14 October, 2024 10 10 Comments

The Magic of Theater, The Magic of Trying

October 14, 2024 By 10 Comments


A few months back, I wrote about a New Play Festival sponsored by the wonderful Delray Beach Playhouse.

I’ve been a writer longer than I can remember, but I’ve never written a play. I have two screenplays sitting in a drawer, but writing for the stage is not something that I ever had the nerve to try. Until now.
 Last year,  I wrote a short play entitled “The Cafe on Main”, and answered a call for submissions for the New Play Festival. My short work was one of 10 chosen, a surprising but wonderful development that has literally changed my life.
I cannot express the joy that I feel hearing my words acted out by talented actors who breathe life into the characters and find nuances in the play that I never knew existed.
The Cafe on Main is a place where  love is given a second and sometimes third chance, says the description in the playbill.
The action takes place in an imaginary cafe in my hometown of Stony Brook, NY.
Stony Brook is kind of a magical place and growing up on the north shore of Long Island in the 70s and early 80s was an idyllic experience for me and most of my friends.
Stony Brook was a village, intimate and cozy, but close enough to New York City that we benefited from the energy and opportunities of the Big Apple.
Now 1970s NYC was a little different. There was crime and grime, graffiti and garbage. We had the Son of Sam, the Bronx was literally burning and my hero John Lennon was gunned down outside the Dakota building.
But we had Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson, the Knicks, Rangers, Big East basketball, Tom Seaver and Joe Namath too.
It was all a short ride away on the Long Island Railroad.
But home was quiet and safe. It was pretty and suburban. But far. from boring. My hometown has a rich history going back to the Revolutionary War. Washington really did sleep here..so did his Setauket spies.
All of these images went through my mind when I sat down with an empty page and imagined a quaint, cozy Café overlooking the Village Green in picturesque Stony Brook.
Truth be told, my home for the last 37 years also was on my mind. The proprietor of my imaginary cafe was modeled—loosely—on my dear friend Fran Marincola, owner of Caffe Luna Rosa a Delray institution. If you know Fran, and most around these parts do, you understand that he’s a rich character. I had plenty of material to mine.
The New Play Festival features short plays and my original version of “Cafe” is a full blown production. To qualify, I had to cut characters and with the help of our magnificent director Marianne Regan, we pared down the back story of the proprietor.
Someday, I will tell his story in full.
We cast the five parts in July and I was floored by the talent that came to read for the 10 plays.
The directors ask the playwrights to draw up their wish list and I was thrilled when I landed my top picks for four of the five roles.
The wildcard was a young actress whom I liked but didn’t list as a top choice. Turns out she had to drop out and the role was recast with Diane Tyminski, an amazing actress of local note who happens to be from Long Island.
At rehearsals, she blew us away with her grasp of the character and the milieu.
Ahh rehearsals..this is where my life changed where I caught the theater bug and happily succumbed to the bliss of live theater.
The cast, Sergio Fuenzalida , Diane, Shelly Pittleman, Nancy Ferraro and Peter Salzer are extraordinary.
There was an immediate palpable bond among them and the chemistry was off the charts.
Watching them run the scenes and find the characters was not only fascinating it was moving.
There’s nothing like hearing your words come to life. It’s simply intoxicating.
Admittedly, I don’t have a frame of reference. It’s my first play. But I also saw the cast with tears in their eyes. They were as swept away as I was.
Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. But it was real and so I asked what they were feeling and they shared.
Going into rehearsals I was concerned that the actors wouldn’t connect with the material.
Was it good enough to engage them?
Now I was concerned that the initial emotion would be lost with more run throughs.
This is where the director comes in.
I had heard that Marianne Regan was good. Now I was seeing just how good she was. She knew what buttons to push, how to make the story move and she also knew not to over rehearse our talented cast.
And so the magic they captured was intact.
Leaving the theater after rehearsals I felt buoyant. I felt like you do when you discover a new love—excited, eager to share with my wife and friends and far less nervous for opening day.  (The Festival is October 19-20 at 2 pm, my play runs Sunday. For tickets visit delrayplayhouse.org, they are expected to sell out).
Of course, I’m still a little nervous but I sure have confidence in this cast and director. I’m in good hands.
I don’t want this feeling to end.
Writing can be a lonely endeavor.  It’s just you and the empty page sometimes joined by an inner critic, a chorus of doubt and these characters you imagine and try mightily to bring to life.
But this is the payoff. The chance to collaborate with talented people. The opportunity to share with an audience longing to be taken someplace different.
I realize how rare this is. How lucky I am. And I am grateful.
What a magnificent gift this historic old playhouse on Lake Ida gives to 10 writers a year. The actors too. There is so much talent waiting to be seen.
We are all enriched when there’s an outlet. It’s a noisy, often chaotic world. Monster hurricanes, divisive politics, so much coming at us at once and all the time.
To step into a theater and watch actors bring a story to life is a valuable gift.
I hope you will make it a point to visit and support the Delray Playhouse. It’s a charming place. A gem. And I hope you’ll try something new like I did. You never know where it might lead.
You never know if trying will better your life. It has mine.
30 May, 2022 21 21 Comments

