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Pensacola's

Independent News | July 18, 2013 | Volume 14 | Number 30 | inweekly.net

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publisher & editor Rick Outzen production manager Joani Delezen art director Samantha Crooke staff writers Jessica Forbes, Sarah McCartan, Jeremy Morrison

contributing writers Joani Delezen, Hana Frenette, Brett Hutchins, Jason Leger, Chuck Shepherd intern Amanda Nelson, Brandy Volovecky contact us 438.8115

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winners & losers

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COLLEEN CASTILLE The former state agency director has been named the interim city administrator for the city of Pensacola.

Castille is a former secretary of both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA), serving under Governor Jeb Bush. Locals who worked with her on the state level praise her professionalism. Her first task will be to rebuild trust between city employees and the mayor’s office. We wish her luck, a little less testosterone on the seventh floor of city hall might be a good thing.

PENSACOLA STATE COLLEGE Community College Week magazine has named Pensacola State College to its list of Top 100 Associate Degree Producers in the nation, for the fifth straight year. The magazine ranks Pensacola State at No. 36 among all colleges for degrees awarded in Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, also known as A.A. degrees.

Among four-year colleges, PSC ranks No. 14 in awarding A.A. degrees. For associate degrees awarded in all disciplines, PSC ranks No. 81 overall and No. 26 among four-year colleges. PSC has graduated 12,815 students over the past 5 years.

GROVER ROBINSON Finally a county

commissioner spoke the truth that so many believe about the search process to hire a new administrator for Escambia County. It’s unfair.

GREATER PENSACOLA CHAMBER State Attorney Bill Eddins has made it official. The chamber does fall under the state’s Sunshine Law, which was enacted so the public would know how their public money is spent. The public funds in question are the economic development and tourism dollars. Like the city of Pensacola, chamber employees and board members will be getting trained in dealing with the Sunshine Law. GANG OF THREE Interim County Ad-

ministrator George Touart and Escambia County Commissioners Gene Valentino and Wilson Robertson are upset with just about everybody who questions their actions—this paper, Sheriff David Morgan, Commissioners Lumon May, Grover Robinson and Steve Barry and the public. The last Gang of Three that ran the county was Touart, Commissioner Mike Whitehead and Sheriff Ron McNesby, which didn’t turn out so well.

FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY The

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outtakes

by Rick Outzen

BULLISH ON OUR COMMUNITY Recently I spoke to the Five Flags Rotary Club about the current state of our community. Some may have felt my evaluation would be negative, especially considering the recent issues at Pensacola City Hall, Greater Pensacola Chamber and Escambia County Commission.

However, I think we have to separate the momentary miscues by these entities from what is really happening in this area. I’m very optimistic about our community. In a very tough economy, this area is exhibiting the signs of a healthy recovery.

Navy Federal Credit Union is a success story that has almost single-handedly raised the median household of our area. It currently employs 2,800 people at its Beulah campus. Navy Federal CEO Cutler Dawson announced in April a $200 million expansion that will include two new buildings on its Beulah campus by the end of 2015 and a minimum of 1,500 new jobs. The long-range expansion plan is to create a $1 billion campus with another 4,700 jobs by 2020.

Under the leadership of Dr. Judy Bense, the University of West Florida has become a major university and is developing into another economic engine for the region.

With all eyes focused on developing a skilled workforce for the future, Pensacola State College, under Dr. Ed Meadows, is at the forefront of job training.

And then there is the unprecedented renaissance of downtown Pensacola. In a very tough economy, the downtown area is booming, much of it due to the development of the Community Maritime Park. Weeknights and weekends are filled with people enjoying one of the most beautiful and historic downtowns in the state. Few cities can boast that.

It wasn’t that long ago that we all dreaded walking downtown because of the odor drifting from the Main Street Sewage Plant.

Today we with dozens of others enjoy eating outside and playing in downtown parks. I can’t wait to see how that site will be redeveloped.

If done correctly, we could see the successes on Palafox Street expand to the west.

The next step for downtown Pensacola is more residents. If Rishy and Quint Studer are able to complete their purchase of the News Journal property, we might see housing that will be affordable for many of those working downtown. Such a project would truly be transformative and could be the catalyst for retail downtown.

I am very bullish about the greater Pensacola area and see way more positives than negatives. Yes, problems exist, but there is movement to finally address them in a meaningful way.

We can’t lose sight of the positives, and let the political melodramas overshadow our successes. {in} rick@inweekly.net

We can’t lose sight of the positives, and let the political melodramas overshadow our successes.

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DIFFERENCE MAKER Business Partners Recognized by State DOE Each year, Santa Rosa County Schools recognizes area business partners for their contributions to our schools.

Each school is given the opportunity to recognize outstanding business partners for their work within our schools. From these partners, the district selects two individuals to represent our district as part of the Commissioner of Educations state recognitions. This year, Tony Bennett, Florida Commissioner of Education, presented to Santa Rosa County representatives with recognition awards.

June 13, 2013, was the day the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Education Foundation recognized the 26th Annual Commissioner’s Business Awards Recipients. Santa Rosa District Schools had two district winners recognized at this event held in Tampa Florida. Paxton Corwin, Adam Mikulin and AMS Aviation were recognized for their work with Milton High School. Mr. Vaughn Nichols of Gulf Power (Southern Company) was also recognized for his work in are south end schools. Mr. Nichols was nominated by Woodlawn Middle School.

Mr. Mikulin, Mr. Nichols and Mrs. Pam Smith, Director of Elementary Education for Santa Rosa Schools, were in Tampa, Fl. to receive their awards. More than 80 organizations and individuals throughout the state were recognized for their unwavering commitment to improving the academic success of all students.

Below is some additional information on the role of these business partners in our district schools.

Paxton Corwin (and AMS Aviation) has been a vital figure for the Milton High School aviation program by assuring alignment between Florida curriculum guidelines and FAA requirements for the MHS instructor and the student industry certification exams. Through his efforts, Paxton Corwin has provided opportunities for students to immerse themselves in a STEM environment through aviation. Paxton Corwin and AMS Aviation, Inc. are not only doing what is required for our program to be successful, but is striving to create exceptional aviation education in the Milton and Santa Rosa County.

Mr. Vaughn Nichols has tirelessly given his time and energy to the Boosting Engineering Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) program and the Robotics competitions that accompany it. He has helped not only Woodlawn Beach Middle School but the entire District. For the past several years Mr. Nichols has promoted the program, helped create interest in schools, given guidance with robotics projects, helped organize and run the competitions, and coordinated with UWF for local competitions with Auburn University and other higher level competitions. Not only has he given students a chance to compete in engineering, science and technology, he has sparked new interest in these areas for hundreds of Santa Rosa students.

For further information, please contact Pam Smith or Sue Glass at 983-5062.

From Left to Right: Jessica Mikulin, Adam Mikulin, Pam Smith, Vaughn Nichols

Sponsored by Quint and Rishy Studer July 18, 2013

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PENSACOLA’S PUBLIC RECORDS REMEDY City and County Struggle With Open Government

by Jeremy Morrison

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward has often stressed transparency. He stressed it again after the State Attorney charged the mayor’s city administrator and press secretary with non-criminal public records violations.

“Transparency is critical to the success of our city,” Hayward said in a statement.

Just before the Fourth of July holiday weekend, City Administrator Bill Reynolds and Press Secretary Derek Cosson were charged for failing to fulfill a records request last summer involving the yet-unveiled city logo provided by the Zimmerman Agency marketing firm. The State Attorney’s Office noted that it had received numerous complaints regarding possible public-record law violations and outlined steps to be taken toward remedying such issues.

In addition to firing Reynolds—who was also found to have leaked confidential employee information pertaining to former Chief of Staff John Asmar to Haywardnemesis, former city councilwoman and current mayoral candidate Maren DeWeese at World of Beer—the mayor has also laid out some measures the city will take toward redemption.

“It is my goal to reinforce excellence as a part of our culture when it comes to fulfilling public records requests,” Hayward said in his statement, “and I remain steadfast in my insistence on transparency in my administration.”

DRAGGING FEET, UNDER THE GUN

Attorney Alistair McKenzie makes a lot of public records requests. He makes requests of private corporations, state agencies and counties.

“All of them respond to my public records requests within 10 days,” McKenzie said. “I’ve never had one take more than two weeks.”

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The attorney also files requests with the city of Pensacola. He wasn’t too surprised when the news of the State Attorney’s charges broke. He calls the situation with the city an “endemic problem.”

“There’s this huge pattern of delay,” McKenzie said. “There’s just this enormous dragging of feet and delaying going on.”

The attorney—who has represented several clients in lawsuits against the city— said he has one request that is about four and a half months old, while another was made seven months ago. McKenzie’s concerns are among the “number of complaints” received by the State Attorney’s Office.

One of McKenzie’s clients, Pensacola City Councilwoman Sherri Myers, is also familiar with the city’s public records process. She says she is required to make the requests because the city doesn’t willingly share information with council.

“The only club I have is to make open records requests,” Myers explained. “That, they have to do and they don’t even do it, really.”

The councilwoman cited several of her requests—one made during a public meeting— that have been lingering.

“I’ve got a record that’s been out for a year and a half that I’ve finally just given up on,” Myers said.

McKenzie said he’s hopeful that the measures the city plans to take will improve its public records practices.

“I think with the pressure the State Attorney is putting on them, they’re under the gun,” he said.

decision was apparently made last month— prior to the State Attorney’s charges—to purchase the software.

“This software will allow the city to track all records requests, to implement workflows to ensure requests are properly routed and coordinated, and to run regular reports which will allow staff to instantaneously see the status of open requests,” Fountain explained in an email. “The software will also provide a web portal where citizens will be able to submit their requests directly.”

The software the city will be employing is the same software used by Escambia County, as well as the city of Ocala. Fountain said the software will be rolled out internally by the end of July, with external features, such as the web portal, up by the end of August.

In addition to the new software, Mayor Hayward has also reached out to the First Amendment Foundation. He’s inviting the organization to town to educate city employees about Florida’s public records law.

The First Amendment Foundation (FAF) deals with open-government and transparency issues throughout the state. The organization works with citizens, the media and government. It conducts seminars and symposiums and fields a hotline.

“We deal with nothing but open government,” said Barbara Petersen, president of FAF. “We’re kinda like the open government experts.”

Petersen will make it to town in midAugust. She plans to run city employees through sessions pertaining to both public records and open meetings.

“What I’m recommending to the city is that we do two separate sessions, and that we spend three to four hours in each one,” Petersen explained, adding that she would also like to see a session that is open to the public.

