFT BAR, 333 E. Bay St., 438-5173. Inside Myth Nightclub. Locally sourced, organic fare with fresh herbs and spices. HH $$ FB D, Tu-Su OLIO MARKET, 301 E. Bay St., 356-7100, oliomarket.com. F Scratch soups, sandwiches. Duck grilled cheese, seen on Best Sandwich in America. $$ BW TO B R L M-F; D F & Sa SPLIFF’S GASTROPUB, 15 N. Ocean St., 844-5000, spliffsgastropub.com. 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Music venue has munchie apps, mac & cheese dishes, pockets, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. HH M-F. $ BW L D M-Sa URBAN GRIND COFFEE COMPANY, 45 W. Bay, Ste. 102, 516-7799, urbangrind.coffee. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Locally roasted whole bean brewed coffees, espressos, pastries, smoothies, bagels. Chicken/tuna salad, sandwiches. WiFi. $ B L M-F URBAN GRIND EXPRESS, 50 W. Laura St., 516-7799. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ABOVE. ZODIAC BAR & GRILL, 120 W. Adams St., 354-8283, thezodiacbarandgrill.com. 16+ years. Mediterranean cuisine, American fare, paninis, vegetarian dishes. Lunch buffet. Espressos, hookahs. HH M-F. $ FB L M-F; D W-Sa
FLEMING ISLAND
GRASSROOTS NATURAL MARKET, 1915 East-West Pkwy., 541-0009. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE RIVERSIDE. MOJO Smokehouse, 1810 Town Ctr. Blvd., Ste. 8, 264-0636. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE AVONDALE. WHITEY’S FISH CAMP, 2032 C.R. 220, 269-4198, whiteysfishcamp.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Real fish camp. Gator tail, catfish, daily specials, on Swimming Pen Creek. Tiki bar. Boat, bike or car. $ FB K TO L Tu-Su; D Nightly
JAMIE LAKES
Moon River Pizza
1176 Edgewood Ave. S. • Riverside Born in: Jacksonville Years in Biz: 2 Favorite Cocktail Style: Mojito/Manhattan Go-To Ingredients: Bitters Hangover Cure: Multiple bottles of water throughtout the night when waking up from death sleep, then Netflix naked all day the next day. Will Not Cross My Lips: Warm whiskey Insider’s Secret: The ideal head should always be 1-1½" Celebrity Seen at Your Bar: Adam Duritz … like ya’ know Mr. Jones When You Say "The Usual": Tequila Sunrise (thanks, Mick Jagger)
GUSTO, 1266 Beach Blvd., 372-9925, gustojax.com. F Classic Old World Roman fare, big Italian menu: homestyle pasta, beef, chicken, fish delicacies; open pizza-tossing kitchen. Reservations encouraged. $$ FB TO L R D Tu-Su HAWKERS ASIAN STREET FARE, 241 Atlantic Blvd., NB, 425-1025. 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE RIVERSIDE. LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 657 Third St. N., 247-9620. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. METRO DINER, 1534 3rd St. N., 853-6817. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE SAN MARCO. MOJO KITCHEN BBQ Pit & Blues Bar, 1500 Beach Blvd., 247-6636. 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE AVONDALE. M SHACK, 299 Atlantic Blvd., AB, 241-2599, shackburgers.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Burgers, hot dogs, fries, shakes. Dine indoors or out. $$ BW L D Daily NATIVE SUN Natural Foods Market & Deli, 1585 N. Third St., 458-1390. 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE MANDARIN. RAGTIME TAVERN Seafood & Grill, 207 Atlantic Blvd., AB, 241-7877, ragtimetavern.com. F 34 years and counting, the iconic seafood place serves blackened snapper, sesame tuna, Ragtime shrimp. Daily HH, brunch Sun. $$ FB L D Daily WHISKEY JAX, 950 Marsh Landing Pkwy., 853-5973. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE BAYMEADOWS.
CAMDEN COUNTY, GEORGIA
CAPTAIN STAN’S SMOKEHOUSE, 700 Bedell Dr., Woodbine, 912-729-9552. Barbecue, sides, hot dogs, burgers, desserts. Dine in or out on picnic tables. $$ FB K TO L & D Tu-Sa LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 6586 GA. Hwy. 40 B6, St. Marys, 912-576-7006. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. OUTERBANKS SPORTS BAR & GRILLE, 140 The Lakes Blvd., Ste. H, Kingsland, 912-729-5499. Fresh seafood, burgers, steaks, wings. $$ FB TO D Nightly
INTRACOASTAL WEST
AL’S PIZZA, 14286 Beach Blvd., Ste. 31, 223-0991. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. 30 years of awesome gourmet pizza, baked dishes. All day HH M-Th. $ FB K TO L D Daily LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 10750 Atlantic Blvd., Ste. 14, 642-6980. F BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK.
MANDARIN + NW ST. JOHNS
AL’S PIZZA, 11190 San Jose Blvd., 260-4115. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE INTRACOASTAL. ATHENS CAFÉ, 6271 St. Augustine Rd., Ste. 7, 733-1199, athenscafejax.com. 2017 BOJ winner. 20+ years of Greek fare, serving dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), baby shoes (stuffed eggplant), Greek beers. Vegetarian-friendly. Full bar. Early bird menu Mon.-Fri. $$ FB L M-F; D M-Sa FIRST COAST DELI & GRILL, 6082 St. Augustine Rd., 733-7477. Pancakes, bacon, sandwiches, burgers, wings. $ K TO B L Daily JAX DINER, 5065 St. Augustine Rd., 739-7070, jaxdiner.com. Chef Roderick “Pete” Smith, a local culinary expert with nearly 20 years under his apron, uses locally sourced ingredients from area farmers, vendors and the community for American and Southern dishes. Seasonal brunch. $ K TO B L M-F, D F METRO DINER, 12807 San Jose Blvd., 638-6185. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Dinner. SEE SAN MARCO. MOJO BAR-B-QUE, 1607 University Blvd. W., 732-7200, mojobbq.com. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE AVONDALE. NATIVE SUN Natural Foods Market & Deli, 10000 San Jose Blvd., 260-6950, nativesunjax.com. BOJ favorite. Organic soups, baked items, sandwiches, prepared foods. Juice, smoothie, coffee bar. All-natural beer/wine. $ BW TO B L D Daily
MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 29
DINING DIRECTORY BITE-SIZED
photo by Brentley Stead
WHAT’S YOUR FUNCTION?