Remembering Our Friend

May 30, 2022 By 21 Comments

She was a force of nature.

Always smiling, always so full of life, always happy to see her tribe.
She was beautiful. She was kind. She was funny. And now she’s gone.
We lost Karyn Premock in an ATV accident last week in Tennessee and hearts in Delray are broken.
If you knew Karyn, and so many around these parts did, you loved her. You couldn’t help it. And she loved you back.
Karyn was a stylist at Rex’s Hair Salon in Delray for decades and during that time she touched the lives of hundreds of people who flocked to her booth for a good haircut at a reasonable price and a conversation that never seemed to end. There were laughs galore, some gossip and a whole lot of opinions on issues large and small. I love the place and I really love Karyn. We became friends outside the booth and she and my wife were close.
When she retired, her friends and clients (one and the same) packed 5th Avenue Grill in a tribute nobody will ever forget.
We shared stories and laughs and testified to how much we adored this woman who brightened our lives every time we sat in her chair.
Karyn was so locally famous that newspaper stories were written about her book of business: she cut the hair of city commissioners, business leaders, State Representatives and all kinds of local legends.
The Sun Sentinel quoted State House Majority Leader Adam Hasner as saying that if you wanted to win a local election you
had to have Karyn as your hair stylist. Sure, you’d look good but more importantly she could guarantee you hundreds of votes because that’s how robust the shop was and how much Karyn interacted with a wide swath of this town.
I came to Karyn out of self defense. My wife Diane was already a client and had recommended that I go there, but for some reason I was reluctant. But as an elected official, I soon realized that if I didn’t go to Rex’s I would never have my finger on the pulse of the community. Every haircut was a learning experience. Karyn was a focus group with scissors and a blow dryer. The amount of information would sometimes be so dizzying that you would leave the shop needing a nap. I loved every minute of it.
When the hurricanes came roaring through Delray in 2005 and 2006 and I found myself shaggy haired and working around the clock, Karyn was kind enough to come to my kitchen and cut my hair and Rep. Hasner’s as well so we could look presentable and be comfortable as we helped the community recover.
When I was hospitalized with Covid in the summer of 2020 she called Diane every day to check on my condition.
That’s who she was…caring, loving and always willing to help.
She retired to Tennessee to live a dream life with her husband Dan complete with horses on a great piece of land. She was happy.
We missed her. Delray missed her too, but she found bliss in her bucolic surroundings.
I could go on and on about our friend Karyn. But right now I’m just heartsick. She was a bright light and I am reminded of what I already know—we are fragile beings and our lights can go out just like that.
When we write the stories of communities, we often tell the tales of the mayors and managers, the business titans and the other movers and shakers who make things happen.
But we often give short shrift to the special people who make a place a home. People like Karyn who quietly touch lives, make us smile, tell us jokes and make us feel at home every time we are in their presence.
We live in a fast-paced, complicated and ever changing world. We are surrounded by tragedy and heart ache. We are consumed by deadlines, work, bills and a whole lot of b.s.
 But if we are lucky, if we slow down just enough, we may just catch some magic.
Hundreds of people found warmth, love, humor and magic in Karyn Premock’s booth at Rex’s salon over the years. We were enriched by the experience. She made this place feel like home. She loved her customers. And we loved her back. We genuinely did and we always will.