FAF has made trips to the area before.

Petersen recalled a forum sponsored by the Pensacola News Journal, as well as some work with the Escambia County School District.

The foundation president was not yet familiar with the local charges that triggered her most recent invitation, but said the Pensacola area is familiar territory for open-government advocates in general.

She pointed to recent state legislation pertaining to open meetings that stemmed from a local case involving the Community Maritime Park Associates Board.

“It’s going to be a lot better.

We’re not going to be in the dark ages.”

City Clerk Ericka Burnett

FIXING CITY HALL

City Clerk Ericka Burnett can’t say how many outstanding record requests there currently are. It’s not that she won’t say.

She can’t say. There’s no system in place to track such information.

That’s why she sounds excited when she talks about the new software the city will soon begin using.

“It’s going to be a lot better,” Burnett said. “We’re not going to be in the dark ages.”

The State Attorney noted such issues, advising that the city provide the clerk with “adequate resources to timely respond to public records requests.” To that end, the city is contracting with GovQA and will begin employing the company’s open records management software.

According to Communications Director Tamara Fountain, software for this purpose was a budgeted item in the city clerk’s FY2013 budget; there’s a $4,000 base fee, plus a $395 monthly subscription cost. The

“Pensacola and Escambia County kind of stand out as problems,” Petersen said. {in}

ESCAMBIA’S ‘EGREGIOUS’ REQUESTS As the city works to address the concerns of the State Attorney, officials over at the county offices have also begun discussing public records.

“The problem is, as of late, there seems to be a lot of interesting characters making public records requests,” said Escambia County Commission Chairman Gene Valentino. “And some of them don’t even know what they’re looking for.”

The chairman bemoaned what he considers to be “absolutely egregious” requests. He said a pattern had developed over the past year or so, and that the requests amounted to “fishing” by “trolls.”

“I don’t know if we can deny anyone a pubic records request,” cautioned Commissioner Grover Robinson.

County Attorney Alison Rogers agreed—“you can’t stop ’em”—but assured the chairman a policy was in place to allow the county to charge fees for the requests.

“I thought they were rather subjective about how they were being used,” Valentino said.

Interim County Administrator George Touart—also expressing displeasure about the volume of requests—told the chairman that he was making sure that the fees were being charged. He recounted a recent request for videos of a budget meeting—a request made by this newspaper—and how he found it to be of an excessive nature and had insisted a fee be imposed.

The Independent News had requested the videos for the July 9 and July 10 meetings. Touart told the commissioners he found it to be of an excessive nature and had insisted a fee be imposed. The paper paid $50 for five discs, which also included the meeting where Touart made those comments.

“When we do that (charge fees), guess what?” Touart said. “People start backing off when they find out how much it’s going to cost.”

The interim county administrator apparently doesn’t know this paper very well. inweekly.net

buzz

all the political news and gossip fit to print

BIG BUCKS, BIG DADDY GAETZ

Don Gaetz

Board of Commissioners and the Escambia County Sheriff ’s Office has been a major point of concern in recent meetings, and the July 11 BCC agenda review session and regular meeting were no exception.

In fact, just the day before, at the BCC’s Committee of the Whole budget review workshop, the board and Sheriff David Morgan could not come to an agreement over use of $2.5 million currently in the sheriff ’s office internal services fund.

Sheriff Morgan said some of the money was needed for his employees’ leave pay but that he would return the remaining money to the county. The BCC disagreed and said the sheriff was only legally required to pay employees FLSA leave pay that would amount to around $200,000. The rest of the money, the board said, should be returned to the county.

This inability to come to an amicable agreement led some commissioners to fear the money would all be gone by the date of the jail’s official transfer to the county on Oct. 1. Amy Lovoy, Escambia County director of management and budget services, even went so far as to say that, without an agreement between the two parties and factoring in the

Senate President Don Gaetz is the wealthiest Florida State Senator. The senate president lists his net worth at $26.2 million, according to

newly filed disclosure forms.

A co-founder of VITAS Healthcare, Gaetz reported having $6.5 million in securities, $8.4 million in bank accounts, and $10.4 million in real estate, including properties in Seaside, Seagrove Beach, Panama City, Santa Rosa Beach, Destin, Georgia, Wisconsin, and New York City. Gaetz also lists loans of $50,000 (secured) and $24,807 (personal) to his son, State Rep. Matt Gaetz.

BUDGET MERRY-GO-ROUND The relationship between the Escambia County

fund’s current rate of decrease, “there will be no money left in that fund” by Oct. 1.

Commissioner Grover Robinson submitted two motions that aimed to preserve the $2.5 million. The first requested that the board rescind any prior authorization allowing the use of any internal services funds by constitutional officers and disallow their use, and the second recommended that the board rescind any policy that provides for leave cash-outs when an employee transfers between departments or county employers unless specifically required by law. The board unanimously approved both motions.

The problem for the BCC is that it doesn’t control the budget of the sheriff once he has received the funds. The internal service fund has accrued from past budgets and has been earmarked for a single purpose. The transfer motion appears just as powerless since the BCC doesn’t control the sheriff ’s employees either.

Gerald Champagne, the attorney for the Escambia County Sheriff ’s Office, has sent County Attorney Alison Perdue a letter concerning the issue.

He asked, “…is it appropriate for that I, as General Counsel, advise the Sheriff to release

a fund that is dedicated to payment of leave balances without assurance that the Sheriff is no longer at risk that employees may file a claim for non-payment of leave balances?”

Champagne wrote that the ECSO will release and transfer the fund if the county assumes liability for such leave balances—not just jail employees, but all deputies and civilian staff.

LET THE SUN SHINE IN State Attorney

Bill Eddins has determined that the Greater Pensacola Chamber must abide by the state’s Sunshine Law. Since both the city of Pensacola and Escambia County have contracted with the chamber to provide economic development services, Eddins recommended that the chamber consider training for both employees and board members in fulfilling its obligations under the law.

IN Publisher Rick Outzen has agreed to chair the task force that will help the organization comply with the Sunshine and public records laws. He has asked for help from Barbara Peterson, president of Florida First Amendment Foundation, who is also helping Mayor Ashton Hayward with his public records issues (Independent News, “The Upside of Corruption,” July 4). {in}

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inweekly.net

IMMIGRANT SONG

feature story

Chasing the American Dream in the Land of Opportunity | by Jeremy Morrison America has long welcomed immigrants to her shores. From the Spanish to the pilgrims, and the waves that followed.

People arrived searching for, as it was eventually formalized: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Still, they arrive searching for the same.

"It's the way America's been forever," said Sergio Martinez. "It's an immigrant country."

When he was 15-years-old, Martinez left Guatemala and headed north. On the other side of Mexico, he crossed the Rio Grande.

"When I got here I swam across the river— it was winter, it was freezing water," Martinez recalled. "But I saw the American flag on the other side and I said, 'I'm coming!'"

July 18, 2013

While each immigrant’s story is unique, they also share a common thread. The drive Martinez felt as he looked across the Rio Grande is not unlike the one that drew Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) parents to the states.

“For over two hundred years now, they have come,” Rubio said recently, delivering the closing remarks prior to the Senate’s immigration reform bill vote. “In search of liberty and

freedom, for sure. But often simply looking for jobs to feed their kids and the chance of a better life.”

The senator’s parents arrived in Florida from Cuba in 1956. Rubio’s dad memorized the English words ‘I am looking for work,’ and the family struggled to assimilate into America.

“This is not just my story,” Rubio told his colleagues during the June 27 address. “This is our story. It reminds

“This is not just my story, this is our story. It reminds us that we are ‘E Pluribus Unum. Out Of Many, One.’” Sen. Marco Rubio

us that we are ‘E Pluribus Unum. Out Of Many, One.’” Rubio was one of the key Republican senators—originally part of the so-called Gang of Eight—pushing immigration reform. He encouraged his party to embrace measures to create a path to citizenship for immigrants.

“Go to our factories and fields. Go to our kitchens and construction sites.

Go to the cafeteria of this very Capitol.

There, you will find that the miracle of America still lives,” Rubio said. “For here, in America, those who once had no hope, will give their children the life they once wanted for themselves. Here, in America, generations of unfulfilled dreams will finally come to pass.”

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people where we live"—and always knew he'd be leaving the island.

"I was either going to end up in America or Australia," Hunt explained.

On visits to the states, the Irishman was sold on the American dream. He liked the odds the country offered.

"If you're willing to put the hard work in, you'll be able to do anything here you want," Hunt said.

It was that hard work and the promise of a better life that brought Maria Rogado's grandfather to Hawaii in the 1950s. He moved from the Philippines and began working the pineapple plantation for the Dole corporation, later moving his family to the United States.

"It's the only country in the world that gives all these opportunities to people coming in search of a better life," Rogado said.

Rogado's husband has a similar story.

Ramon Rogado and his family moved to America when he was a teenager, joining his father who had found work in Missouri.

"He wanted a better life for his seven kids," Ramon explained.

Some individuals immigrating to the United States are neither fleeing nor seeking. Trish Taylor, left behind a nice little life in Yorkshire, England—a job, family, and seven weeks paid vacation.

"I had no reason to go searching for anything else. I was happy, complacent," Taylor said.

But then she went Salsa dancing and met her future husband, a U.S. serviceman stationed near her hometown. She followed her husband home to America, and now she lives in Pensacola.

"I fell in love," Taylor said. "I didn't swim across the ocean, I wasn't escaping a dictatorship."

Other people come here just to visit. To go to school, or work, and maybe soak up some of the dream.

"Everything is here and nothing is missing—except my family," said Nusaed Ala-

“Here, in America, those who once had no hope, will give their children the life they once wanted for themselves.

Here, in America, generations of unfulfilled dreams will finally come to pass.”

Sen. Marco Rubio The Senate bill provides an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants with citizenship.

It also provides increased funding to beef up security along the country’s southern boarder. It remains unclear if the House of Representatives can find their way to passing similar legislation. Thus far, there’s little reason for optimism.

“The Senate-passed immigration bill has no chance of passing the House,” said Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), shortly after the senate bill passed.

If such immigration reform were successful, it would offer millions of people an opportunity to come out of the shadows.

Millions of people who have come to the U.S. hoping to better their prospects. Millions of people pursuing the American dream.

It's a dream Martinez has been following since he was a kid. It's been a good dream, one that's offered him and his family more opportunities.

"We're blessed to be here," Martinez said. "I would do it again."

A PROGRESSION OF PILGRIMS

Once in Texas, Martinez was arrested and sent to live with a relative in the state.