OVERSET
Grown-up BURGER BARS in Jax Beach and Mandarin THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THE AROMA OF A juicy burger being cooked to order that makes a carnivore’s mouth water. The area’s newish Graffiti Junktion American Burger Bars have two functions: Send that scent through the air, then satisfy the cravings it creates. The casual Jax Beach spot has indoor and outdoor bars and seating; the service is efficient–a sports bar vibe with a street art nuance. The sun is officially shining and it’s vacation time, which means we can splurge on stuff we don’t usually splurge on. For me, that’s something way good greasy I don’t usually order. Bring on Buffalo Chicken Tots ($10). Chunky, crispy fried tenders, tossed in housemade buffalo sauce, topped with fresh bacon pieces and bleu cheese crumbles. It’s a decent-sized basket–enough to share with a table full of pals. Go one better to impress: get the award-winning Macho Nachos ($15)–layers of corn tortilla chips, a choice of beef or grilled chicken, topped with sour cream, housemade salsa, cheddar cheese and fresh jalapeños. Go for it; I hear they’re award-winning. OK, now the pièce de résistance dans la maison: the much-ballyhooed burger! Each order includes two 100 percent Angus beef patties, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles, plus handcut fries. Graffiti Junktion has at least 10 ways to order a burger, including a veggie variety. I opted for Brotherly Love burger ($11) because, in these trying times, we could all use a little more of that. The well-engineered burger arrives on a metal tray. My B.L. burger had a layer of peppers and onions topped with mushrooms and cheese, somewhere among the beef and the other stuff
GRAFFITI JUNKTION AMERICAN BURGER BAR
265 Fifth Ave. N., Jax Beach, 372-9985 9703 San Jose Blvd., Mandarin, 738-8349 graffitijunktion.com
stuffed between the buns. Each bite’s nice and juicy and the construction stays together–no table of contents here. A side of tots is included; you can opt for zucchini fries or something else that’s not fried, but I quit listening–he had me at zucchini fries. The crispy delights held up to being fried–you know how flimsy cooked zucchini can be! Get a starter basket of these yummy squash pieces ($6.75). There are hot dogs, salads and sandwiches–but who goes to a burger joint for a salad? There are veggie options, like Roasted Veggie Sandwich ($11), a rather fancy combo for a burger joint. Bite into balsamic-glazed portobello mushrooms, cucumbers, pepperjack cheese and roasted peppers, topped with sprouts and a housemade goat cheese spread, all snugged up within grilled marble rye. There are nightly drink specials, from ladies night to Sunday brunch deals. Adequate beer selection, but I opted for an off-menu cocktail, a dreadful Heathrow Honey combo: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, agave sour mix, ginger ale. All the things I thought would work but, oohooo boy, was I wrong! I’m sharing to spare your pain. Stick with a classic whiskey ginger. This is the Orlando company’s second NEFla Graffiti Junktion, and it’s just right for Jax Beach. Brentley Stead biteclub@folioweekly.com ____________________________________ If you have a recommendation, shoot me an email at biteclub@folioweekly.com. 30 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
The sliders at RAGTIME TAVERN, in the heart of Neptune Beach Town Center, are pulled pork piled high on toasted mini-rolls with pickled red onions, cheddar cheese and spicy barbecue sauce. photo by Devon Sarian
ORANGE PARK
THE HILLTOP, 2030 Wells Rd., 272-5959, hilltop-club.com. Southern fine dining. New Orleans shrimp, certified Black Angus prime rib, she-crab soup, desserts. Extensive bourbon selection. $$$ FB D Tu-Sa LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 1330 Blanding Blvd., Ste. 165, 276-7370. 1545 C.R. 220, 278-2827. 700 Blanding Blvd., Ste. 15, 272-3553. 5733 Roosevelt Blvd., 446-9500. 1401 S. Orange Ave., Green Cove, 284-7789, larryssubs.com. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Larry’s piles ’em high, serves ’em fast; 36+ years. Hot & cold subs, soups. Some Larry’s serve breakfast. $ K TO B L D Daily METRO DINER, 2034 Kingsley Ave., 375-8548. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Dinner nightly. SEE SAN MARCO. The ROADHOUSE, 231 Blanding Blvd., 264-0611, roadhouseonline.net. F 2017 BOJ favorite.Sandwiches, wings, burgers, quesadillas for 35+ years. 75+ imported beers. Live music. $ FB L D Daily SPRING PARK COFFEE, 328 Ferris St., Green Cove Springs, 531-9391, springparkcoffee.com. F Fresh-roasted Brass Tacks coffee, handcrafted hot & cold drinks, lattes, cappuccino, macchiato, pastries, breakfast. $ B L D Daily
PONTE VEDRA BEACH
AL’S PIZZA, 635 A1A, 543-1494. F 2017 BOJ winner/ favorite. SEE INTRACOASTAL. LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 830 A1A N., Ste. 6, 273-3993. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. M SHACK NOCATEE, 641 Crosswater Pkwy., 395-3575. F 2017 BOJ winner. SEE BEACHES. METRO DINER, 340 Front St., Ste. 700, 513-8422. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE SAN MARCO.
RIVERSIDE, 5 PTS + WESTSIDE
13 GYPSIES, 887 Stockton St., 389-0330, 13gypsies.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Authentic Mediterranean cuisine: chorizo, tapas, blackened cod, pork skewers, coconut mango curry chicken. Breads from scratch. $$ BW L D Tu-Sa, R Sa AL’S PIZZA, 1620 Margaret St., Ste. 201, 388-8384. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE INTRACOASTAL. BIG OAK BBQ & CATERING, 1948 Henley Rd., Middleburg, 214-3041. 1440 Dunn Ave., 757-2225, bigoakbbqfl.com. Family-owned-and-operated barbecue joints have smoked chicken, pulled pork, ribs, sides and stumps, which sounds damn good. $$ K TO L D M-Sa BLACK SHEEP, 1534 Oak St., 355-3793, blacksheep5points.com. 2017 BOJ winner. New American, Southern; local source ingredients. Specials, rooftop bar. HH. $$$ FB R Sa & Su; L M-F; D Nightly BOLD BEAN COFFEE ROASTERS, 869 Stockton St., Ste. 1, 855-1181, boldbeancoffee.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Smallbatch, artisanal approach to sourcing and roasting singleorigin, direct-trade coffees. Signature blends, hand-crafted syrups, espressos, craft beers. $ BW TO B L Daily CORNER TACO, 818 Post St., 240-0412, cornertaco.com. Made-from-scratch “Mexclectic street food,” tacos, nachos, gluten-free, vegetarian options. $ BW L D Tu-Su CUMMER CAFÉ, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, 829 Riverside Ave., 356-6857, cummer.org. 2017 BOJ winner. Light lunch, quick bites, locally roasted coffee, espresso-based drinks, sandwiches, desserts, daily specials. Dine in or in gardens. $ BW K L D Tu; L W-Su EUROPEAN STREET CAFÉ, 2753 Park St., 384-9999. 2017 BOJ winner. 130+ import beers, 20 on tap. Sandwiches. Dine outside at some E-Sts. $ BW K L D Daily GRASSROOTS Natural Market, 2007 Park St., 384-4474, thegrassrootsmarket.com. F 2017 BOJ winner. Juice bar
uses certified organic fruits, veggies. Artisanal cheeses, 300 craft, import beers, organic wines, produce, meats, vitamins, herbs, wraps, sides, sandwiches. $ BW TO B L D Daily HAWKERS ASIAN Street Fare, 1001 Park St., 508-0342, hawkerstreetfare.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Authentic dishes from mobile stalls: BBQ pork char sui, beef haw fun, Hawkers baos, chow faan, grilled Hawker skewers. $ BW TO L D Daily JOHNNY’S Deli & Grille, 474 Riverside Ave., 356-8055. Casual spot offers made-to-order sandwiches, wraps. $ TO B L M-Sa LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 1509 Margaret St., 674-2794. 7895 Normandy Blvd., 781-7600. 8102 Blanding Blvd., 779-1933. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. METRO DINER, 4495 Roosevelt Blvd., 999-4600. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE SAN MARCO. MOON RIVER PIZZA, 1176 Edgewood Ave. S., 389-4442. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE AMELIA ISLAND. M SHACK, 1012 Margaret St., 423-1283. 2017 BOJ winner. SEE BEACHES. SOUTHERN ROOTS Filling Station, 1275 King St., 513-4726, southernrootsjax.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Fresh vegan fare; local, organic ingredients. Specials, on bread, local greens/ rice, change daily. Sandwiches, coffees, teas. $ Tu-Su SUN-RAY CINEMA, 1028 Park St., 359-0047, sunraycinema. com. 2017 BOJ winner. First-run, indie and art films screened. Beer, local drafts, wine, pizza–Godbold, Black Lagoon Supreme–hot dogs, hummus, sandwiches, popcorn, nachos, brownies. $$ BW Daily SUSHI CAFÉ, 2025 Riverside Ave., Ste. 204, 384-2888, sushicafejax.com. F Monster, Rock-n-Roll, Dynamite Roll. Hibachi, tempura, katsu, teriyaki. Patio. $$ BW L D Daily