We’ll always remember Karyn’s smile.

 

23 May, 2022 4 4 Comments

Choosing Love

May 23, 2022 By 4 Comments

Shoponebuffalo.com is raising funds for victims of the mass shooting at Tops supermarket.

When I first started my journalism career, I worked for a small newspaper outside Binghamton N.Y called “The Country Courier.”

The paper was based in a town called Conklin. It was a little speck of a place, and I was just passing through. I hadn’t thought much about Conklin until we learned that the racist murderer who killed 10 people in Buffalo came from there.

There are so many mass shootings in America that it has become easy to grow numb. But this mass murder broke through and hit us square in the heart….until the next one. And there always seems to be a next one.

When I heard that the shooter came from Conklin, it just seemed hard to fathom.

My memories are hazy, but I remember a small bucolic town in the southern part of Broome County near the Pennsylvania border. It has been described as a “Mayberry” kind of place. The 2020 census says a little over 5,000 people live there. Conklin is about 200 miles from Buffalo. It is nearly 98 percent white and less than one percent African American.

I remember covering town meetings and being bored beyond belief. There weren’t a lot of exciting issues in Conklin to write about and I surmise that the people liked it that way. I remember driving home late at night after a council meeting through country roads back to Binghamton and encountering a cow in the middle of the road. We scared each other and I remember thinking how lucky I was to see it before it was too late. I would soon move on and forget all about Conklin until last weekend.

I checked the local coverage of the shooting, knowing that reporters would beat a path to the hometown of the shooter trying to determine if “place” somehow contributed to the hatred and depravity needed to coldly murder 10 innocent people. I had tried the town’s website, but its bandwidth was overwhelmed by people looking for answers. I couldn’t get access.

So, I turned to the local newspapers that I used to know.

The reporters went to a local diner for answers, like I used to do when I moved to Delray and got a job at the old Monday-Thursday Papers. We used to go to Ken & Hazel’s or the Green Owl for the local scoop. In Conklin, that source of local sentiment would be Jane’s, a local landmark.

From the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

“Who would think, at age 18, growing up in such a beautiful community, to have such hate?” said Jane Lazaros, who’s owned the restaurant on Conklin Road for 28 years. “What is all this hate?”

That’s the question many in town had on Sunday: Where did the hate come from?

A small town outside Binghamton, Conklin captures the grittiness of much of rural upstate New York. The greater Binghamton area, with about 195,000 residents, has seen better days, with major employers such as IBM long gone from the region, although Dick’s Sporting Goods and Amazon have opened massive warehouses in recent years to provide some relief.”

What is all this hate? It’s a good question, awkwardly phrased, but we know what she means when she says it.

It’s also a question that is sadly familiar for the Conklin community. It was only 13 years ago when a gunman walked into the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton and killed 13 people, wounding four others. I had forgotten about that and that me surprised me. Having lived in Binghamton, that shooting should have resonated with me, but there are simply too many heinous acts to remember them all. That’s sickening.

In that incident, the shooter was Vietnamese American, but investigators determined that he was motivated by racism and hatred for immigrants.

Racism and hatred….it’s an affliction we can’t seem to shake.

There’s a coarseness to our society these days that is having an impact. Words are important. They tend to leave marks when loaded with hate. And hateful messages tend to manifest into actions.

And this week I can’t shake the image of Celestine Chaney, 65. She was shopping at Tops with her sister for some shortcake to go with the strawberries she had sliced at home.

Her sister says they were giggling as they decided to make a shrimp salad and picked out rolls, lamenting the high price of food these days. Just two sisters out on a Sunday enjoying what is usually a mundane chore.