Later on, he married a girl from Mississippi and started a family. He now lives in Florida and exports cars to Central America.

"Anything that's four-cylinder and cheap on gas," he laughed.

As his son listened, Martinez talked about growing up in Guatemala with dreams of America and explained how he viewed the country as a land of opportunity. He's found it to be a place where dreams can be forged into existence through hard work and determination.

"We have so many beautiful things here," Martinez smiled.

The son has heard the stories before, and notes that on trips back to Central America he finds people still hold the United States in such a light.

"They think it's a dreamland," said Jordan Martinez, 15. "They watch Disneyland on TV and wish they could be here."

People immigrate to America for various reasons. Martinez was, like many, seeking a better life. He was looking to escape his circumstances in Guatemala, where his family lived in poverty and there were little prospects for anything better.

010 1

Rubio "No TV, no stove, dirt floors, no bicycles, no shoes," Martinez recalled. "I wanted to break that. I wanted better for my kids."

His fascination with America began early on. In 1976, the U.S. military provided aid following an earthquake in Guatemala.

"They would feed the kids, give them Kellogg's, which we had never had before," Martinez said. "The little bitty Kellogg's, I remember it just like it was yesterday. I had never seen a box of cereal. We had tortilla and beans."

When he was old enough, Martinez set out with two friends toward America. They braved “La Bestia”—a notorious train that transports an estimated 1,500 immigrants a day—and a journey full of peril. They dodged guerrilla warfare and gang violence.

"People die coming here," Martinez said.

But still, they come. The risks are worth it.

"There was an 80-year-old lady," Martinez recalled, "who said, 'If I was only young, I'd make the journey with my family.'"

Although she was young enough, Francis—who arrived from Nicaragua in 2005— was also pregnant when she made her journey to the United States. She was four months pregnant by the time she swam the Rio Grande River.

"It was raining," relayed Josefina Devito, translating for Francis.

Devito—who herself migrated from Mexico after meeting her husband while taking classes in the states—works with immigrants and refugees through Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida. She retold Francis' story in fragments.

"She used to listen about the U.S., always they were dreaming about the American dream," she explained. "If she managed to get here, she would be able to have a better life, to make a better life."

That's the same thing University of West Florida graduate Frency Moore's parents were thinking when they moved the family from Rio De Janeiro to Florida.

Her mom has told her how they hoped to expand the family's horizons.

"She really wanted my brother and I to have the opportunity to succeed," Moore said, explaining the realities back in Brazil.

"If you're born in a poor family, you stay poor your whole life. There's no opportunities."

Seamas Hunt grew up in Ireland, 50 miles south of Dublin—"more sheep than

jaji, who traveled from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia to get an education in finance at UWF. "My father encouraged me to come here because he studied here in the United States in the 1980s."

Alajaji said he would like to return to America when he's finished with school.

Work in the states, live the dream.

"I'd like to experience that," he said. "I'd like to create a family and live happily ever after and have a great income and have fun."

MADE IN AMERICA

When he arrived in the U.S. from Guatemala, Martinez was anxious to give the American dream a shot. It was what he'd come for.

Through the years the young Guatemalan found opportunity in the states easy enough to come by. Like so many before him, Martinez found his niche in American society.

"It's easy if you look for it," he said.

"We're hard workers, we get up early, we work in the sun, we take the jobs that no American wants. I guarantee you, if we go to a construction site right now, I'll get hired. If you're in line beside me, I'll probably get hired before you."

During his years in America, Martinez has found the dream to be true. For him, at least, hard work has borne fruit.

"You can build your own palace, or you can build your own jail," he said.

Hunt's experience coming to America from Ireland was entirely different than Martinez's. He'd been coming for years to visit his uncle.

"I'd come to visit him for the summer and then I'd go home," he said.

Hunt's uncle is Monsignor Luke Hunt, pastor of St. Ann's Catholic Church in Gulf Breeze. But even with the familial connection, the move across the Atlantic was still a big leap.

"I came here with a suitcase and a hundred bucks," Hunt recalled.

Though he had a degree in construction economics, the experience didn't transfer and the Irishman worked a string of different jobs: Delivering hot tubs, pest control, maintenance work.

Ramon Rogado enjoys an evening with the local Filipino-American community. / photo by Jeremy Morrison inweekly.net

Sergio Martinez traveled to the United States from Guatemala when he was 15-years-old, swimming the Rio Grande in the cold of winter. / photo by Jeremy Morrison

“We're hard workers, we get up early, we work in the sun, we take the jobs that no American wants.”

Sergio Martinez Eventually, he started his own business—Shamrock Home Repair—and later got a job with the city of Pensacola’s Department of Housing. In 2000, he helped open Paddy O'Leary's Irish Pub on Pensacola Beach.

"I think we've established ourselves pretty good as a real Irish pub," Hunt smiled.

He explained the tradition of pubs in Ireland—"it was always a place for the community to meet, for people to get together and talk about what's going on"—and how he believes his establishment has helped bring that tradition to the beach.

"Irish pubs have a tradition of being friendly places," Hunt explained. "Where ever I go, I find an Irish pub. It's where I'll feel comfortable."

Julie Anne Atherton came to America from the Philippines in 1979. The wife of a U.S. service member, she got a nursing degree in Texas and later attended business classes at Pensacola Junior College.

"This is a place of opportunity, a land of opportunity," Atherton said.

She's now active in the local Filipino community, serving as the vice president for the Filipino-America Association of Pensacola, and also owns her own business.

"I own Julie Anne's Bridals and Formals," Atherton said. "I would never get that in the Philippines."

Moore learned of her family's ticket out of Rio on the radio.

"I heard on the radio about a green card lottery program," she recalled.

Moore's family was living a "high-middle class" life in Brazil. Her mother owned a business; her father was a professional basketball player. But still they left it behind to take their chances in America.

The family didn't speak any English.

And much of their savings had been spent getting into the U.S. July 18, 2013

"We moved here with a few thousand dollars," Moore said. "It was rough for the first few years."

Her mother waited tables, while her father found a job as a maintenance worker. The family moved into modest digs and dug in.

"I remember thinking it was the best, most awesome place we'd ever lived," Moore laughed. "It had a community pool and air conditioning, so it was heaven."

Moore has asked her parents if the move to America was worth it—worth giving up careers and the familiarity of their home country.

"They say this all the time," Moore said, "even though they work harder, they have a better quality of life."

This is a common sentiment amongst those who have made their way to America.

It's one Mark Dufva, executive director of Catholic Charities, has heard many times.

"The common goal is the American dream," he explained. "That's the goal.

They know that they'll get a better life for their children by coming to America."

As Dufva sees it, this common yearning for the dream is what has given America its rich diversity from the onset.

"We're a country of immigrants, unless you're a Native American, the rest of us are immigrants," he said. "We make up the fabric, the rainbow, the salad bowl, whatever you want to call it, we make up America.

It makes our country better by having all these immigrants."

C ULTURE ADJUSTMENT

On a warm June night, the local Filipino-American community filled the Zelica Grotto Hall for a fundraiser. They partied and feasted from a bottomless potluck buffet of noodles, beef and lumpia. They danced to "Gangnam Style."

Taking a break from the cultural celebration, Atherton talked about the effect of three decades in the states.

"Right now, I can tell you, I'm more American than I am Filipino," she said.

"That just happens."

Taylor described a similar transformation. She feels the American "can-do" spirit has rubbed off on her.

"Here, if you want something, you have to make it happen," the English native explained.

"I think I've gotten infected with that a little bit. I'm starting to go, 'Hell, yeah, I can!'"

Other aspects of America's culture still strike Taylor as foreign. The country's love affair with firearms, for example.

"I'd never seen anybody with a gun," she recalled.

The overwhelming sense of patriotism Taylor found stateside also struck her as a uniquely American quality. People in England, she explained, don't tend to fly the nation's flag on their houses.

"We don't fly flags over there, we don't fly flags in England—we fly flags for the World Cup," Taylor said. "It just doesn't have the same symbolism. Here, the flag is a person. You don't leave a flag over night.

You ceremonially burn a flag."

Moore said that she has found American culture to place a greater emphasis on material and financial wealth. She contrasts this with life for the lower class back in Brazil.

"They live in slums, but they're happy," Moore said. "I feel like because we are such a money-driven society, we miss out on a lot of things."

Martinez said he wonders sometimes if his venture to America deprived his son of the values an upbringing in Guatemala might have afforded.

"I think he's got more disadvantages," he said. "We're too spoiled, we have too much."

He chided his son about too much time spent on video games and Facebook.

American kids, he said, spend too much time inside soaking up the air conditioning.

Martinez takes his family back to Central America periodically. He thinks it's important to connect them with their roots and remind them how another part of the world lives. His son has taken notice.

"They're not as sensitive, they wash their clothes with their hands and they dry them on lines. The tortillas, they make by hand," Jordan Martinez said. "It's more fun over there. Over there, I go out in the streets and play with friends. I don't stay inside at all."

DREAMS, WITH DOCUMENTATION

An immigrant's journey to America is a big deal. A dream taken flight. A sprint of energy and excitement and nerves.

Making if official, however, is a yearslong procedural commitment.

"It was kind of bizarre," said Taylor.

The Yorkshire native described a litany of medical tests. Tests for HIV, leprosy and TB. Even a genitalia check.

"Drop your trousers, or whatever," Taylor laughed. "I think that's to prove you’re the gender that you say you are. That's what somebody told me."

There's also the civics tests, and background checks. The personality assessments and oaths of allegiance and commitment.

"They've got all these questions about American history. It was a process. You had to study," said Hunt. "They made you make all these promises to the country. That you'd fight for it. They don't take citizenship lightly."

Aside from the medical tests and oaths, there is the wait and the costs associated with the journey to American citizenship.

Seamas Hunt at Paddy O'Leary's / photo by Samantha Crooke

“If you're willing to put the hard work in, you'll be able to do anything here you want.”

Seamas Hunt 11

"When he is 21-years-old he can petition for his mother," joked Devito.

Moore moved to America from Brazil when she was just entering high school. She's a legal resident, though she'd like to become a citizen—participate fully in the dream.

"I'd love to," Moore said. "I'd love to vote."

If she takes that step, it comes with both privileges and responsibilities. And a ceremony.

"That was an awesome ceremony," recalled Hunt, who became a citizen two years ago. "Very impressive. My parents came over from Ireland."

STILL DREAMING Trish Taylor holds her citizenship certificate alongside the three judges that were present at the ceremony / courtesy photo

“They made you make all these promises to the country. That you'd fight for it. They don't take citizenship lightly.”