ST. AUGUSTINE
AL’S PIZZA, 1 St. George St., 824-4383. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. SEE INTRACOASTAL. The CORAZON CINEMA & CAFE, 36 Granada St., 679-5736, corazoncinemaandcafe.com. F Sandwiches, combos, salads and pizza are served at the cinema house, showing indie and first-run movies. $$ Daily DESSERT FIRST BISTRO, 121 Yacht Club Dr., 417-0468, dessertfirstbistro.com. It’s all made from scratch: breakfast, lunch, desserts. Plus coffees, espressos, craft beers, wine, hot teas. $ BW K TO B, L Tu-Su The FLORIDIAN, 72 Spanish St., 829-0655, thefloridianstaug.com. Updated Southern fare; fresh, local ingredients. Vegetarian, gluten-free options. Signature fried green tomato bruschetta, blackened fish cornbread stack; grits w/shrimp/fish/tofu. $$$ BW K TO L D W-M GYPSY CAB COMPANY, 828 Anastasia Blvd., 824-8244, gypsycab.com. F 34+ years. Varied urban cuisine menu changes twice daily. Signature: Gypsy chicken. Seafood, tofu, duck, veal. $$ FB R Su; L D Daily MARDI GRAS SPORTS BAR, 123 San Marco Ave., 347-3288, mardibar.com. F Lively spot has wings, nachos, shrimp, chicken, Phillys, sliders, soft pretzels. $$ FB TO L D Daily METRO DINER, 1000 S. Ponce de Leon Blvd., 758-3323. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Dinner nightly. SEE SAN MARCO. MOJO OLD CITY BBQ, 5 Cordova St., 342-5264, mojobbq.com. F 2017 BOJ winner. SEE AVONDALE. SALT LIFE Food Shack, 321 A1A, 217-3256. F SEE BEACHES. SARBEZ, 115 Anastasia Blvd., 342-0632, planetsarbez.com. Local music venue has gourmet grilled cheese: Sarbez melt: smoked mozzarella, turkey, bacon, signature sauce on locally baked sourdough. Local craft beers. $ BW L, D Daily
WOODPECKER’S Backyard BBQ, 4930 S.R. 13, 531-5670, woodpeckersbbq.weebly.com. F Smoked fresh daily. Brisket, ribs, pork, sausage, turkey: in sandwiches, plates by the pound. 8 sauces, 10 sides. $$ TO L D Tu-Su
SAN MARCO + SOUTHBANK
The BEARDED PIG Southern BBQ & Beer Garden, 1224 Kings Ave., 619-2247, thebeardedpigbbq.com. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Barbecue joint Southern style: brisket, pork, chicken, sausage, beef; veggie platters. $$ BW K TO Daily BISTRO AIX, 1440 San Marco Blvd., 398-1949, bistrox.com. F Mediterranean/French inspired menu changes seasonally. 250+ wines. Wood-fired oven-baked, grilled specialties: pizza, pasta, risotto, steaks, seafood. Hand-crafted cocktails, specialty drinks. Dine outside. HH M-F. $$$ FB L D Daily BOLD BEAN COFFEE ROASTERS, 1905 Hendricks Ave. 2017 BOJ winner. SEE RIVERSIDE. EUROPEAN STREET CAFÉ, 1704 San Marco Blvd., 398-9500. F 2017 BOJ winner. SEE RIVERSIDE. FUSION SUSHI, 1550 University Blvd. W., 636-8688, fusionsushijax.com. Upscale; fresh sushi, sashimi, hibachi, teriyaki, katsu, seafood. $$ K L D Daily HAVANA-JAX Café/CUBA LIBRE Bar, 2578 Atlantic Blvd., 399-0609, havanajax.com. F 2017 BOJ winner. Bite Club certified. Cuban sandwiches, black beans & rice, plantains, steaks, seafood, chicken & rice, roast pork. Spanish wine, drink specials, mojitos, Cuba libres. Nonstop HH. $ FB K L D Daily METRO DINER, 3302 Hendricks Ave., 398-3701, metro dinercom. F 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Original upscale diner in a historic 1930s-era building. Meatloaf, chicken pot pie, soups. This one serves dinner nightly. $$ B R L D Daily TAVERNA, 1986 San Marco Blvd., 398-3005, tavernasanmarco.com. 2017 BOJ winner/favorite. Chef Sam Efron’s authentic Italian; tapas, wood-fired pizza. Seasonal local produce, meats. Craft beer (some local), award-winning wine. $$$ FB K TO R L D Daily
SOUTHSIDE + TINSELTOWN
ALHAMBRA THEATRE & DINING, 12000 Beach Blvd., 641-1212, alhambrajax.com. 2017 BOJ winner. Open 50 years. Executive Chef DeJuan Roy’s themed menus. Reservations. $$ FB D Tu-Su EUROPEAN STREET CAFÉ, 5500 Beach Blvd., 398-1717. F 2017 BOJ winner. SEE RIVERSIDE. LARRY’S SUBS, 3611 St. Johns Bluff Rd. S., 641-6499. 4479 Deerwood Lake Pkwy., 425-4060. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. MARIANAS GRINDS, 11380 Beach, Ste. 10, 206-612-6596. F Pacific Islander fare, chamorro culture. Soups, stews, fitada, beef oxtail, katden pika; empanadas, lumpia, chicken relaguen, BBQ-style ribs, chicken. $$ TO B L D Tu-Su M SHACK, 10281 Midtown Pkwy., 642-5000. F 2017 BOJ winner. SEE BEACHES.
SPRINGFIELD + NORTHSIDE
ANDY’S GRILL, 1810 W. Beaver St., 354-2821, jaxfarmersmarket.com. F 2017 BOJ favorite. Inside Jax Farmers Market. Local, regional, international produce. Breakfast, sandwiches. $ B L D M-Sa LARRY’S GIANT SUBS, 12001 Lem Turner Rd., 764-9999. F 2017 BOJ favorite. SEE ORANGE PARK. UPTOWN Kitchen & Bar, 1303 Main St. N., 355-0734, uptownmarketjax.com. F Bite Club certified. Fresh fare, innovative menus, farm-to-table selections, daily specials. $$ BW TO B L Daily
PINT-SIZED
BEER
Running down a DREAM
MILE
LOCAL BREWERIES HAVE RECENTLY EMBRACED the latest ritual in the Church of the Holy Suds—the Beer Mile. It combines two great activities: running and drinking beer. Many breweries designate a certain night of the week for a beer run; participants meet at the brewery, run a specific course, then meet back at the brewery for post-run beers. In the annals of sporting events since man moved competitively against his fellow hunter/gatherers, there’s one run that’s so brutal, so taxing, runners revere those who’ve posted the best times. What’s a beer run? It goes like this: Runners must consume a beer, run a quarter-mile, consume another beer, run another quarter-mile—do this two more times, until four beers have been drunk and four quarter-miles have been run. Get it? Four quarter-miles equal … uh … a mile. The origins of this phenomenon have been shrouded in the mists of time, but it’s widely accepted the sudsy sport began on college campuses in Florida and New England. Variations also appeared in England, Indonesia and Canada. The earliest recorded races were held in the late 1980s and early ’90s, when runners played fast and loose with the rules. A group of runners in Ontario, Canada set down rules that have become the accepted guidelines for most beer run enthusiasts. The Kingston Rules created a standard that allowed runners across the nation and around the world to measure their performances against others’ efforts. In abbreviated form, the rules are: Each runner must drink four beers and run four quarter-miles. The entire beer must be consumed before a lap begins. The
race begins when the first beer is opened. Competition beers must be 5 percent or more alcohol, canned, with a standard opening—no wide-mouths, etc. No shotgunning. You must run a penalty lap if you hurl before the race is over. Kingston Rules deviations are legion. For instance, in the U.K., runners must drink an Imperial pint—20 ounces of beer—and may do so from a glass. There’s no penalty for puking. This is called a chunder mile. There’s also a steeplechase beer mile, with 16 barriers and four water pits. Website beermile.com publishes an extensive FAQ on the sport, along with the more-or-less accepted rules for North America. The gist of it is to run a mile while drinking four beers. You must follow a pattern: drink, quarter-mile run, drink, quarter-mile run, drink, quarter-mile run, drink, stumble to the finish line. A runner must drink the first beer before he or she begins to run and must complete each ensuing beer before continuing the run. If a runner can’t hold down the brew, they must run a penalty lap. Beer must be drunk from a standard 12-ounce can, with no alterations or “Easy Pour” mouths— “shotgunning” is strictly prohibited. Beer must be 5 percent ABV or higher to qualify as competition suitable. The entire endeavor is timed and the winner is celebrated at the end. To date, the fastest officially recorded beer mile was run in 4:33.6 by Canadian Corey Bellemore; a seemingly miraculous feat that may never be beaten. Hey, bartender … or is it coach? Draw three more!