It was an impromptu visit to a neighborhood store. Little did they know that 200 miles away a hate-filled murderer, barely an adult, was plotting to kill as many Black people as he could find….

He found Celestine Chaney and 9 others.

It’s hard to find words that can heal this kind of pain.

We also know that our politicians won’t do anything to address the situation. This time, we are not even hearing a whole lot about steps we can take to stop this kind of thing. We know better now. We know our so-called “leaders” won’t do a damn thing except stoke more hatred in an endless cycle that when taken to an extreme leads to bloodshed.

Meanwhile, the hate keeps coming at us. And it’s armed.

Give us strength.

 

22 March, 2021 8 8 Comments

Thankful For The Vaccine

March 22, 2021 By 8 Comments

The Health Care District did a great job.

On the day I got my first vaccine, Florida reported 5,093 new Covid cases and 94 more deaths bringing the death toll to 33,219 and the total case count to almost 2 million.

By the time you read this, those numbers will have increased. But we know that the numbers only tell part of the Covid story.

Every “stat” is a person with a family, friends—a life. This virus is a beast—it is not the flu.

Covid can be lethal and for those who survive but suffer  from “long hauler” symptoms, it’s not something that you can just power past.

So when I got an appointment to get my first shot last week at the South County Civic Center in West Delray I was thrilled.

Sometimes you don’t realize how stressed you are until you experience relief. And truth be told, I’ve been worried about re-infection and anxious about the variants I’ve been reading about.

I was able to book an appointment with two of my co-workers so went together. Like most Americans—indeed most humans—they’ve been touched by Covid with family members suffering from the virus and with a few relatives dying as a result.

We talked about how lucky we were to be getting the vaccine and how sad it is for those who died before a vaccine was available.

I’m especially grateful because I thought this virus was it for me. So when I sat down, rolled up my sleeve and thanked the Palm Beach Fire Rescue “vaccinator” for giving me the shot, I got a little choked up.

He asked me if everything was OK and I said “oh yeah, I am so happy to be sitting here right now.”

He talked to me briefly about soreness and side effects and truth be told, I barely listened. Because a little soreness or a fever doesn’t compare with 39 days in the hospital wondering if I’d ever see my loved ones again. Bring it on, if it spares millions from the horrors of this disease I’m all in.

Yes, I’ve seen the anti-vaxxer screeds on the Internet and social media—isn’t the First Amendment grand? But I’m throwing my lot in with the scientists. I have faith in them. I am so grateful for their efforts.

These vaccines are modern day miracles, I believe they will save millions of lives.

That’s my  firm belief.

Everyone is entitled to their own views, but I’m rooting for people to take the vaccine and I’m rooting for herd immunity because I’ve felt the ferocity of this virus from inside the belly of the beast. It didn’t want to let me go and it has claimed a ridiculous amount of lives.

And every day…every single day… when I ache, experience headaches and feel some “brain fog” I am reminded that I had this thing.

I don’t say this to elicit sympathy, I know that I am a very lucky man.

I chose at the beginning of this experience to share with you the good, the bad and the ugly in the hope, that maybe my sharing would raise some awareness.

So we chronicled it all. I say we because I’ve had a lot of help all along the way.

We talked about long haul issues and the emotional aspects of Covid, because the pandemic has unleashed a lot of trauma on society.

To continue in that vein,  I wanted to come full circle and share about vaccines.

My belief: they are safe and effective.

My hope: you will get vaccinated.

After taking the shot, they ask you to stay 15 minutes to see if you have a reaction. I sat with a bunch of people who were just jubilant. You could sense the relief and the emotion in the room. A woman nearby cried softly and said she wished her mother had lived long enough to get the vaccine–Covid took her a few months before the shots were approved. Yet, amidst the sadness there was a lot of joy and a lot of relief too.

I sat there with a sense of hope and pride; hope for a better future and pride that we have the scientific chops to protect humanity. It was a very powerful moment.

Let’s do all we can to get our lives back.