Trish Taylor Before an immigrant attains citizenship, there are years of living on a visa and as a legal resident. Each phase of the journey has procedural costs.

"It's not an easy path," explained Devito, with Catholic Charities. "It's very, very

complex. And also expensive."

She explains how Francis, who has been in the country nearly a decade, is still waiting to obtain citizenship status. The mother hopes to soon join her son, who was born an American, as a citizen.

In a way, the American dream has always been the dream of the immigrant.

A dream that bets hopes against risks. A human dream.

Taylor, perhaps because she's from England, thinks of the pilgrims.

"I think the idea that people came over here from England, survived the frontier and all of that, that is the perfect example," she said.

Since moving to the states herself, Taylor has found that spirit alive and well. She's found the dream to be true.

"It really sounds corny, but you can really do anything you want, the opportunities are out there," she said. "You can do anything you want, the only person who can stop you is you."

At the Filipino-American party, Atherton offered a similar assessment.

"The American dream is if you want something, and you want it so bad, work hard for it and you can get it," she said.

Such praising of the American dream may seem like misdirected sunshine. There are, after all, plenty of Americans stuck in their own nightmares, or simply grinding through the ruts and routines of their life.

But the immigrants who arrive in this country tend to embrace the dream like a rally cry. It is not an academic sociological concept, but rather it burns in their belly and propels them forward.

"I think when you come from another country," explained Hunt, "you're more determined to make yourself a success."

Reflecting on the American dream, Moore looks back to her home country of Brazil. She recalls an unstable and insecure landscape. Here in the states, her family has found it possible to stride sure-footed toward its future.

"To me, when I think of the American dream, I think of prosperity, but not financially—understanding that you can work hard, and you don't have to fear," explained Moore. "[In Rio] it's almost like people work, work, work, but they don't know what the future holds so they can't advance in life."

This is the dream that immigrants have long looked to as they set out for America.

For the land of opportunities.

Through the centuries, the dream has evolved. It was different for the Mayflower's pilgrims than it was for the waves of Irish, Italians or Chinese of the 19th century. It continues to evolve in modern days, as the

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immigration conversation focuses on people entering the country through its southern border.

Martinez knows the trip would be much different for his son than it was for him so many years ago. His experience on this side of the border would also be different.

"Nowadays, it's harder to get jobs," the Guatemalan explained. "People don't hire illegals like they used to."

But Martinez knows that reality hasn't dampened the dream. People all over the world still look to America with a glint in their eye.

They still long for the opportunities the land is so fabled for. And they still make the journey.

"Everyday, all day," Martinez smiled.

"Today, right now, as we speak." {in}

“To me, when I think of the American dream, I think of prosperity, but not financially—understanding that you can work hard, and you don't have to fear.”

Frency Moore

IMMIGRATION IN PENSACOLA

by Jessica Forbes

Atlantic seafaring world continued, and several early Jewish residents emigrated from Holland via the Caribbean in the 1850s. Creoles, many from New Orleans, also moved to Pensacola for the opportunities Palafox ca. 1900 / photo courtesy of The Pensacola Historical Society in the burgeonPensacola’s multi-cultural heritage is ing city. Those of just one story in a nation of melting Scotch, Irish and British ancestry—some pots. Beginning in 1559, the bay attracted first generation Americans—relocated from the Spanish, French and British for military elsewhere in the eastern U.S. and colonization purposes. Early Spanish In the early 1900s, the world wars and and French efforts fizzled—it wasn’t until resulting military build-up, and later the 1757 that the Spanish built a wooden fort growing tourism industry, paper and chemiand housing for a small number of civilians cal plants, were the opportunities that drew in what is now downtown Pensacola. people to Pensacola.

Most of the First Spanish Period After World War II, many new imsoldiers and settlers evacuated when the migrants, so called “War Brides,” hailed British took control of West Florida in 1763, from countries in which American soldiers but continual settlement of Pensacola had served—typically England, France and began during the Second Spanish Period, Italy. The same was true for the Korean and starting in 1781. Settlers consisted of SpanVietnam Wars. Soldiers commonly returned ish soldiers and civilians from across the with wives hailing from Asian countries who Empire, French from Louisiana, both free added their cultures’ traditions to the everand enslaved people of African descent, expanding mix. and others from Caribbean and Central Though people from a variety of counAmerican colonies, and the then newly tries continued immigrating to Pensacola independent Haiti (1804). on an individual basis throughout the late Eventually, the Spanish, French and early 1900s, the Gulf Coast’s next large influx of Anglo-Americans from the Second Spanimmigrants from a single country was in the ish and the U.S. Territorial era (1821-1845) 1970s. After South Vietnam fell to the combecame Pensacola’s old-timers. Immigrants munist North, thousands of Vietnamese foreign and domestic began arriving after the sought refuge in the U.S. Eglin AFB was one Civil War, some settling in the growing port of several refugee and resettlement centers city to support the lumber, shipping, brickestablished in 1975. Refugees settling on the making and snapper fishing industries.

Gulf Coast were able to establish or conThrough its port, Pensacola develtinue their tradition of fishing, and the area’s oped sizeable Greek, German, Italian Vietnamese immigrants—like so many and Scandinavian populations in the late other new Americans before them—started 1800s and early 1900s. Ties to the broader building their American dream. {in} July 18, 2013

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Love don't cost a thing... but weddings do.

Anyone who's ever tried to plan (and more importantly pay for) a wedding will quickly tell you it's not something easily done on a tight budget. Food, booze, venue fees and all the fun trimmings add up—fast. Sadly most couples end up sacrificing some of their wedding wishes in the name of saving money along the way.

That's exactly why some of the area’s top wedding vendors have teamed up to offer Pensacola’s third annual Block Party Wedding, which will be held during the Friday, Sept. 20 Gallery Night.

One lucky couple will receive the grand prize of a free wedding—including just about everything from photography to flowers to a private reception with a banging DJ. That's almost a big enough prize to make even the most severe case of cold feet warm up and get engaged, isn't it?

This year’s wedding giveaway registration is already closed and we’ve narrowed the field down to the top 10. But the winning couple still needs to be decided and that's where you come in. Your votes will decide the lucky couple, so read up, pick your favorite pair and go to pensacolablockpartywedding.com to vote. Voting closes July 29 at midnight.

July 18, 2013

15

on tying the knot?

What was most memorable about your proposal?

TARRON: Our original wedding date was set for April of next year.

We were going to rent a house for the reception but have the actual wedding ceremony on the beach.

JUSTIN: It was in Thailand on a dinner cruise. I requested a song and fifteen or twenty minutes later the lady called my name. After the song they pulled out a chair and had Tarron sit down and What does a typiI proposed to her. cal "date night" TARRON: After look like for you? studying abroad in JUSTIN: Dinner China, Justin and and a movie., then my family met me in maybe out to HopAge: His: 25/ Hers: 28 Korea and we went jacks for a couple Occupation: His: R.N. at Sacred Heart from there to Thai“brewskies.”

Hospital/ Hers: Recent UWF Global land. I didn’t know TARRON: If we Marketing graduate, currently seeking what was going on. don’t go out for a employment The most memodrink, we usually go Together Since: 2010 rable part was just home for a glass of being on the river in wine and just hang Bangkok, and having out. unique and different. We are my family there. JUSTIN: fortunate to participate in I had to hide the ring in my Important reception the experience. TARRON: pocket while I was over question—Wobble, We think it would be amazing there for five days without Cupid Shuffle, Electric to have something like that. her finding out and being Slide, Harlem Shake (or We couldn’t have thought up paranoid about it. all of the above)? something so elaborate.

JUSTIN: Harlem Shake is the most fun for everyWhy do you want to have If you don't win, where body. But probably all of a Block Party Wedding? and when do you plan them in reality, you know?

JUSTIN: It sounded very

Justin Smith & Tarron Hunsucker

where I'm from.

LIBBY: It's sort of a destination wedding that's still doable.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

LIBBY: It was all memorable. It was a surprise. It was unexpected and at a place that meant a lot to our relationship. It was a re-creation of one of our first dates. We've known we were going to get married for a while, but the proposal was officially this weekend. SHANE: She was speechless, which doesn't happen that often.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

Age: His: 27/ Hers: 24 Occupation: His: Government contractor / Hers: Writing Specialist at an online college Together Since: 2011

LIBBY: We are both not from Pensacola, but I definitely think that we have grown to call this home.

We love it here. We think it would be the most awesome way to get our friends and family together. It would be a memorable experience, a cool story to tell. To get to use the top vendors in 616 1

Shane Reilly & Libby Morris

the area would be a huge blessing.

If you don't win, where and when do you plan on tying the knot?

SHANE: We would like to be married by next spring some time, and maybe looking at the New England area. That's

LIBBY: We're pretty easy going. We like to order pizza, crack open a bottle of wine, and watch a movie at home. We like to try new restaurants, anything we can do together. We go kayaking, we like to ride our bikes, spend time with our dogs.

We're pretty easy breezy. We just enjoy each others company all of the time.

Important reception question-Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

LIBBY: [Laughs] Well, I'm more of a dancer than Shane, but he'll get out and shake his booty with me. So he says all of them.

would be able to share the experience with friends and family who wouldn’t be able to be there otherwise.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

CHRISTINE: That it was unexpected.

We had built our relationship on If you don't win, a long distance where and when foundation. When do you plan on I came to visit him tying the knot? in Florida, we had CHRISTINE: We are been together five planning to have our months and he wedding privately got down on one the first weekend in knee at the beach September in Louunexpectedly and isville at his parents’ proposed. JESSE: house if this doesn’t I had pretty much work out. given up on love.

Age: His: 35 / Hers: 31 Then an angel came Occupation: Co-owners/photographers What does a typiinto my life and at Hamm Photography cal “date night” gave me hope. Our Together Since: 2012 look like for you? love is the kind that CHRISTINE: Going makes most people how expensive weddings out to a restaurant. Then gag. It was in Destin, at a can be. I think it would be coming home and taking a hotel that overlooked the great to save that money walk and being by ourbeach. After I proposed and be able to share the selves. she was so happy that we experience with our friends literally cried and hugged and family. Plus, we are Important reception for 30 minutes straight. newer to the area so it question—Wobble, would also be a great way Cupid Shuffle, Electric Why do you want to to meet a lot a people and Slide, Harlem Shake (or have a Block Party integrate ourselves into all of the above)?

Wedding?

Pensacola society.

JESSE: Wobble for sure.