OVERSET
Marc Wisdom marc@folioweekly.com
PINT-SIZED PI NT-S NT T-SIZ ZED ED B BREWERS’ REWE WERS ERS R ’ COMMUNITY COMM MM MUN U IT ITY Y AARDWOLF BREWING COMPANY 1461 Hendricks Ave., Jacksonville
BOTTLENOSE BREWING 9700 Deer Lake Ct., Ste. 1, Jacksonville
PINGLEHEAD BREWING COMPANY 12 Blanding Blvd., Orange Park
AMELIA TAVERN RESTAURANT & BREWPUB 318 Centre St., Fernandina Beach
DOG ROSE BREWING CO. 77 Bridge St., St. Augustine
RAGTIME TAVERN SEAFOOD & GRILL 207 Atlantic Blvd., Atlantic Beach
ANCIENT CITY BREWING 3420 Agricultural Ctr. Dr., St. Augustine
ENGINE 15 BREWING CO. DOWNTOWN 633 Myrtle Ave. N., Jacksonville
RIVER CITY BREWING COMPANY 835 Museum Cir., Jacksonville
ANHEUSER-BUSCH 1100 Ellis Rd. N., Jacksonville
ENGINE 15 BREWING CO. 1500 Beach Blvd., Ste. 217, Jax Beach
SEVEN BRIDGES GRILLE & BREWERY 9735 Gate Pkwy., Jacksonville
ATLANTIC BEACH BREWING COMPANY 725 Atlantic Blvd., Ste. 3, Atlantic Beach
GREEN ROOM BREWING, LLC 228 Third St. N., Jax Beach
SOUTHERN SWELLS BREWING CO. 1312 Beach Blvd., Jax Beach
BEARDED BUFFALO BREWING COMPANY 1012 King St., Jacksonville
HYPERION BREWING COMPANY 1740 Main St. N., Jacksonville
VETERANS UNITED CRAFT BREWERY 8999 Western Way, Ste. 104, Jacksonville
BOG BREWING COMPANY 218 W. King St., St. Augustine
INTUITION ALE WORKS 929 E. Bay St., Jacksonville
WICKED BARLEY BREWING COMPANY 4100 Baymeadows Rd., Jacksonville
BOLD CITY BREWERY 2670 Rosselle St., Ste. 7, Jacksonville
MAIN AND SIX BREWING COMPANY 1636 Main St. N., Jacksonville
BOLD CITY DOWNTOWN 109 E. Bay St., Jacksonville
OLD COAST ALES 300 Anastasia Blvd., St. Augustine
MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 31
CHEFFED-UP CHEFFED UP ROYALTY and SCALLOPS, by the sea, the bay or calico
A DIFFERENT
SWEET MEAT INSPIRED BY PRINCE HARRY’S WEDDING TO AN American, I decided to make this column about scallops a bit more cheeky and use my new British accent. Problem is, I can’t figure out how to transfer my magnificent, native-sounding inflection from my lips to paper. My only thought is to insert British colloquialisms in my writing whenever possible. BTW, quite a few blokes have heard me cockney accent and mistaken me for a native Londoner, they have. Right, then, I think I’ll have a go at it. I recall as a wee lad that scallops were really not my cup of tea. Small, rubbery and slightly fishy, they were. When I think back to the dishes containing these bivalves, I realize that they were likely a highly processed or frozen version of bay scallops, obvious rubbish! Leave it to the barmy colonists to botch the ruddy job of preparing scallops. Now if you’d care to know your onions about scallops, then lend me an ear, guv’nah. Scallops are sold in three varieties: bay, sea and calico. Bay and calico are smaller in size than sea scallops and, as the name states, are harvested from bays. The difference between a common bay scallop and a calico is that a naff calico scallop must be steamed to get the bloody shell open, so they’re usually sold frozen and are the cheapest. Full stop. The quality of regular bay scallops varies a great deal. Most commonly, they’re processed in a chemical solution known as STP and are labeled “wet pack.” This solution (not what Will Power uses) helps the scallop retain moisture and slows spoilage. The problem? The scallops will soak this solution up like a sponge, causing the flesh to get wet and mushy, and not in a smashing way like mushy peas. Blimey, that must’ve been the issue with the damp squib scallops of my youth. Sea scallops can be stonking. Quite right; they’re sold by the count and labeled as “wet pack” or “dry pack.” Dry pack sea scallops do not contain STP, making them brilliant! With scallops as well as shrimp, the smaller the count, the larger the individual scallop.
The larger the scallop, the less likely you’ll over-cook them in a cack-handed fashion. Try not to drop a clanger by over-cooking these beauties. They’ll cook through quicker than you can say Bob’s your uncle, and they’ll taste amazing over this roasted corn risotto. Give it a go—it’s definitely a meal fit for Her Majesty.
CHEF BILL’S ROASTED CORN RISOTTO Ingredients • 1/2 med. onion, fine brunoise • 1 cup aborio rice • 2 oz. vermouth, or white wine • 2 cups corn stock or vegetable stock • 2 cups chicken stock • 1 ear yellow corn, roasted • 1/2 roasted poblano • Whole butter, in cubes • Compté cheese or any grana style cheese • Salt & pepper to taste Directions 1. Slowly sweat the onions, add rice, toast. 2. Add the vermouth to just the top of 1. rice. Simmer to absorb. 3. Begin seasoning with salt and pepper. 1. Mix the stocks, heat to a boil and add 1. enough to cover by 2 inches. Do not 1. lose the simmer. Stir occasionally, 1. don’t allow to dry out or stick. Add 1. a second addition of stock to cover by 1. 2 inches. Stir. Continue to season. 4. When stock is absorbed, check the 1. doneness of the rice—it should be al 1. dente. If too hard, add more stock. 1. Fold in the corn and poblanos. 5. Add whole butter and cheese, taste, 1. adjust seasoning. Until we cook again,
Chef Bill Thompson cheffedup@folioweekly.com __________________________________ Email Chef Bill Thompson, owner of Fernandina’s Amelia Island Culinary Academy, at cheffedup@folioweekly.com, for inspiration and to get Cheffed-Up!
CHEFFED-UP GROCERS’ COMMUNITY BUYGO 22 S. Eighth St., Fernandina Beach EARTH FARE 11901-250 Atlantic Blvd., Arlington JACKSONVILLE FARMERS MARKET 1810 W. Beaver St., Westside NATIVE SUN 11030 Baymeadows Rd., Jacksonville 10000 San Jose Blvd., Mandarin 1585 N. Third St., Jax Beach 32 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
PUBLIX 1033 A1A Beach Blvd., St. Augustine ROWE’S 1670 Wells Rd., Orange Park 8595 Beach Blvd., Southside THE SAVORY MARKET 474380 S.R. 200, Fernandina Beach TERRY’S PRODUCE Buccaneer Trail, Fernandina Beach WHOLE FOODS 10601 San Jose Blvd., Mandarin
Brett’s Waterway Café
Moon River Pizza
Overlooking Fernandina Harbor Marina, Brett’s offers an upscale atmosphere with outstanding food. The extensive luncheon and dinner menus feature daily specials, fresh Florida seafood, chicken and aged beef. Cocktails, beer and wine. Casual resort wear. Open at 11:30 a.m. daily.
Moon River Pizza treats customers like family. Cooked in a brick oven, the pizza is custommade by the slice (or, of course, by the pie). Set up like an Atlanta-style pizza joint, Moon River also offers an eclectic selection of wine and beer. Open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. Dine in or take it with you.
925 S. 14th Street 904-321-3400
Fernandina Harbor Marina at the foot of Centre Street 904-261-2660
The Mustard Seed Cafe 833 T.J. Courson Road 904-277-3141
T-Ray’s Burger Station
Inside Nassau Health Foods, The Mustard Seed is Amelia Island’s only organic eatery and juice bar, with an extensive, eclectic menu featuring vegetarian and vegan items. Daily specials include local seafood, free-range chicken and fresh organic produce. Salads, wraps, sandwiches and soups are available – all prepared with our staff’s impeccable style. Popular items are chicken or veggie quesadillas, grilled mahi, or salmon over mixed greens and tuna melt with Swiss cheese and tomato. Open for breakfast and lunch, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Sat. nassauhealthfoods.net
202 S. Eighth Street 904-261-6310
T-Ray’s offers a variety of breakfast and lunch items. In addition to an outstanding breakfast menu, you’ll find some of the best burgers you’ve ever put in your mouth. The Burger Station offers a grilled portabello mushroom burger, grilled or fried chicken salad and much more. The spot where locals grab a bite and go! Now serving beer & wine. Open Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Closed Sundays.