Let’s do all we can to help our health care workers who have been through so much and let’s support our local businesses who have suffered mightily by doing what we can to venture out again.

That’s my hope, that’s my prayer. I hope you and your loved ones are spared now and forever.

 

 

 

 

6 July, 2020 5 5 Comments

Hello Old Friends

July 6, 2020 By 5 Comments

Sorry for the poor pic. Best I can do.

When you get to be my age you find yourself having lived a few lives.

There’s childhood. The teen years. College. Early adulthood. The parenting years and now the (mostly) empty nester years.
It flies by in an instant.
But the blur of years leaves you with perspective, a few scars and several buckets of friends from the various eras and roles we play in life.
I have friends from my years in the newspaper business, and friends from my time spent volunteering in Delray. I have friends at the office, business friends, college friends and friends from my time in Leadership Florida.
I cherish them all and feel extremely fortunate to have had good friends at every step of the journey.
I am so grateful.
This pandemic has made me even more appreciative because I miss seeing my friends and being able to make plans to get together.
I’m sure you do too.
For me, it’s one of the worst things about this miserable, exhausting and scary year.
But every two weeks at 9 pm I pour a drink and pull up a chair and tap into a cross section of friends that span my childhood, teen, college, early adult and now middle age years.
As we log onto Zoom, I see all these old, familiar faces populate my screen and for an hour or so, I’m transported to a better world. It’s a world of jokes and conversation, a world of memories and future plans, a world that’s familiar and not as uncertain.
I’m on the Zoom with guys I’ve known since I was 6 and 8. We know each other’s parents and siblings, we played Little League together, took the Long Island Rail Road to “the city” to explore and fondly remember each other’s first cars.
I knew their teenage crushes and heartbreaks, what teams they root for and which teachers they loved. We can complete each other’s sentences.
Together, we fill gaps in our collective memories but there are some sacred stories that none of us will ever forget.
Over the months we’ve been doing these calls we’ve added some guys who drifted away—never gone—because the bond is too strong —but drifted nonetheless.
As I mentioned, time flies. And our once daily connection slipped as we moved, married, had kids, went into business, changed jobs and lost our hair while also losing  the ability to see each other regularly. But we never let go of the basic friendship we shared. And now that we are comfortably in our 50s, I believe we will be friends for the rest of the ride.
Still, time is an interesting thing we grapple with.
I can still see the young men in the visages of middle age guys who populate my screen.
I can still see their youthful essence.
There’s Dave’s curiosity, Dewey’s kindness, Joe’s enthusiasm, Steve’s quick wit, Scott’s ever present grin and Brian’s ability to frame an issue.  Ben’s still a rascal and Howie has the same laugh he had as a kid. Greg is still the broad shouldered body builder he became as a teenager.
I’m proud of these guys. Every last one has been successful in their careers. They all have nice families and good lives.
We are spread out now—from California and Arizona to North Carolina, Virginia, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Combined we have seen a lot of the world and covered a whole lot of ground—kids, grandkids, businesses, hobbies, marriage, love, loss and adventure.
Some of the guys have been there every step of the way. Others drifted for periods, but were always there in our memories.
But thanks to the pandemic and the efforts of my friend Dave, we are all together again every other Wednesday on a screen for 90 minutes of laughs and friendship during a hard, hard time.
I’m over this miserable year. But when we get past this—and we will most certainly will—I will remember this as the year that my oldest friends came together to help each other through the storm.
I always knew I could count on these guys—for a lifetime.
I hope this inspires you to reach out to an old friend.
30 March, 2020 0 Comments

March Round Up

March 30, 2020 By Leave a Comment

Things We loved in March.