JESSE: We know firsthand CHRISTINE: This way we CHRISTINE: I agree. as wedding photographers

Jesse Hamm & Christine Cherry

Wedding. If we do not win, we will most likely do everything ourselves and search for an empty field somewhere to set up the image we have in our heads.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

DREW: I got to surprise Kayt by proposing during the sunset, in Cinderella's Castle at Disney World. The look of surprise and happiness on her face was priceless and the memory of it still makes me smile. She hates the pictures because she was not prepared, but she loves the memory just as much as me.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

DREW: Our first date was at a bar on Palafox as a matter of fact. The Block Party Wedding was such a treasure for us to find because it represents our personalities and lifestyle in a way no other wedding could, which is exactly what we have been dreaming of but never thought we would find.

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

BOTH: We both have too many hobbies to list, so we love doing just about anything.

However, a typical night for us goes like this: "Drew, what do you want to eat?" "I don't know.

Age: His: 29/ Hers: 24 What are we doing toOccupation: His: Business night?" "I don't know. owner/Hers: Hotel front desk at What do you want to Margaritaville, UWF student do?" "I don't know. What Together Since: 2010 do you want?" After about an hour of this, If you don't win, where pizza has been ordered and when do you plan on and a movie has been rented. tying the knot?

BOTH: We keep searching for Important reception something that is a projection question-Wobble, Cupid of our untypical tastes and Shuffle, Electric Slide, personalities, but we nearly Harlem Shake (or all of gave up on the idea that the above)? something like that exists unBOTH: The Wobble. til we found the Block Party

Drew Dittmar & Kayt Ward

inweekly.net

hitched in Patrick's parents’ backyard on November 2nd.

Patrick is the baby of seven kids, so having a place we can afford to host all of the family is at the top of the list. But, if we could just line 'em all down Palafox that would be sweet.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

LINDSAY: Patrick texted me a picture of the ring sitting on the kitchen counter. I called him and laughed, "Is that what I think it is? Did you really just send that in a text message?"

He responded with, "So if you're not busy this November..." I cried with delight and disbelief. I poked fun at him for the lack of romance and dramatic effect, but he makes up for it by being a great catch.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

What does a typical “date night” look like for you?

Patrick Weeks & Lindsay Larson

Age: His: 30 / Hers: 31 Occupation: His: Drafter at VT Group / Hers: Flight Coordinator, Lifeguard Air Ambulance Together Since: 2008

LINDSAY: Because it will be free, fun and fancy! We recognize that this is an extraordinary opportunity graciously gifted by Pensacola's generous wedding vendors and we are so honored just at the chance to showcase their talent.

We can't think of anything that sounds more like a blast

than a block party wedding and the fancy party we could never afford on our own. But on a personal note, we met in downtown Pensacola so to bring our story full circle would be a dream come true.

If you don’t win, where

and when do you plan on tying the knot?

LINDSAY: The plan is to get

Important reception question—Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

LINDSAY: Patrick's guilty pleasure is funny YouTube videos, so I'm sure he will be an expert at all of these. But, I was thinking Flash Mob? Who is in? in Milton. Just a little outdoor, rustic, country wedding with a bonfire and close family and friends.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

BRIANA: It was St. Patrick’s day of last year and we were just tanning, laying on a secluded part of the beach. I had unhooked my top because we were tanning, and I don’t think he noticed because he was so nervous.

But I jumped up like an idiot. I teased him that I was going to tell my dad that he proposed to me while I was topless.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

Trent Snellgrove & Briana Taylor Age: His: 28/Hers: 26 Occupation: His: Sr. Deputy at Santa Rosa County Jail/ Hers: Ad sales exec at Gulf Breeze News Together Since: 2012

BRIANA: We’re from the area, both born and raised in Santa Rosa county.

We’re also huge supporters of local business. It would be awesome to have as many people as possible come. It would be neat to share that with everyone. I actually have a dream to throw my July 18, 2013

BOTH: Gallery Night!

We enjoy the food, the music, the art, the wine, the people, the public, the places. It isn't just our date night, it's Pensacola’s date night and she is a beauty.

bouquet onto Palafox from a balcony, like it was Mardi Gras.

If you don't win, where and when do you plan on tying the knot?

BRIANA: Our original wedding is scheduled to happen October 12 at our house

BRIANA: I don’t know if there is a typical date night for us. We try to make it a big outing. We drive to Biloxi or go on a tour of the lighthouse, something that’s not just having dinner. We try to do something different or learn something new.

Important reception question—Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

BRIANA: That’s a hard one. We’d have to start old school and go with Electric Slide, then Cupid Shuffle and finish with Wobble.

KAYLYNN: It wouldn’t be until May [2014], here in Pensacola. MATT: At Old Christ Church.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

KAYLYNN: It was our two year anniversary.

He had my sister and my friends come and meet me out at the beach, and it was a surprise, they were hiding. After he proposed, they all flooded out and ran towards me. Having them there afterwards, I think that was the best part, being able to celebrate with all of our friends and family there. MATT: The most memorable part for me was when I asked, she collapsed.

KAYLYNN: I was just in shock!

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

MATT: Just going out to dinner and then going out with friends.

We usually go out downtown to some of the bars down there— maybe one, maybe three, who knows.

[Laughs] We’re pretty Age: His: 28/ Hers: 25 fun people; we like Occupation: His: Account Executive at to play games, so we Ricoh USA/ Hers: Office Manager, UWF usually meet up with Marketing and Creative Services friends. KAYLYNN: Together Since: 2011 Gallery Night, Play or maybe out on the beach to Flounder’s— Pensacola brought us back just dinner and drinks. together and we would love

Matt Hawkins & Kaylynn Fantaski

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

KAYLYNN: We’ve known each other for about eight years. We dated about six years ago for a couple of months. I happened to move to Pensacola randomly, and after college he came back too. We met on a whim again after all those years.

nothing more than to have our wedding with the city that brought us together and celebrate with everyone. MATT: I grew up here. There’s no better way to celebrate than with your hometown.

If you don't win, where and when do you plan on tying the knot?

Important reception question—Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

KAYLYNN: Probably all of them but the Electric Slide.

MATT: No, no, no, we’ve got to do that one! KAYLYNN: Ok, all of them.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

JESSICA: The timing and creativity of how he did it.

He did it after I got home from class one night. He'd already asked my dad and had it all planned out. I thought that was a good thing, that he'd asked my dad's permission first. JARRETT: Her reaction; she kind of screamed and said "Yes!"

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

tying the knot?

JESSICA: October 12, 2013 on base [NAS], on the water.

JARRETT: We'd do it at the pavilion there.

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

Jarrett Swearingen & Jessica Killam

Age: His: 25 / Hers: 26 Occupation: His: Deputy with Escambia County Sherriff's Office / Hers: Therapist/Evaluation Specialist with Lakeview Center Together Since: 2011

JESSICA: I think it's something that we would always remember and it would also be really great for us as far as finances go, to be honest with you. I just graduated from school, so I have loan payments and Jarrett's actually in school now, so it would be really

great to win. All the vendors are vendors I wanted to have; it would be really great to have them for our wedding.

If you don't win, where

and when do you plan on

JARRETT: Normally it's dinner and a movie. Shark Fin and Outback are two restaurants we normally go to. JESSICA: And then after we go to dinner, we ride around without the top on the Jeep and we sing Journey at the top of our lungs.

[Laughs]

Important reception question-Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

JESSICA: All of the above.

And definitely, we'll probably have to throw the Moon Walk in there, too.

17

wait until next May. We really want to be married now.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

ALANNA: It was at Laundry’s, where we had our first date.

He had a music box made that played “Going to the Chapel”, all of my family and friends were there. EVAN: I had the ring in the music box, wrapped up.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

Evan Milby & Alanna Erickson

EVAN: It depends, we love to go grab dinner and then coffee/dessert. We like taking a couple blankets and my guitar out to the beach and spending some time together by the ocean.

Important recepEVAN: Thinking tion question— back, God’s always Age: His: 23/Hers: 21 Wobble, Cupid opened a lot of Occupation: His: Touring musician/Hers: Shuffle, Electric doors for us. TrustPhotographer Slide, Harlem ing God sets us up to Together Since: 2010 Shake (or all of the be rewarded. This is above)? one of those blessEVAN: I would ings that God could Pensacola and the look of it. go with Electric Slide, give us. It would also be a Plus, we’re not shy at all. only because I’m not the financial blessing. I’m lucky best dancer in the world. to have someone who’s If you don't win, where ALANNA: I would do the loving enough to let me and when do you plan on Harlem Shake because follow my dreams. And how tying the knot? it’s just so stupid. It would cool would it be to have it ALANNA: We don’t know be fun. outside? ALANNA: I love for sure where, we know that the history of Downtown we would probably have to

would be Austin.

What was most memorable about your proposal?

What does a typical "date night" look like for you?

SHIRLEY: When I could see in his eyes that he wanted to marry me. We were outside, having coffee in the morning.

He talked about what he saw in our future.

Why do you want to have a Block Party Wedding?

SHIRLEY: It would add to our romantic wedding. We just bought a house together and I moved from Austin to be with him. We would love to do it in Pensacola.

If you don't win, where and when do you plan on tying the knot?

David Everage & Shirley Martinez Age: His: 36/Hers: 28 Occupation: His: Army reservist, student/ Hers: Customer service Together Since: 2012 SHIRLEY: In Austin, next year. Since I was giving up Austin to be with him, if we were to pick the place it

SHIRLEY: We love to go out to eat, somewhere that we can sit outside and take our little dog.

We like watching movies together and cooking together. We enjoy inventing new recipes.

Important reception question— Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Harlem Shake (or all of the above)?

SHIRLEY: Harlem Shake—he [David] already knows which guy he would be. I know he would pick that.

Vote here: pensacolablockpartywedding.com Voting closes July 29 at midnight

I first heard public radio as a teenager on a trip to the East Coast. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t like anything I had heard before, and I liked it. When WUWF went on the air, I liked it, too. Looking for something to ‘like’ in the Facebook era? Try public radio.

WUWF 88.1 is My Public Radio and I Make it Possible.

Carl Wernicke

*Rates as low as 1.49% APR for up to 60 months on new and used car purchases, and refinances. Refinances and used car purchases 2006 model year and newer. Rates and terms are based on credit score and subject to change.

Excludes current Gulf Winds loans. Federally insured by NCUA. 818 1

Listener, Member and Local Commentator inweekly.net

July 18, 2013

19

WEEK OF JULY 18 - 25

Arts & Entertainment art , f ilm, music, stage, books and other signs of civilization...