The Pointe Restaurant 98 S. Fletcher Avenue 904-277-4851
The Pointe, located at Elizabeth Pointe Lodge, is open to the public daily from 7 a.m.–10 a.m. for breakfast and 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. for lunch. Sunday brunch is served one Sunday each month from 11 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Oceanview indoor and outdoor seating is available. Please call the Inn to reserve a table or to enquire further about the restaurant.
Amelia Island is 13 miles of unspoiled beaches, quaint shops, antique treasures and superb dining in a 50-block historic district less than one hour north of Jacksonville MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 33
PET PARENTING FOLIO LIVING
DEAR DAVI
PETS LIKE US:
ARES & JUNO
Behind every GOOD HUMAN is an AWESOME PET waiting to share its story WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT A RAT AND A CAT in the same room? You’d expect chaos to ensue, but that’s not always true. Unlike what most cartoons would have you believe, these rats see cats as family.
MEET ARES & JUNO
Davi: What is a common misconception about rats? Ares: People think we’re dirty and gross, but we’re actually very clean. We groom ourselves just like cats, and almost never need to bathe. People also think we’re vicious, but we’re really affectionate.
OVERSET
What would you rather be doing instead of what you’re doing right now? My bro, Juno, would rather be searching for a place he heard of called “all-you-caneat buffet.” I want to learn about a contest called “the rat race.” Sounds way fun, and I’m very fast! Have you ever been lost? I once burrowed under pillows to get comfy. My guardians didn’t see me, so they freaked out! They turned the bedroom inside-out trying to find me while I watched! Hilarious! What’s the best cheese? I’m a big Colby Jack fan; Juno loves Swiss. What’s the absolute worst name you could give a rat? We have a cousin named Catfood. He gets really nervous around his feline siblings. What normal things do rats do that other animals think are weird? We’re excellent climbers, and great jumpers! Ever been mistaken for a mouse? All the time! But we’re much bigger than mice, and longer and—not to brag—but we’re way friendlier! Do you prefer comfy cozy or roughing it? We definitely put the ‘creature’ in ‘creature
comforts.’ We sleep in soft hammocks and the floor’s always thick with cottony paper bedding. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what’s it gonna be? That’s tough, but I’d say pumpkin seeds. They’re so yummy! What do you love most about your humans? We love that they took the time to learn about us before adopting and socializing us, so we’re comfortable being handled. They also challenge us with activities and feed us a well-balanced diet. In return, we love spending time and cuddling with them. Friends come in all shapes and sizes. They may be unusual pets, but rats are intelligent, interesting animals. I’ve nibbled at rat facts to show why these rodents rock. Rats can laugh. They don’t chuckle like humans, but make a high-pitched noise when they play. Rats use their tails to communicate, keep their bodies at the right temperature and help them balance. Rats are social creatures and live in communities where they care for each other, sleep together and play. Rats cave to peer-pressure, just like people. The urge to conform is so strong, many will eat repulsive food if they see their friends doing it. (Kinda like that Empire State Building thing, amirite?) Rats are extremely clean animals, spending several hours a day grooming themselves and others. Rats have good memories. They can recognize a person’s face, respond to their name and, once they learn a navigation route, they never forget it! Davi mail@folioweekly.com ____________________________________ Davi the dachshund was delighted to learn that his rat friends use their tails to communicate—he does, too!
PET TIP: S’NOT A SECRETE ANY MORE APPARENTLY, THE KEY TO LUMINOUS SKIN IS FOUND IN MR. GARY’S slimy secretions. According to ABC News, the goop is collected (just imagine those tiny spatulas!) after the snails secrete it–so no one’s hurt in the harvesting–then it’s blended into various lotions and serums; though experts say there’s no guarantee of efficacy. If you happen to have a pet snail, it’s advisable to wet your hands before picking it up; keep them in moist, chemical-free soil–not that stuff from your yard … because if you decide to wipe snail goo on your face, it’s probably best to not include pesticides and dog poop particles! 34 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
LOCAL PET EVENTS TAPPING FOR TAILS! • A homebrewz contest with samples of, and voting on, favorite beers. Plus, local dogfriendly businesses and vendors, a pro pet photographer, food truck and a dog zone with agility equipment and pools, 1-5 p.m. June 2, Brewz, 14866 Old St. Augustine Rd., Ste. 101, Jacksonville. ADOPT A BARK IN THE PARK • Adoptions, a doggie kissing booth, vendors, microchip checks, demonstrations, a ball pit, and so much more, 10 a.m.1 p.m. June 2 at 1532 Atlantic Blvd., unleashjax.com. MEGA PET ADOPTION • First Coast No More Homeless Pets, Petco Foundation, Jacksonville Animal Care & Protective Services, Nassau Humane Society, Friends of Clay County Animals, and Jacksonville Humane Society offer more than 1,000 pets, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. June 8, 9 and 10 at Jacksonville Fairgrounds, Downtown, fcnmhp.org.
ADOPTABLES
LOVELY
Stevie Wonder sang it best: Isn’t she “Lovely”? Isn’t she wonderful? If you’re looking for a well-mannered kitty, I’m your sweetheart. Check it out: I enjoy gentle snuggles, snacks and naps. Visit jaxhumane.org to learn more about me and take me home!
WORLD OCEANS DAY • Celebrate the international conservation event 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 9, with info booths, music, food, drinks and games. Free with regular zoo admission. On hand are folks from Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol, Manatee Critical Care Center, and penguin and stingray keepers. Jacksonville Zoo, 370 Zoo Pkwy., Northside, 757-4463, jacksonvillezoo.org. DOG DAY AFTERNOON • Canines and crustaceans … what could be, better (ha!). Bring your well-behaved doggo to the ball park (prepared to sign a waiver) 7 p.m. June 11 at Bragan Field, Northbank, jaxshrimp.com.
ADOPTABLES
ALANA
I’m your best beach girl! I’m a friendly, sun-loving pooch who likes to play hard and cuddle soft. I’m fantastic on a leash, so I’m ideal on long rambles or short excursions (which are better when my human has a pocketful of treats). And I’m great with kids. Let’s meet! Find me at Jacksonville Humane Society, 8464 Beach Blvd., Southside.
