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| THE FORCE AWAKENS |
It was May 25, 1977 when the first STAR WARS was released. At the time I was the general manager of a radio station in Baltimore. My station promoted and gave away free tickets to a private screening the Wednesday before the movie opened. It is a night I will never forget. We were at the biggest theater in Baltimore and gave away close to 1,000 tickets. Several hundred additional people came and made this not only our biggest opening ever, but created a nightmare situation with many ticket holders turned away. No free screenings of this one!!In somewhat of a departure, Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway's runaway smash hit Hamilton, wrote the music for the movie's cantina scene. In the first STAR WARS that scene introduced us to Han Solo, Harrison Ford's character.
Even at a ungodly running time of 136 minutes, not including all those trailers, I am going on record that this film, in a very short time, will surpass TITANIC as the highest grossing movie of all time and will re-energize Hollywood as current box office figures are way down from previous years.
If Galactic is not your thing, I suggest you head to Burns Court where you can see TRUMBO, a SAG nominee for best ensemble cast and Golden Globe nominations for best actor, Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren for best supporting actress.
TRUMBO has an amazing cast headed by Cranston as Dalton Trumbo, Diane Laine his wife, John Goodman/Movie Mogul, Mirren as Hedda Hopper and a grown up Elle Fanning as Trumbo's daughter. Blacklisted by the McCarthy hearings, Trumbo must produce scripts in an anonymous name to support himself. But with help of Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger his career is resurrected and reputation restored when McCarthy is exposed of making accusations of treason without any evidence. For those of us who lived through his hearings in the 50's this one will bring back memories of the nightmare McCarthy created for so many innocent people.
Florida Studio Theatre got off to a shaky start with their first production One Man, Two Guvnors which was poorly reviewed by even Jay Handelman, who almost never has anything bad to say about a Sarasota theater presentation. According to friends who attended the preview of FST's latest production of BUTLER, it is well worth your time and you won't be walking out at intermission. Set during the Civil War, an escaped slave seeks sanctuary, but the laws of the land are unrelenting. With sharp wit and tongue-in-cheek humor, BUTLER, takes you on a journey to find the true meaning of freedom. 
TELEVISION ALERT: If you're reading this before Monday 8 pm, then go to NBC to watch ADELE's Radio City Music Hall Concert that was performed and recorded last week. This is her first live concert in several years, and comes when 25 is breaking records for most albums sold in its initial distribution. HELLO, the first single released from the album continues to be #1, and Entertainment Weekly rates her television performance as a Must SEE this week!!!
LUTHER, starring Golden Globe nominee Idris Elba returns Thursday 12/17 at 9 p.m. on BBC America. If you've never seen LUTHER, it is better than most network series. Elba plays a rogue detective who creates havoc for the police department as well as the criminals he chases. This is a one time only special and runs nearly 3 hours. The language and violence are typical of cable television.
Now it's food time, and what better person than to bring you the first review; Debbie Yonker who writes ..."An exceptional Italian restaurant at 4144 S. Tamiami Trail is causing quite a stir. MARCELLO Ristorante Italeano has the basic ingredients lacking in many of Sarasota's restaurants; good service and great food.
She continues..."we ordered Caesar Salad prepared at the table. The salad for 4 easily feeds 6. Each entree is made individually by chef/owner Marcello, who is easily spotted cooking in the kitchen. The many entrees include Branzino. boned at table side; osso buco, braised a day earlier, finished upon ordering , and served with pasta and the braising sauce.The grilled veal chop was thick and cut as ordered. Finally, the Cioppino was full of clams, mussels, shrimp and fish. Reservations are a must as this small restaurant accommodates a limited number of patrons." To view the Marcello menu and make reservations click here.
In one of the fastest constructions ever seen here, the building housing CICIO Restaurant Group's new twin restaurants is complete with both restaurants open and doing an early thriving business.
FRESH KITCHEN is a healthier version of Chipotle, especially in light of their health problems. You get a bowl with food of your own choosing. A base of either brown rice, kale slaw, summer salad and much more. Add two veggies i.e. Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Brussel Sprouts, and again much more. And finally top off with a protein of either Grilled Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Grilled Steak or Tuna Poke. Add your dressing, purchase a drink and you're out of here for less than $12. Caution, the portions are not gigantic, so you make have the urge for something else a few hours later. They are open 11AM-9PM daily.
DAILY EATS claim to fame is serving breakfast all day from 7:30 am to close. The good news is that lunch and dinner are also available as well. There are several types of sandwiches including hamburger, triple decker club, ahi tuna club, patty melt and too many to mention here. It's their unique breakfast menu that will bring you back serving omelette's, breakfast nachos, French toast & eggs. McDonald's now serves breakfast all day. This is so much better!!! They are open daily from7:30AM-9:30PM.Both restaurants are located off Honore in the Cooper Creek Shopping Center across from Pier One with ample parking and easy access to Total Wine, Home Goods and all the stores and restaurants in the plaza.
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| SUNDAY DECEMBER 13th IS THE LAST NIGHT OF HANUKKAH |
JIM'S RANT....Today marks the 100th edition of Jim Knows Sarasota. When I started three years ago in my wildest dreams did I think I'd get to that number. Thank you all for reading and supporting and commenting and sometimes criticizing. I enjoy reading your comments; especially last week when my story of SOL MEYER got more reaction than any written to date. After writing and editing this week's issue I picked up a copy of the East County Observer only to discover still another glowing article. If you have the stomach, try SOL and let me know.Thanks again to Tracy for her editing and Debbie for her review. Also, thanks to all of you who worked with me on Saturday at PEDAL FOR PUPS and to all of you who came by our van and said hello. Mark your calendar now for next year's event, 3/6/16. Hope to see you there. Until next week........JIM
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| Ca d'Zan in all its Christmas splendor |
In my humble opinion, Sol&Meyer's is TWO JUMPS up from Too Jays.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pastrami ( especially the blackened one ) is too salty but what they refer to as the "classic", isn't more fatty than the 2nd Ave.Deli in NYC.And is delicious.
ND I don't think you can find Tongue anywhere else in Sarasota.
When you ask for it, people hag!
The sandwiches are fairly proportioned, and the rest of the offerings are about the same as you'd get atany other NY Jewish deli
In my humble opinion, Sol&Meyer's is TWO JUMPS up from Too Jays.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pastrami ( especially the blackened one ) is too salty but what they refer to as the "classic", isn't more fatty than the 2nd Ave.Deli in NYC.And is delicious.
ND I don't think you can find Tongue anywhere else in Sarasota.
When you ask for it, people hag!
The sandwiches are fairly proportioned, and the rest of the offerings are about the same as you'd get atany other NY Jewish deli