The “Power of Photography”

by Lilia Del Bosque Oakey Whitehouse

The Power of Photography show benefits more people than just photographers. All proceeds from the show benefit ARC Gateway, a local non-profit that offers supportive services for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Charles Brewer, the Executive Director at ARC Gateway, says that proceeds will help benefit three of ARC Gateway’s underfunded programs.

“The show will help the Pediatric Therapy program, which works with children ages zero to three, the Supportive Employment Program and Supportive Living,” said Brewer.

Through Supportive Employment, ARC Gateway helps the developmentally disabled find a job in the community by teaching them how to fill out a resume and helping them learn what to say during an interview.

Supportive Living helps developmentally disabled clients that live on their

Images are powerful. A single moment captured on film can tell a story, evoke emotions, and raise awareness. The Wide Angle Photo Club’s 20th annual photography show, the Power of Photography, embraces all three of those qualities while benefiting ARC Gateway and showing the power photography has to help others.

What started as the photography contest at the Santa Rosa County Fair with just a few hundred photographs has now grown to attract photographers from all over the United States. This year, the Power of Photography show will display over 300 photographs chosen by three judges from over 1,000 photographs submitted by 143 different photographers. The show has grown to be the largest juried photography show in the Southeastern United States.

First through third place photos from over 12 categories—including Animals, Art and Abstract, People, Best Food Image and Most Creative Image of a Typical Subject—will be on display. Attendees can also vote for their favorite photograph for the People’s Choice award.

Photos were judged by three professional photographers: Gary Langhammer, architectural photographer in Pensacola, Jeff Johnston, wildlife photographer from Mobile and Steven Savage, Adjunct Professor at Springhill College.

SEMINAR AND DEMO SCHEDULE, SATURDAY, JULY 20

10:30 a.m.-11:15 a.m.: “Finding the Picture In Your Shot" (Digital Photo Workshop) by Jeff Leimbach 11:15 a.m.-11:25 a.m.: "Choosing a Tripod" by Tom Thomas 11:30 a.m. -12:15 p.m.: “Topaz Labs – How Filters Work" by Ivan Randall 12:15 p.m.-12:25 p.m.: "Cleaning Your Sensor"

by Richard Weaver 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m.: “Portrait Lighting" by Long Hollow Studios' Noel Nichols 1:15 p.m.-1:25 p.m.: “The Wacom Tablet" 1:30 p.m.-2:15 p.m.: "Stop Taking Snapshots & Start Making Photos" by Suzanne Borges 2:15 p.m.-2:25 p.m.: "Packing Your Bag" by Angela Peacock 2:30 p.m.-3:15 p.m.: "Topaz Labs - Our Filters Rule" by Ivan Randall 3:30 p.m.-4:15 p.m.: "Exposure - Get Off Auto" by Rob Kepko of Calagaz Camera

“This show offers an opportunity to photographers and also helps spread awareness about photography as an art form and gets the community involved.”

“There aren’t many opportunities for photographers in the community,” said Dick Weaver, President of the Wide Angle Photo Club.

“This show offers an opportunity to photographers and also helps spread awareness about photography as an art form and gets the community involved.”

The annual show has also garnered exposure for local photographers and has jump-started the careers of some. Carol Langston, trade show manager for the Power of Photography show and a participating photographer in the contest, says the show has helped introduce her work into the local community.

“The show allows you to get exposure you never had before,” said Langston. “I’ve sold some pieces at the show and a lot of other artists have gone on to do their own shows and sell their work. A lot of that gets jump started from the exposure artist receive from the show.”

Dick Weaver

the public. Seminars will cover a variety of own in the topics of interest to photographers including commuChoosing a Tripod, Portrait Lighting, How nity.

Filters Work, and a digital photo workshop.

“They Attendees are encouraged to bring their don’t cameras to test new gear and to get instrucdrive,” tion from professional photographers. said After twenty years, Langston still beBrewer lieves that most powerful aspect of photos “so we in the Power of Photography show is the help emotions they conjure. clients ac“A lot of these photos are filled with cess public transportation, teach them how emotions,” said Langston. “They really move to open a bank account, and show them you.” {in} how to make a doctor’s appointment.”

Local and national sponsors have donated products, services, and trips that will be auctioned and raffled off with all proceeds benefiting ARC Gateway. This year, the Wide Angle Photo Club received WHEN: 5- 9 p.m. Friday, July 19, 9 a.m.- 5 over $18,000 worth of donated p.m. Saturday, July 20 and 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. items including a camera donated by Sunday, July 21 Olympus, a lens donated by Tamron, WHERE: Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. and a photo safari trip to the place of Jefferson Street the winner’s choosing with a profesCOST: Free sional photographer.

DETAILS: wideanglephotoclub.org On Saturday, sponsors and artists will host seminars and demonstrations that are free and open to

POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY

020 2

inweekly.net

Acute Liver Failure?

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Unfortunately, Tylenol can overwhelm the liver’s defenses Unfortunately, Tylenol can overwhelm the liver’s defenses and cause liver damage or even and cause liver damage or even liver liver failure.

Liver failure canofbe Tylenol® and other forms acetaminophen are among failure.

Liver failure can be fatal; the fatal; the only known cure for acute theknown most popular medications only forpain acute liver failure around the world. It’s liver failure cure is a liver transplant. estimated that 8 Billion Tylenol pills are taken every year. is a liver transplant.

Unfortunately, Tylenol can overwhelm the liver’s defenses The manufacturer’s recomand cause liver recommended damage or even liverstates that adults The manufacturer’s dosage should take no more than a total of 4,000 mended dosage states that failure.

Liver failure can be fatal; themg of acetaminophen a day, butknown the FDAcure thinks amount isfailure tooamuch.

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Did Acetaminophen Lead To Your Liver Injury?

Tylenol (acetaminophen) per day (a 24 hour period).

is too much. The FDA now recommends that healthy The manufacturer’s recommended dosage states that adults Lawsuits are now underway regarding whether drug’s(acetmakers adults take nomore more than 3,250 mgmg of the Tylenol should take no than a total of 4,000 of acetaminophen a were giving the public sufficient warnings of the dangers of acute aminophen) perthinks day that (a 24 hourisperiod). day, but the FDA amount too much. The FDA now liver failure. recommends that healthy adults take no more than 3,250 mg of Tylenol (acetaminophen) per day (a 24 hourwhether period). the drug’s Lawsuits are now underway regarding

IFmakers YOU were OR Agiving LOVED ONE suffi SUFFERED ACUTE the public cient warnings of the Lawsuits are now underway regarding whether the drug’s makers LIVER FAILURE WHILE ON ACETAMINOPHEN, dangers of acute liver failure. were giving the public sufficient warnings of the dangers of acute PROTECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS liver failure.

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21

July 18, 2013

happenings

Ears & Fingers

vs Huntsville Stars

by Jason Leger

JAY-Z

MAGNA CARTA HOLY GRAIL

Just under 6 minutes long, “Holy Grail,” the opening track on Jay-Z’s highly anticipated 12th studio album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” is moody and winding and seems to unravel further with every listen. Let alone the fact that within just this song—less than ten minutes into the album—there are references to Kurt Cobain, Hammer, Mike Tyson, Vanilla Wafers, and “Thriller,” the song plays out like a rant against the woes of fame, including paparazzi, crazed fans, and “bleeding” on a world platform.

These are the worries on the mind of a multi-millionaire rapper, business mogul, and, now, father. While “Holy Grail” is a very heavy and possibly unexpected introduction to Jay-Z’s first album since becoming a patriarch, it’s not a fair gauge for what to expect from the rest of the LP. “Hova” brings along plenty of whimsical tracks, complete with his signature laugh in the background, as well as tracks discussing what he relishes about being in the center of the world’s attention. In fact, “Picasso Baby,” the album’s second track is written in a drastically different tone than its predecessor, including lines about making love on a million, having champagne on his breath at the Met, and driving twin Bugattis, all while being next to a modern day Mona Lisa with better features (he put a ring on it).

This album is receiving an enormous amount of animosity, and I’m really torn over whether or not it’s due. Agreed, Jay-Z is trying to maintain an image of being counter-culture and ”come from under the thumb of this regime,” all the while releasing this album as a huge publicity stunt and in partnership with a cell phone company who used his art

as a means to collect user data. I see the irony.

There are low-points, and even some songs feel phoned in. There is also the aforementioned agony of being famous running parallel with his love for the extravagant and the expensive.

And there is SO MUCH NAME DROPPING! That’s to be expected from a hip-hop (let alone Jay-Z) album, though.

On the other hand, there is a greater sense of introspection than on most of Jay-Z’s previous efforts. He blasts the celebrity end of his career, while still celebrating the things he finds good in his life. Thankfully, he does not ignore his wife or the daughter they share. In “Hova” he fully recognizes and enjoys the role of family man, which has now been added to his already impressive résumé, by making several references to his appreciation of Beyoncé, and dedicating a song to his little girl, Blue Ivy. Jay-Z has also never had any qualms about who he is: “I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.” He is a juggernaut in the rap world and takes full advantage of his success, so should it really be surprising that he uses overtly capitalistic means to release his new album? I don’t really think so. I see all of the circumstances surrounding this album as archetypal JayZ maneuvers.

Musically, “MCHG” is on par with any other Jay-Z release, and includes tracks produced by Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, J-Roc, and, of course, Timbaland, and features cameos from Mrs. Carter, Justin Timberlake, Rick Ross, Nas, and Frank Ocean. There are two tracks which stand much further out to me than the rest. “Oceans” and “Heaven” both caught my full attention on the very first spin.

Both tracks have gravity to them, as “Oceans” is a retracing of the water his ancestors crossed when leaving Africa, and “Heaven” is full of skepticism toward religion. The heavy themes and catchy hooks on both songs are enough to guarantee I will have them on repeat for the next several months. All in all, I don’t consider this album mediocre, but even a mediocre Jay-Z album is better than a good portion of the hip-hop being produced today. I know how gutsy that statement is, but stand by it. After all, it’s your boy, America, you made him this way. “Magna Carta Holy Grail” is out now via Roc-A-Fella/Universal Records. {in}

THURSDAY • July 18 • 7:00 pm Thirsty Thursday • Seville Quarter

FRIDAY • July 19 • 7:00 pm Tumbler Glass Giveaway • Hill Kelly • WEAR

SATURDAY • July 20 • 6:30 pm Fireworks by Budweiser 1980’s Theme • Sacred Heart Home Run For Life

SUNDAY • July 21 • 4:00 pm Family Sunday by McDonald’s Fan Giveaway by Pensacola ly & Covenant Hospice Kids Club -ly

MONDAY • July 22 • 7:00 pm Tattoo Night • TK101

6 25

COUNTDOWN MORE HOME GAMES

Double-A Affiliates

bluewahoos.com

(850) 934-8444 Blue Wahoos

BW0254 IN 071813 schedule.indd 1

Huntsville Stars

7/16/13 8:55 AM

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inweekly.net

It’s election time again... time for you intelligent, discerning and beautiful people to vote for all of your favorite things.