MUTTS & MIMOSAS • A brunch buffet, mimosas, live music, and a silent auction to benefit Friends of Jacksonville Animals. Well-behaved furry friends are welcome, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. June 16 at Sheraton Jacksonville, 10606 Deerwood Park Blvd., eventbrite.com, $25-$35. NO CAT-DADDIES HERE! • In honor of Father’s Day, St. Augustine Humane Society offers free cat neutering, with $10 appointment fee, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. June 18 at 1665 Old Moultrie Rd., 829-2737, staughumane.org. Call for an appointment or info@staughumane.org. The Humane Society is a certified ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance Clinic. FIRST COAST CLASSICAL DRESSAGE • With William “Lee” Tubman, June 23 at Jacksonville Equestrian Center, 13611 Normandy Blvd., 255-4255, jaxequestriancenter.com. KATZ 4 KEEPS ADOPTION DAYS • Adoption hours and days are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. June 2 and 3 and every Sat. and Sun. at 935B A1A N., Ponte Vedra, 834-3223, katz4keeps.org. _______________________________________ To list an event, send the name, time, date, location (complete street address, city), admission price, contact number/website to print, to mdryden@folioweekly.com. MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 35
FREEWILL ASTROLOGY
DALE RATERMANN’s Folio Weekly Crossword presented by
GIFTS, NEUROTIC SPEW, LEONARDO DA VINCI, BUGS BUNNY
Serving Excellence Since 1928 Member American Gem Society
San Marco 2044 San Marco Blvd. 398-9741
Ponte Vedra
THE SHOPPES OF PONTE VEDRA
330 A1A North 280-1202
Avondale 3617 St. Johns Ave. 388-5406
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ACROSS 31 Some TVs 35 Put on WJCT 38 Altoids rival 13 UWF athlete, briefly 14 Up-to-date antelope? 15 Like W. Forsyth St. 17 66-Across hit 19 Lady of Spain 20 French farewell 21 On the job 23 Lose one’s cool 24 ___ Jon Surf Shop 25 Cyberchuckle 27 Pan-fry 29 Razzers 31 Akel’s Deli sub (Var.) 34 Chin decor 37 Puff’s partner 39 Regret 40 Fido’s fare 41 Barker’s banter 43 Shortcut key 44 ___ Mix-a-Lot 45 Train to abstain 46 Depletes 48 Miss Florida asset 50 Sam’s Club rival 52 Soup scoop 54 Body of eau
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55 Fla. National Guard rank 58 “___ Lang Syne” 60 Advise strongly 62 Belly ache 64 Type of scholar 66 Jax-born singer who turns 84 on June 1 68 Clandestine 69 “___ you ready?” 70 Fort Myers spring training player 71 Yulee/Bama/Titan RB: Derrick ___ 72 Tax ID 73 Snow vehicle
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22 Folio Weekly edition 26 Waistful? 28 Old TV band 29 ’60s muscle car 30 Jax Zoo behemoth 32 Wise mentor 33 Pound sound 34 [Horrors!] 35 Where to get a Duck Grilled Cheese 36 66-Across hit 38 Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra instrument
42 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 56 57 58 59 61 63 65 67
Trotter’s kin CSX VIP Say “I do” Third-stringer Make blue Bad mouths Hot-blooded Grumpy look Bottled spirit Market direction Rainbow shape “We’re in trouble” JU transcript figs. Oodles Botch Hang ___
31 John Gaughan 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 10 11 12 16 18
forecast aid Doctrine One more time ___ loser Long, long ___ Take a hit Little sucker ___ Rica Gainesville-toSt. Augustine dir. Have as a tenant 66-Across hit Lee of desserts Sail off course Florida DOC Secretary Jones
36 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
SOLUTION TO 5.23.18 PUZZLE R E A C P O P C T S E L E B U F F T Z U S W I N K U N M A M E E T P A N U S P R I T I G E S A S S
T O I T Y
T R O T
O N T A R A I I N A E Y N S K I S A N T N D E G L M R O Y
J U M B O
I M E A N T I T
M A A M
O N E B S H E H I L R P L I P M I P E
B Y S E A
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R E D O R T E R S T A R N C E T A D
D R S S I D S O L T A Y F A T F R I S N A
E S C K O Y E D E D R E
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A critic described Leonardo da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa as “the most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art in the world.” It hasn’t been sold recently, but it’s said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s in Paris’ world-renowned Louvre museum, seen by millions, but for years after da Vinci died, it got no love as it hanged on King François’ bathroom wall. I’d love to see your efforts get a similar step up: rise from humble placement and modest appreciation to a more interesting fate and greater approval. Astrological omens suggest you have more power than usual to make it happen in the weeks and months ahead. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): These days, many films use CGI, computer-generated imagery, sophisticated and efficient technology. Early on, producing realistic fantasies was painstaking and time-intensive. Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Jurassic Park had four minutes of CGI which required a year to create. In the next few weeks, you’ll summon equivalent levels of old-school tenacity, persistence and attention to detail as you take on a valuable task you love. Your passion needs an infusion of discipline. Don’t be shy. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): On Feb. 17, 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev was to provide his expert knowledge to a local cheese-making company. He never made it. A blast of inspiration hit him soon after he woke, so he stayed home to tend to the blessed intrusion. He spent that day and the next two perfecting his vision of the periodic table of the elements, which he’d researched and thought about for a long time. Science was forever transformed by Mendeleyev’s breakthrough. I doubt your epiphanies in the weeks ahead will have a similar power to remake the world, but they could remake your world. Honor them. Feed them. Give them enough room to show off all they have. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ninety-five percent of your fears have little or no objective validity. Some are delusions from by your imagination’s neurotic parts. Others are delusions absorbed from others’ neurotic spew. That’s bad and good. On one hand, it’s a damn shame you have irrational, unfounded anxiety. On the other hand, knowing most of it’s irrational and unfounded may get you to break free from its grip. The next few weeks are a great time for that. June can and should be Fighting for Your Freedom from Fear Month. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the next four weeks, I’ll be happy if you search for and find experiences to heal the part of your heart still a bit broken. My sleep will be deep, my dreams sweet if I know you’re gathering practical support for your feisty ideals. I’ll jump for joy if you find new teachings to ensure you to start making a daring dream come true in 2019. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Everyone has a unique fate interesting enough to write a book. Each of us has at least one epic story that would make folks laugh, cry and alter their take on the meaning of life. What is your saga? Think about what’s unfolding now—it could be a ripe place to start meditations. Your destiny’s core themes are on vivid display, as new plot twists take your drama in novel directions. Want to start? Compose the first two sentences of your memoir.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): ”Dear Oracle: I’m in the weird position of trying to decide between doing the good thing and doing the right thing. If I opt to emphasize sympathy and kindness, I may look like an eager-to-please wimp with shaky principles. But if I push hard for justice and truth, I may seem rude and insensitive. Why is it so challenging to have integrity? — Vexed Libra.” Dear Libra: My advice? Avoid the all-or-nothing approach. Be half-good and half-right. Sometimes the highest forms of integrity require us to accept imperfect solutions. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’ve waited long enough to retaliate against adversaries. It’s high time to stop simmering with frustration and resentment. Take direct action! Arrange to have a box of elephant poo sent to them. Order it here: tinyurl.com/ElephantManure. JUST KIDDING! It would be an error to take such vulgar revenge. The truth: Now’s a good time to seek retribution against those who’ve opposed you. Best way to do so? Prove them wrong, surpass their accomplishments and forgive them. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Marketing experts say getting a person to say yes to a big question is more likely if you build momentum by asking smaller questions to which it’s easy to say yes. Use this method for your purposes in the weeks ahead. It’s prime time to extend invitations and make requests you’ve been waiting to risk. Those you need on your side will be more receptive than usual—with good reason—but you still have to be smooth. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You’ll be offered at least one valuable gift, maybe more. You may not recognize their true nature, so here’s an exercise to enhance your ability to identify and claim them. Think about these concepts: 1. a pain that can heal; 2. a shadow that illuminates; 3. an unknown or anonymous ally; 4. a secret that nurtures intimacy; 5. a power akin to underground lightning; 6. an invigorating boost disguised as tough love. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When I was a kid going to Midwestern elementary schools, recess was a core part of the experience. For 45 minutes a day, we could indulge in free-form play—outdoors, if the weather was nice, or in the gymnasium. In recent years, American schools have shrunk recess time. Many schools have ditched it altogether. Don’t they understand that’s harmful to the kids’ social, emotional and physical health? Move in the opposite direction in the weeks ahead. You need more than your usual quota of time away from the grind. More fun and games and hanging around! More recess! PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): For many years, actor Mel Blanc provided the voice for Bugs Bunny, a ’toon who chowed down on raw carrots. But Blanc didn’t like raw carrots. In a related matter, actor John Wayne, who pretended to be a cowboy and horseman in many movies, didn’t like horses. And according to his leading ladies, charismatic macho film hunk Harrison Ford is not even close to being an expert kisser. How about you? Is your public image in synch with your true self? If you have discrepancies, the weeks ahead are ideal to correct that. Rob Brezsny freewillastrology@freewillastrology.com
NEWS OF THE WEIRD PSST … LOOK IN THE DRYER
In Hudson, Florida, Brandon Donald McCray, 47, freaked on May 1 after finding two of his socks missing. Suspecting his roommate, Frank Smith, 53, McCray attacked him with a sword, said WTVT. McCray also struck and injured two women living in the home. Pasco County Sheriff ’s deputies said Smith nearly lost some fingers defending himself. Deputies arrested McCray at a neighbor’s house on charges of attempted homicide and battery.
GO TO YOUR HAPPY PLACE
As finals ramped up at the University of Utah at the end of April, one student’s class project went viral: Senior Nemo Miller created a stand-alone closet, placed in the J. Willard Marriott Library, where stressed-out students could go for a good cry. KSL TV reported The Cry Closet (#cryclosetuofu) caught on quickly; even with a suggested 10-minute limit, @ Gemini tweeted, “I stayed 11 mins but feel so much better thank you to whoever built this. Can we add a box of tissues please?” Miller filled the closet with stuffed animals and soft materials. “I think everyone just needs a safe space sometimes,” she said, “even if it’s in a very public place.”