Not much. Let’s face it, it has been a trying month. And trying really doesn’t cover it does it?
Historic? Yes. Awful? Very.
But there’s always a silver lining. So it was nice to see the compassion of neighbors. Nice to see the lack of complaining when beloved community events were cancelled.
Here a few highlights…some of which were written before the onset of Covid-19.
The Socially Distanced Supper Club founded by John Brewer and Ian Paterson forms “flash mobs” to support local restaurants during this trying time. What a great idea by two truly great guys. Find the club on Facebook.
Kudos to a group of Delray moms who started a GoFundMe page, Food and Morale for Healthcare Workers and 1st Responders. Donations support employees on the front lines at Delray Beach Medical Center, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, West Boca Medical Center and Bethesda Hospital West. Additionally, people in fire and EMS, law enforcement and janitorial services across South Florida.
We are fans of Delray Morning Live.
It’s a terrific local show that runs every Wednesday at 8:30 am on Facebook. If you miss it it’s archived.
But if you care about what’s happening in our town you really need to check it out.
We were really thrilled to see Marisa Herman, the truly excellent editor of the Delray Newspaper and Boca Newspaper on a recent show.
Granger’s is rapidly becoming a go-to lunch spot. Heck, it’s arrived. And for good reason.
Great food, fair prices, friendly service and easy parking. It’s a winning combination.
Our favorite: the turkey burger. We took out during the crisis. Please consider supporting your local restaurants.
Once the crisis passes, if you are in Boca for lunch, check out Madison’s.
Great food, good service and the best sautéed broccoli you are likely to find.
I tried watching Hunters on Amazon Prime with the great Al Pacino.
It was well done. Pacino was excellent. But I quit after two episodes. Way, way, way too violent. The real world is scary enough.
Kudos to Boca Raton on their new park Hillsboro El Rio North.
It’s so well done. Beautifully laid out with the right blend of open space and activities.
Well done. Boca parks are just the best. Very special.
Congratulations to Boca Mayor Scott Singer on his re-election.
Mayor Singer has done a fine job and truly seems to enjoy serving and promoting his city.
He’s a mayor who matters and he’s done a great job during the coronavirus crisis.
We finally checked out the Wine Room on Atlantic Avenue.
It’s terrific.
Lively, great happy hour menu and the space just can’t be beat in terms of historic character.
Wishing them well.
When the ban on gyms is lifted, If you want to be inspired, get up early and head to The Zoo in Boynton Beach to watch Delray architect Gary Eliopoulos put on a workout clinic.
He’s there most mornings at 5 am.
If you didn’t see it, Google Alex Trebek’s short video on surviving one year with pancreatic cancer.
He’s a brave soul and an inspiration. One day at a time. No matter the situation.
For the first time in its history, Delray Beach Fire Rescue has achieved accreditation with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).
DBFR, which was officially awarded this prestigious status  at the Center for Public Safety Excellence conference in Orlando, is now one of only .9 percent of fire departments in the country that hold this accreditation, as well as Class 1 status from the Insurance Service Organization, which it achieved in 2018.
Seeing Delray’s very own Taverna Trela featured on Restaurant Impossible was cool.
Very entertaining episode.
We mourn the loss of Linda DeNiro, daughter of our late friend Jack DeNiro.
Like her dad, Linda was a realtor and a long time resident of Delray.
We also lost Carmelita Smith, a longtime affordable housing advocate in Delray.
She was a kind and dedicated professional who will be missed by those of us who worked with her.
We also mourn the loss of Tommy Stevens, who along with Libby Wesley, ran the Roots Festival for many years. Tommy was a gentle soul who cared deeply for the community.
Let’s hope April is a better month. Be safe and stay healthy.
30 October, 2019 0 Comments

Things We Loved (And People We Lost) in October

October 30, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Congratulations to Scuola Vecchia on East Atlantic Avenue for cooking up some of America’s best pizza.

Things We Loved in October

Well, it has been an interesting month.

Sadly, we lost several community icons in October. These were people who made a difference in our lives and left an enduring legacy. Their influence will last, but we will miss them.

Among the notables whose lives we celebrate this month: Elizabeth “Libby” Wesley, founder of the Roots Cultural Festival, noted architect Bob Currie, Lt. (retired) Larry Garito of Delray Beach Fire Rescue, retired firefighter/paramedic Bernie Paul and former city manager Don Cooper. We’re sure there are others and if we’ve missed anyone we mean no harm. Condolences and prayers for all.