Forget cheap imitations. There’s only one BEST OF list you need to know: This one.

So, find a pen that actually works and fill this baby out.

▶rules • Vote only once. Please include your name and address (for verification only) or your ballot will not be counted. Only one ballot per envelope.

• No photocopies or faxes will be accepted.

• Vote in at least 25 categories. Ballots with fewer than 25 entries will not be counted.

• Ballot stuffing will be disqualified. (We can so tell when you try.)

• Voting ends August 15, 2013.

• Ballots must be postmarked by August 15th to be counted.

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services Best Hair Salon Best Hair Stylist Best Massage Best Pedicure Best Nail Salon Best Facial Best Skin Care Overall Best Day Spa Best Salon for Waxing Best Tanning Salon Best Gym Overall Best Yoga Best Pilates Best Fitness Classes Best Running Club Best Fitness Trend Best Non-Gym Workout Best Outdoor Bootcamp Best Weight Loss Program Best Hospital Best Bank Best Credit Union Best Residential Real Estate Agency Best Commercial Real Estate Agency Best Real Estate Agent Best Boutique or Independent Hotel or Inn Best Hotel–Pensacola Beach Best Hotel–not Pensacola Beach Best Bed and Breakfast Best Pool & Spa Company

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restaurants Best Restaurant–Downtown Pensacola Best Restaurant–Cordova Area Best Restaurant–North Pensacola/Nine Mile/UWF Best Restaurant–West Pensacola/Perdido Key Best Restaurant–East Pensacola/Scenic Highway Best Restaurant–Gulf Breeze Best Restaurant–Pensacola Beach Best Restaurant–Pace/Milton Best New Restaurant–Escambia County Best New Restaurant–Santa Rosa County Best Restaurant Overall Best Greek Cuisine Best Mexican Cuisine Best Italian Cuisine Best Chinese Cuisine Best Japanese Cuisine Best Hibachi Best Thai Cuisine Best Indian Cuisine

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inweekly.net

happenings

What Cheer? A Gallery Night Serenade

by Sarah McCartan

Requiring no amplification, we prove that great parties need no electricity. Our live shows defy boundaries, appealing equally to punks and farmers, old and young."

The brigade has played everywhere from bus stops, charity events and allnight parties, to Good Morning America, Lollapalooza, and even Serbia. What’s more, they’ve appeared alongside a variety of acts including Dan Deacon, Okkervil River, Man Man and Matt & Kim. This serenade of sorts is followed up with a late-night show including a performance by Paul the P-Funk Fresh beginning at 10 p.m. Cost of the show is $5. {in}

WHAT CHEER? BRIGADE

photo by Tod Seelie Friday night, Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant plays home to the What Cheer? Brigade. Yes, this 19-piece brass band from Providence, R.I. is serenading the Gallery Night drink and dinner crowd, beginning at 7 p.m. By serenade I mean— putting on one energetic, elaborate per-

formance to the tune of something you don’t see every day. And maybe haven’t seen, ever.

According to the brigade, "Our sound is an aggressive mix of Bollywood, The Balkans, New Orleans, Samba and HipHop, played with the intensity of metal.

Exquisite Edible Art

We promise you the most memorable meal Runner Up Best Japanese Cuisine & Best Sushi

Ichiban Japanese Restaurant 850-494-2227 5555 N. Davis Hwy www.ichibanpensacola.com

WHEN: 7:00 p.m. Friday, July 19 WHERE: Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant, 101 S. Jefferson COST: Free dinner-hour serenade DETAILS: 791-6501 or whatcheerbrigade.com

THURSDAY 7.18

HISTORIC PENSACOLA TROLLEY TOUR 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. Pensacola Visitor Center, 1401 E. Gregory St. 941-2976 or beachbumtrolley.com.

MESS HALL 10 a.m. The Pensacola MESS Hall (Math, Engineering, Science & Stuff) offers hands-on opportunities for children and young people to have a summer of science. Weekly themes, special activities and workshops will captivate curious minds of all ages and inspire a lifetime of discovery. 116 N. Tarragona St. 877937-6377 or PensacolaMESShall.org.

QUAYSIDE ART GALLERY 10 a.m. though Aug. 27 Exhibits include Diane Brim, Marilyn Givens, Kate Owens, Geoffrey Powers. 17 E. Zaragoza St, 438-2363 or quaysidegallery.com.

BLUE MORNING GALLERY 10 a.m. “Birds of a Feather.” Participating artists are Valerie Aune, oil; Susan Mayer, found art/mixed media; and Laura Wolfersperger, mixed media/encaustics.

The artists, each in her own medium, portray birds with realism and whimsy. 21 S. Palafox.

429-9100 or bluemorninggallery.com.

DRAGONFLY GALLERY 10 a.m. The gallery’s feature room is a favorite site for artists from throughout Santa Rosa County. 5188 Escambia St., Milton. 981-1100 or thedragonflygallery.com.

‘LANDSCAPES’ 10 a.m. Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. Jefferson St. 432-6247 or pensacolamuseumofart.com.

ARTEL GALLERY 10 p.m. 223 Palafox, Old County Courthouse. 432-3080 or artelgallery.org.

PLAY HAPPY HOUR 4 p.m. Play, 16 S. Palafox, Suite 100 466-3080 or iplaypensacola.com.

WINE TASTING AT AWM 5 p.m. Aragon Wine

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July 18, 2013

happenings Market, 27 S. Ninth Ave. 433-9463 or aragonwinemarket.com.

WINE & GLIDE SEGWAY TOUR 5:30-7:30 p.m.

This one-hour Segway tour is followed by a stop at the East Hill Yard for a wine tasting. Emerald Coast Tours, 701 S. Palafox. $45. 417-9292 or emeraldcoasttours.net.

EVENINGS IN OLDE SEVILLE 7 p.m. This long-running summer concert series features this week Delta Reign. Seville Square, downtown Pensacola. sevilleconcerts.com.

BLUE WAHOOS GAME 7 p.m. Blue Wahoos versus Huntsville. Pensacola Bayfront Stadium, 300 W Main St. 923-8444 or bluewahoos.com.

live music

STEVE FLOYD 1 p.m. Peg Leg Pete's Oyster Bar, 1010 Ft. Pickens Rd. 932-4139 or peglegpetes.com.

THE DAVENPORTS 6 p.m. The Leisure Club, 126 S. Palafox. 912-4229 or tlcdowntown.com.

LUCAS CRUTCHFIELD 6 p.m. The Deck at The Fish House, 600 S. Barracks St. 470-0003 or fishhouse.goodgrits.com.

ANDY POXON BAND 6 p.m Paradise Bar& Grill.

21 Via de Luna, Pensacola Beach. 916-5087 or paradisebar-grill.com.

AL MARTIN 6 p.m. Quality Inn & Suites, 7601 Scenic Hwy. 477-7155.

BRAD BARNES OPEN COLLEGE JAM 7:30 p.m.

Goat Lips Beer Garden, 2811 Copter Rd. 474-1919.

TOMATO 7 p.m. Peg Leg Pete's Oyster Bar, 1010 Ft. Pickens Rd. 932-4139 or peglegpetes.com.

KARAOKE WITH BECKY 7:30 p.m. Sabine Sandbar, 715 Pensacola Beach Blvd., Pensacola Beach. 934-4141 or dalesbigdeck.com.

AVENIDA 16 8 p.m. Sandshaker Lounge, 731

Pensacola Beach Blvd. Pensacola Beach. 9322211 or sandshaker.com.

KRAZY GEORGE’S KARAOKE 8 p.m. Lili Marlene’s at Seville Quarter, 130 E. Government St. 434-6211 or sevillequarter.com.

DUELLING PIANO SHOW 8 p.m. Rosie O’ Grady’s at Seville Quarter, Seville Quarter,130 East Government St. Free. 434-6211 or sevillequarter.com.

CHRONIC JESTER BAND 8 p.m. Bamboo Willie's, 400 Quietwater Beach Rd. Pensacola Beach, Florida, 916-9888 or bamboowillies.com.

BLACKWATER 9:30 p.m. Chan's Nightclub, 610 E. Nine Mile Rd. 477-9961 or chanspensacola.com.

EXTREME KARAOKE WITH G.C.P.C. 10 p.m.

Play, 16 S. Palafox, Suite 100. 466-3080 or gulfcoastpartycrew.com.

CRYPTIC PRODUCTIONS 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY 9 p.m. Vinyl Music Hall, 2 S. Palafox. $10-$15. 435-9849 or vinylmusichall.com.

DJ LAO COLLEGE NIGHT 9 p.m. Phineas Phogg’s at Seville Quarter, 130 E. Government St. 434-6211 or sevillequarter.com.

FRIDAY 7.19

TAI CHI AT FLORIDA BLUE 8:30 a.m. Free.

Florida Blue, 1680 Airport Blvd. For information, call 202-4188.

MESS HALL 10 a.m. The Pensacola MESS Hall (Math, Engineering, Science & Stuff ) off ers handson opportunities for children and young people to have a summer of science. 116 N. Tarragona St. 877-937-6377 or visit PensacolaMESShall.org.

QUAYSIDE ART GALLERY 10 a.m. 17 E. Zaragoza St, 438-2363 or quaysidegallery.com.

‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ 10 a.m. Blue Morning

Gallery, 21 S. Palafox. 429-9100 or bluemorninggallery.com.

DRAGONFLY GALLERY 10 a.m. 5188 Escambia St., Milton. 981-1100 or thedragonflygallery.com.

‘LANDSCAPES’ 10 a.m. Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. Jefferson St. 432-6247 or pensacolamuseumofart.org.

COLONIAL COOKING & TRADES 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Learn early 19th century cooking techniques and trade-skills from costumed living history interpreters. Historic Pensacola Village, 205 E. Zaragoza St. $3-$6 or free UWF students with student ID. historicpensacola.org.

PLAY HAPPY HOUR 4 p.m. Play, 16 S. Palafox, Suite 100. 466-3080 or iplaypensacola.com.

WINE TASTING AT SEVILLE QUARTER 5 p.m.

Palace Café at Seville Quarter, 130 E. Government St. 434-6211 or sevillequarter.com.