CLICHÉ COMES TO LIFE
Dimitri the Husky can thank a good neighbor for reporting that someone was abusing a dog in Lantana on May 10. Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s officers arrived at the apartment of Patrick Shurod Campbell, 27, where two roommates said Campbell “beat the hell” out of Dimitri, Palm Beach Post reported. Officers found the 2-year-old dog locked in a dark closet, shaking and submissive, with a bloody ear. Campbell told cops he’d bitten the dog to “establish dominance.” Campbell was charged with aggravated animal cruelty; Dimitri went to Palm Beach County Animal Care & Control for treatment and re-homing.
POLLY WANT A WHAT?!
Police in Loerrach, Germany, responded May 14 to calls about a domestic disturbance after a neighbor reported a loud, long confrontation. When cops arrived, they found a 22-yearold man arguing with his girlfriend’s parrot,
according to Metro News. The parrot had been barking like a dog, and the man got annoyed. No charges were filed.
Folio Weekly helps you connect with the paramour of your dreams. Go to folioweekly.com/i-saw-u.html, fill out the FREE form correctly (40 words or fewer, dammit) by 5 p.m. Friday (for the next Wednesday’s FW) – next stop: Bliss!
MAKE ART GREAT AGAIN!
A French museum dedicated to the work of painter Etienne Terrus announced April 27 that more than half of its collection from the 19th-century artist are forgeries. The Terrus museum in Elne, where Terrus was born, gathered a group of experts to inspect the works after a visiting art historian noticed some of the paintings depict buildings that hadn’t been built when Terrus was alive. In all, 82 paintings were determined fake. BBC News reported the town’s mayor, Yves Barniol, called the situation “a disaster” and apologized to museum visitors.
HOG HEAVEN
On Yaji Mountain in China, hog farmers are experimenting with high-rise hog breeding facilities that house 1,000 head of sows per floor. Xu Jiajing, manager of Guangxi Yangxiang Co. Ltd., told Reuters the “hog hotels” save “energy and resources. The land area is not that much, but you can raise a lot of pigs.” Most buildings have seven floors or more, with elevators for people and pigs, and air circulation and waste management systems to reduce the spread of disease.
ARMED & CLUMSY, CANINE EDITION
Fort Dodge, Iowa is not exactly the Wild West, but to Balew, a pit bull-lab mix belonging to 51-year-old Richard Remme, it might as well be. As Remme and Balew roughhoused at home on May 9, Balew leapt up on the couch where, according to The Messenger, he managed to shoot his owner in the leg. “I carry in a belly band, under my bib overalls,” Remme told the newspaper. “And apparently he bumped the safety one time, and when he bounded back over, one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard,” he explained. Remme didn’t realize he’d been shot until his pant leg started to turn purple. Balew, though, “thought he was in trouble for doing something wrong,” Remme said. He “laid down beside me and cried.”
weirdnewstips@amuniversal.com
Hey! Saturday, June 2 is BUBBA DAY. Sunday, June 3 is REPEAT DAY. Monday, June 4? OLD MAID’S DAY! So, Bubba? ’Nuff said, y’all. Repeat Day? I said, Repeat Day?? Who fell off? So in keeping with the spirit of this whole true love chimera, let’s examine Old Maid’s Day. If you were once married but never again, you’re not an old maid, just a person who’s able to amuse herself. Make yourself happy and get into FW’s handy ISUs! Reserve that tux, steal grandma’s veil, and find eternal love. Grab a digital device, go to folioweekly.com/i-saw-u.html and take these easy steps: One: Write a five-word headline so the person recalls that perfect moment, like: “ISU gazing forlornly at the newlyweds as they left the church.” Two: Describe the person, like, “You: Like Eleanor Rigby, you gathered the rice the folks tossed at the couple, to encourage fertility.” Three: Describe yourself, like, “Me: Fertile just fine all by myself, thank you. No grains necessary for me to pop out progeny all over Northeast Florida.” Four: Describe the moment, like, “We knew it would be a hard day’s night, but if we keep it up eight days a week, we can work it out.” Five: Meet, fall in love, get in the sea. No proper names, emails, websites, etc. Fewer than 40 words. Find love with Folio Weekly ISUs at folioweekly.com/i-saw-u.html! ROYAL AUSSIE AIR FORCE Dreamboat RAAF sharing vegan chia pudding with pal. Your flight suit hunkiness make me speechless. We shared a table; I blushed a lot, too shy to say hi; I am now! Meet for pudding? When: May 23. Where: Southern Roots Filling Station. #1700-0530 HOT SILVER WATCH You: Got soda, sat at table by me; medium height, black manbun, red dress shirt, sexy watch. Me: Tall man, short brown hair, mid-20s, gray shirt. Why didn’t I say hello? Too shy. Show me more silver! When: May 22. Where: Lee’s Sandwich Shoppe, Baymeadows. #1699-0530 BLUE-EYED GEMINI BOY My Favorite BlueEyed Gem, you were leaving; you left me behind. I think about you all the time. We used to read these ads and laugh together. Miss you; hope you’re smiling. Love, Your Florida Gem. When: Aug. 8, 2017. Where: Downtown under the Blue Bridge. #1698-0516 BEARDED WET MAN POST-5K You: Tall man, dreamy eyes, black shirt, running shorts, talked of running with my black goldendoodle. Me: Dripping wet brunette, pink tank, black yoga pants, enjoyed chocolate-covered strawberry. Never got your name. Wanna get wet again? When: April 7. Where: 1st Place Sports, San Marco. #1697-0411 BEAUTIFUL EYES BARISTA You: Work at Bold Bean. Me: Hot and Iced Vanilla Latte every few days. Caught your gaze, couldn’t get away from your beauty. Care for a cup of … coffee? Or just a nice lazy afternoon? When: Wednesday, March 21. Where: Bold Bean San Marco. #1696-0328 HANDSOME T OF OHIO You: Baseball cap, T-shirt under shirt, khakis, eating pizza. You came to our table. We thought you worked there. We were going to Brix; you didn’t show. Looking for you. When: March 10. Where: Flask & Cannon, JB. #1695-0314 STUNNING AUSTRALIAN BLOND You: Long blond hair, black leggings, awesome accent, cruising store. Me: Brown hair, red shorts, clueless in store. Crossed paths, left chatting about Vegemite. Let’s continue over a cold
beverage. Cheers, diplomatic relations! When: 10:30 a.m. March 1. Where: Whole Foods San Jose. #1694-0307 DNDANGGG I was a Warlock; you, a Fighter. I cast the spells, you beat the NPC to oblivion. You had a French braid; I was impressed with your strength modifier. We campaigned six times; let’s roll a critical hit together:) When: June 2017. Where: Riverside. #1693-0221 BEAUTIFUL MAN AT DAILY’S You: Filling truck. Me: Shy blonde washing windshield. You asked, “Do you want help with that?” I was speechless; second chance? When: Feb. 1. Where: Bartram Park Daily’s. #1692-0221 CHOCOLATE STUD You: Tall, chocolate man drinking a PBR by the dance floor. Me: Tall, hot brunette, covered in ink, drooling, watching you drink your beer. Will you marry me? When: Dec. 31, 2014. Where: Birdies. #1691-0214 BLACK VELVET KITTYCAT SLIPPERS 7 a.m., didn’t want to be at Quest Diagnostics till you walked in. You: Beautiful, tiny, long, dark hair, horn-rimmed glasses. Me: Stocky, black NY cap, black sweatshirt, Adidas high-tops. Regret no “Hello.” Dinner? When: Feb. 2. Where: Beach Blvd. Quest Diagnostics. #1690-0207 TACO TUESDAYS We were feeding bottomless pits (our kids). You snagged last inside table, offered to share. You: Confident, beautiful, loving, enthusiastic mother. Me: Getting my head examined for not getting your number. Tacos again next week? When: Jan. 30. Where: Tijuana Flats Bartram Park. #1689-0207 MISSED YOUR LAST MESSAGES Waxed non-poetic on Sponge Bob, versions of ‘What a Fool Believes’. Easy, sweet conversation; missed messages before you ditched app (saw notifications; didn’t open). Silly to think you left number for me; feel you did. When: Dec. 28. Where: Tinder in the Duval. #1688-0117 PHOTOBOMB LIONS FOUNTAIN SAN MARCO The photographer turned into my path; I was a jerk, raised my hands. I got closer, you turned and faced me. I sat, put my arm around you; she took our picture. Lunch? Dinner? Drinks? When: Jan. 2. Where: San Marco Square. #1687-0110 MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 37
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38 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018
FOLIO VOICES : BACKPAGE EDITORIAL
MAYOR’S CREDIBILITY
DOUBTED
ALL ABOUT THE
BENJAMIN
Curry’s moves AREN’T IN SYNC with Jacksonville’s best interests
FORMER MAYOR JAKE GODBOLD SENT A LETTER TO Mayor Lenny Curry stating “despite your frequent statements that you’ve not made up your mind on JEA’s future, I am one of a whole lot of people in Jacksonville who are having a hard time believing you.” Godbold’s comment, reported by Nate Monroe [Times-Union reporter], raised another significant issue for all concerned citizens. Curry’s actions as mayor “does not appear to flow from what is in the best interest of Jacksonville.” Two other immediate questions beg to be asked. Who is protecting the public interest in city government? Is our mayor suitable to serve us? Godbold sent a political lightning bolt into the Mayor’s Suite with his letter. He had the boldness to challenge Curry’s intentions and devotion to support the interest of the public who elected him as our mayor. According to Monroe’s article, Godbold had a personal and motivational comment to Curry, “I had no interest in being anything but mayor of Jacksonville,” Godbold wrote of his own tenure. “I [am] not sure the same can be said for you, which is perfectly fine,” he told Curry. The JEA CEO predicament is the latest indicator of political double-dealing and our mayor’s lack of candor. Actually, this JEA situation is the second time we’ve seen in plain view how one of the mayor’s appointed Board Members from within the same organization threw their hat into the ring to assume a vacant CEO position. Paul McElroy stepped down as the utility’s CEO amid a controversial study about privatization of JEA. Chief Financial Officer Melissa Dykes was elevated to assume the post with McElroy’s surprising resignation news, effective Sept. 30, 2018. Just before the dust settled on McElroy’s pending departure and his replacement identified, Aaron Zahn, a Curry appointee to the JEA Board, resigned from the Board with the intention to run for the interim CEO position left by McElroy’s vacancy. Zahn and Curry attend the same church. Florida Politics reported, “This was not a move many forecasted before recent weeks, and was presaged with a game of musical chairs, in which Zahn resigns his position to pursue the interim CEO position, one filled by Dykes … .” Over a series of weekend meetings and
No Poor Richard he— FRANKLIN RULED
M.D. M.J.
four days after his resignation, the JEA Board selected Zahn as its interim CEO and Dykes was appointed beyond her CFO post to work with Zahn. The first time our mayor manipulated the political strings to fill a CEO position occurred with Kids Hope Alliance, an organization Curry created by legislation to replace the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, and redirected the Jacksonville Journey Program’s millions of dollars into it. A political battle occurred just to get the legislation to the floor for a vote, where it passed 18 to 1. CFO Mike Weinstein became the interim CEO, pending a permanent selection by the board of directors. The mayor appointed all of the members of the board of directors to his newly formed organization. His board had the responsibility to select the CEO. “Out of more than 100 eligible applications, the Kids Hope Alliance board search committee was given 13 to review and has since selected eight to interview via Skype … ,” as stated by Tessa Duvall. Once again, one of the mayor’s appointed board members, Joe Peppers decided to toss his hat into the ring to become the CEO, while still a board member. This move brought a loud cry of protest. Some City Councilmembers made their displeasure known over the perceived conflict of interest … . Their reasoning was validated by “experts in ethics and board management,” according to an article by Duvall. There was a difference of opinion—“But, for the city’s administration, general counsel and at least two search committee members— Kevin Gay and Rebekah Davis—it’s not a problem.” Peppers resigned from the board and was placed into consideration for the CEO post. The selection process moved forward. Major questions were raised about Peppers’ qualifications and the search committee faced serious skepticism and inquiries. “One of the five finalists for the CEO position at the new Kids Hope Alliance has removed herself for consideration, citing unfairness in the selection process.” Curry’s handpicked Board Of Directors had the ultimate responsibility to make the CEO selection. “Joe Peppers, an operations manager at Amazon in Jacksonville, was selected as the board’s first choice in a 4-2
vote. Board members Tyra Tutor and Barbara Darby both expressed strong opposition to Peppers, repeatedly citing his lack of experience in researching best practices, the nonprofit realm and developing partnerships on behalf of children. Board member Marvin Wells voted for Peppers only after trying unsuccessfully to abstain.” A comprehensive review of these two CEO selection processes reflects back to an early point cited by Godbold. These actions clearly “do not appear to flow from what is in the best interest of Jacksonville.” Who is protecting the public interest in city government? The mayor has that primary responsibility, but Godbold raised a question and also a dilemma about Curry’s creditability with these words: “despite your frequent statements that you’ve not made up your mind on JEA’s future, I am one of a whole lot of people in Jacksonville who are having a hard time believing you.” We’re left with a nagging question. Is our mayor suitable to serve us? Curry operates a mean-spirited City Hall. Politics was designed to be the art of compromise. Ron Littlepage said this concerning compromise in City Hall, prior to his retirement from the Florida Times-Union, “A trait that has become evident during Curry’s two years in office is he doesn’t take kindly to being challenged. He also listens closely to his top political adviser, Brian Hughes of Tallahassee, who has a well-known nasty streak a mile wide.” Littlepage also shared, “Curry has a habit of attacking those who disagree with him. What he posted on Twitter last week is worth noting: ‘Gotta have purpose. Gotta have vision. But gotta win to realize the purpose & vision. Winning matters’.” This quote from Curry speaks volumes about his governing philosophy. Mr. Mayor, what’s wrong with a “WinWin” approach to governing, with a vision including compromise? That would convince past mayor Jake Godbold and us to believe you—that your actions as our mayor benefit the citizens of Jacksonville, not your personal political ambitions? Dr. Juan P. Gray mail@folioweekly.com _____________________________________ Gray is a concerned citizen.
FOLIO WEEKLY welcomes Backpage submissions. They should be 1,200 words or fewer and on a topic of local interest and/or concern. Send submissions to mail@folioweekly.com. Opinions expressed on the Backpage are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Folio Weekly.
IN 11789, 7899 BBENJAMIN 78 ENJA EN JAMI MINN FR FRAN FRANKLIN ANKL KLIN IN FFAMOUSLY AMOU AM OUSL SLYY WR WROT WROTE OTEE “[in] this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,” and variations on that theme have been perdurable ever since. Franklin (1706-’90) was one of the most visionary men in American history, who never held public office but was held up as an elder statesman and civic leader on a par with our nation’s founders. Indeed, it could be argued that no other Founder remains quite as uniquely influential on the America of today, particularly as it relates to the ongoing push-andpull of civil liberties. The last couple years’ worth of ballot activity spurs one to add a third certainty to Franklin’s famous axiom: If marijuana decriminalization is up for public vote, it is certain to pass. Citizens in 2018 will have the chance to weigh in on initiatives of various types in Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington state. Most of those are places that have already legalized it for medical or even recreational use, and now seek to clarify existing legislation or extend its impact to broader sections of the respective populations. Pro-pot activists retain the momentum, with mid-terms looming in the distance. Franklin would have certainly approved. The old man was a pioneering libertarian, and a stone-cold libertine; he spoke freely and behaved in ways that would’ve gotten a lesser man of his time ostracized, if not burned at the stake. The printing press he built in Philadelphia printed his diatribes and almanacks on hemp paper and, like his colleagues George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, he wholly embraced the plant’s salubrious effects. Though it’s never been confirmed that he smoked it, Franklin would have at least had a passing familiarity with many of the products sold in shops today—clothes, oils, maybe even edibles. Based on anecdotal evidence, it’s safe to say that he would’ve probably tried anything offered to him—or anyone, for that matter. Drugs aside, Franklin was also on the cuttingedge of sexual liberty, widely touted as one of the truly elite lotharios of all time. There’s no way to verify the longstanding rumor (claimed by Sigmund Freud and others) that it was Franklin who first introduced the coca leaf to Europe in his days as hype-man for the Revolution, but it’s clear that a significant portion of the support we received from the French at that time was the result—at least indirectly—of that randy patriot gettin’ busy in Parisian salons, thus pioneering a very specific approach to diplomacy and espionage of which America remains the master. In other words, he’d be right at home in modern Washington, D.C.—perhaps at the White House itself.
Shelton Hull mail@folioweekly.com
MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 | FOLIOWEEKLY.com | 39