GALLERY NIGHT 5 p.m. Stroll through the charming brick walkways of Downtown Pensacola to experience an eclectic array of music, art and cuisine. Explore galleries and businesses featuring the works of dozens of local artists. Soak up the sounds of local musicians and the aromas of local cuisine as the energy of the evening carries you from venue to venue. Downtown Pensacola, 4345371 or downtownpensacola.com.

WINE TASTING AT CITY GROCERY 5:15 p.m.

City Grocery, 2050 N. 12th Ave. 469-8100.

WINE TASTING AT EAST HILL MARKET 5:30 p.m. 1216 N. Ninth Ave. SUNSET TOAST AT THE TOP TOUR 6:30 p.m.

This is a couples-only tour. Each reservation is for two and includes ambient music, sparkling nonalcoholic wine served in keepsake champagne flutes, and light hors d'oeuvres. Tour times begin

roughly a half hour before sunset. Please note the exact tour start time on your reservation. We ask that you arrive no more than 15 minutes before the start of your tour. Space is extremely limited. Book your reservations now. This tour does include a trip to the top of the Lighthouse for a look across Pensacola Bay, weather permitting. Per Coast Guard Safety Regulations backless/open toed shoes, high heels, etc. are not permitted to climb the tower stairs. We recommend this tour for children 12 and over only. Pensacola Lighthouse, 2081 Radford Blvd, NAS. 393-1561 or pensacolalighthouse.org.

BLUE WAHOOS GAME 7 p.m. Blue Wahoos versus Huntsville Stars. Pensacola Bayfront Stadium, 300 W Main St. 934-8444 or bluewahoos.com.

LIGHT OF THE MOON TOURS 8 p.m. Climb to the top of the Pensacola Lighthouse for the most breathtaking view of a moonlit Pensacola Bay (weather permitting). A bit of history and some ghost stories combine to make this an interesting and fun tour for all. Tour times are set in relation to sunset times and will vary. Pensacola Lighthouse, 2081 Radford Blvd, NAS. $7-$15.

393-1561 or pensacolalighthouse.org.

THREE GAME SPECIAL 8:30 p.m. DeLuna Lanes, 590 E. 9 Mile Road. $12, includes shoes.

478-9522 or delunalanes.com.

AVANT WITH SPECIAL GUEST KEVIN SIMPSON 8:30 p.m. A Night of R & B and Comedy Featuring R & B sensation Avant with special guest, comedian, Kevin "Damn Fool" Simpson. Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox. 595-3882 or pensacolasaenger.com.

for more listings visit inweekly.net

850-432-5226 997 S Palafox St Evenings in Olde Seville Square is Back!!!

Join us for our Summer Season Thursdays - May 23rd - August 15th

July 18th - 7:00PM

For the Full 2013 Season Calendar go to www.EveningsInOldeSevilleSquare.com

On Palafox Marina Overlooking Our beautiful Bayfront

Come down and enjoy our one of a kind view, and try one of our monthly Specials

BBQ Glazed Salmon Salad

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Big Thanks to our 2013 Season Sponsors

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music

inweekly.net

by Brett Hutchins

Cryptic Celebrates Two Years of Live Music and Art IN: What's the hardest part about reading a crowd?

Renoud: The easiest part about reading a crowd is by how they move during a song that's made to be danced to. When we're playing a high energy track, it's easy to tell if people are feeling it. The crowd will be pulsating and moving like an ocean if they're into it. When we play our ambient stuff, it becomes a lot harder to tell. Some songs are designed to create an introspective mood. The really tricky part is balancing that desire to please the crowd, while making cutting edge music that that is artistically fulfilling to us. Not that those two have to be mutually exclusive. We're lucky that we're usually playing to pretty open minded audiences. That allows us the freedom to focus more on making something new, rather than making something that will please the crowd.

For two years, Cryptic Productions has lived up to its commitment to Pensacola by bringing in genre-bending music, local art and vendors from across the region and city. Their 2nd anniversary party at Vinyl Music Hall will be no different.

Self-described party DJ White Noise will bring his Southern rap and club anthems to the mix, while live electronic band Higher Learning combines DJ elements with those of a four-piece rock and roll band. Higher Learning drummer Rohan Prakash and bassist Ryan Renoud spoke with the IN about the perks of performing in an independent band, being adaptable on stage, and the differences between playing in the studio and at a live show.

IN: What separates Higher Learning from other bands in the live electronic scene?

Renoud: From most of the bands I've heard, I believe our sound is more "international," and by that I really mean British.

If you look at our influences you'll notice most of them are from overseas. We like to use foreign language samples in our music to make it kind of hard for a first time listener to pin down exactly where we're from. We really dig what's been going on underground in the UK for the past few years.

Squarepusher kick, but we listen to a lot of Papadosio, String Cheese Incident, Zoogma, Boards of Canada and Lotus as well as many others. We sometimes listen to audio books while we are on the road too.

IN: How has the band evolved both in sound and approach to live shows in its years of existence?

Renoud: When Higher Learning started, we just really want to make an electronic music album. We didn't think much about how we were going to play it live until well after the album came out. It took weeks to figure out how to incorporate a computer into a live band, because we had almost no experience using computers like that. We tried many different techniques. But as always, the simplest way is typically the most efficient. At first we relied heavily on the computers to produce sounds; we just didn't have enough people on stage to perform all those parts. But that changed when we added our 4th member, Adam Chelton. Having the extra set of hands on stage let us back off of the pre-made sounds and let us function a bit more like a rock band. Not only that but when he joined he brought with him a wealth of knowledge about sound design, and a lot of fresh ideas. Since then our writing has gotten more minimalistic, taking even more pressure off the computers when were on stag

“The really tricky part is balancing that desire to please the crowd, while making cutting edge music that that is artistically fulfilling to us.

Ryan Renoud

IN: What are the best and most difficult parts about being in an independently run band?

Prakash: Self-promotion is by far the hardest. We hate doing it. The best is being our own bosses. We have complete creative freedom, we set our own goals and deadlines, work with our friends, and no one can tell us what to do. That's every child's dream right? None of us have ever been in a "corporate" band but I imagine that we'd be miserable if we were. {in}

IN: Are there things in the studio that you wish you could do live but can't?

Renoud: Absolutely, but with modern technology it's easy to work around. Some of the stuff that happens in the studio might be those little, random coincidences that are impossible to do the same way twice.

In those cases, we sample that sound into a computer or one of our samplers for live playback. Some instruments like guitars or autoharp are usually replaced with a keyboard live. Vocals, guitar and percussion could be done live if we had extra musicians with us. Logistically, it hasn't really made sense for us to have extra people up to this point. But having more people on WHEN: Thursday, July 18, 9 p.m. doors and stage is something we are strongly show considering for the future.

WHERE: Vinyl Music Hall, 2 S. Palafox Place COST: $10 pre-sale; $15 day of show IN: What's the band currently DETAILS: higherlearningmusic.com, listening to? soundcloud.com/hustle-up, or vinylmusiPrakash: Right now we've been on a chall.com Radiohead, Shpongle, Trentemoller, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, and

CRYPTIC PRODUCTIONS 2ND ANNIVERSARY PARTY FEATURING HIGHER LEARNING AND WHITE NOISE

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July 18, 2013

news of the weird PRIORITIES At a June hearing, a Philadelphia judge became so exasperated at defendant Robert Williams' seeming cluelessness about his need to keep his probation appointments that she ordered him to take "etiquette" classes before returning to court.

Williams, a rap singer and budding music mogul still under court supervision on gun and drug charges from 2008, cavalierly defended his inability to find time for his probation officer by explaining that he was a busy man, working with seven "artists," with a demanding travel schedule, and uninhibitedly using social media (creating posts that, allegedly, led to threats against the probation officer).

(Williams, of course, was accompanied to court by a several-man entourage.)

IRONIES An atheist "church" in Lake Charles, La., run by lapsed Pentecostal Jerry DeWitt, conducts periodic services with many of the trappings expected by the pious—except for the need to believe in a supreme being. Such "churches" (reported The New York Times and Washington Post in coincidental stories the same day in June) can help soothe the "biological" needs for survival and avoidance of loneliness by congregational rituals (such as celebrating a sabbath) and in helping find meaning "in something other than (oneself)."

For example, atheist Sigfried Gold praised a "rigorous prayer routine" (beseeching a "vivid goddess he created") in overcoming his weight problem.

• Robert Dugan, 47, a full-time patrolman for the Delaware County (Pa.) Park Police, was charged in June with illegally impersonating a police officer. According to authorities in Brookhaven, Pa., Dugan had accosted a woman double-parked outside her home to pressure her into moving the car, but she refused. Dugan allegedly claimed he was an Upland Borough police officer (with authority to write parking citations and make arrests, which he did not actually have).

COMPELLING EXPLANATIONS Lame: (1) Rodger Kelly was arrested in St. George, Utah, in June for rape of a female neighbor, but he

by Chuck Shepherd

told police that he committed the act only to "save" her, since he had discovered her "cold" and unconscious. He had violated her body only "to try and get her temperature up," according to the police report. (2) The low-price air carrier GoAir of New Delhi announced in June that in the future it would hire only females for the cabin crew—because they weigh less than men (and expects eventually to save the equivalent of $4 million annually in fuel based on average weights).

• In May, former schoolteacher Kathleen Cawthorne, 33, of Rustburg, Va., successfully negotiated a reduction in her 11-year sentence for having sex with an underage student. Cawthorne's punishment was set at only four months in prison when she presented the judge with a clinical diagnosis of "hypersexuality," supposedly showing that she had little ability to control her desire to seduce the boy.

PERSPECTIVE Floridians Standing Their Ground: In May, a jury in Tampa decided that Ralph Wald, 70, was not guilty of murdering a 32-year-old man he had shot in the back three times. He said he had caught the man having sex with his wife (successfully claiming that he thought the man was a dangerous intruder in his home). However, Marissa Alexander, 34, of Jacksonville, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison for "aggravated assault" for merely firing a warning shot during an altercation with her estranged husband. The man, Rico Gray, is a serial domestic abuser and admitted that he was threatening Alexander that night and that she never actually pointed her gun directly at him. However, the judge denied Alexander use of the "stand your ground" defense because she had declined to simply walk away from Gray. {in}

(850) 912-8669 Ste C, 5912 North Davis Highway From Universal Press Syndicate Chuck Shepherd’s News Of The Weird © 2013 Chuck Shepherd

Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla., 33679 or weirdnews@earthlink.net, or go to newsoftheweird.com

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Independent News | July 18, 2013 | inweekly.net