 

A Community Icon

Great to see Tony Allerton honored with a special event celebrating his contributions to Delray and The Crossroads Club.

We adore Tony. He’s an inspiration to so many and just a terrific guy.

 

 

Cocomania Continues

Delray’s own Coco Gauff won her first WTA event in October. We have a feeling there will be many, many more. Her first singles win came in Linz, Austria.

 

A New “It” Restaurant

Rose’s Daughter is a great addition to Pineapple Grove.

Delicious pastas, a great flat iron steak, wonderful pizzas and delicious shrimp diablo. Check it out.

 

Happy Retirement Roger!

Nelson Lazo, a veteran chief executive at Baptist Health South Florida, has been named CEO of Bethesda Hospital East and Bethesda Hospital West in Boynton Beach. The hospitals merged with Baptist Health in 2017.

Mr. Lazo will succeed our longtime friend Roger Kirk, who will retire as CEO in December. Lazo will oversee the continued integration of the hospitals with Baptist Health, as well as expansion of services to support growth in Palm Beach County. Bethesda Hospital East was recently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as among the best regional hospitals. Expansion plans are underway at Bethesda West for an ambulatory surgery center, additional beds and more operating rooms to better serve the growing community.

As for Mr. Kirk, he will be missed. He was deeply involved in the community and is just a terrific guy. We wish him well in his next chapter.

 

Pizza

We all know that a great pizza is so much more than bread, sauce and cheese.

That’s why we anxiously await the Daily Meal’s annual list of the 101 best pizzas in America.

This year a local restaurant made the list.

Delray’s Scuola Vecchia placed 97th, which is incredibly cool.

 

We’ve been long time fans of Scuola Vecchia and have recommended their pizza to out of town guests for years. We’ve never had a complaint but we have heard a lot of raves.

So how does the Daily Meal choose the best pizza. We’ll let them tell you:

“To come up with the best pizzas in America, we research the newest, best places, then build a survey of great pizzas from around the country — nearly 1,000 pizzas in total were considered in 2019.

We start by defining the perfect pie. What are the essentials? Considering the varied pizza styles (Neapolitan, Sicilian, New York, Connecticut, California, Detroit, St. Louis, bar pie, deep-dish, grandma… we’ll stop ourselves there), that’s a loaded question. Suffice it to say, no matter your pizza denomination, we believe the following qualities are essential: a nuanced sauce, neither too sweet nor too salty (assuming that the pie has sauce); quality, well-distributed cheese (assuming that it has cheese); quality, sensibly combined toppings; a flavorful, savory crust; and, perhaps most importantly, a judicious, well-balanced and pleasing ratio of sauce, cheese, toppings and crust that maintains a structural integrity no matter the style.”

Whew. Sounds like exhausting work.

 

Daily Meal then called upon a blue-chip, geographically diverse list of pizza panelists — chefs, restaurant critics, bloggers, writers and other pizza authorities — asking them to take the survey and vote only for places where they’ve actually eaten.

This year, pies from 30 states and Washington D.C. were considered. Here’s what the Daily Meal said about our local champ.

“Scuola Vecchia brings a host of traditional Italian pizzas to Delray Beach, Florida, with options for every pizza lover. Guests can choose from 24 different pizzas, from the traditional Margherita to more complex pies like the capricciosa with fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, Italian ham, artichokes, mushrooms and extra-virgin olive oil. But if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, there’s the option to build your own pie.”

We hope you’ll check out our local winner Scuola Vecchia on East Atlantic Avenue.

 

 What we’re listening to:

I’m listening to classic albums while working. It’s a great way to get inspired and to rediscover old favorites.

This month we listened to Abbey Road on its 50th anniversary, Gregg Allman’s “ Laid Back” and rediscovered the Go Go’s with their classic “Beauty and the Beat”. We also checked  in on Blondie’s “Parallel Lines “to mark the new Deborah Harry book and listened to The Beach Boys 1966 classic “Pet Sounds”.

We also can’t stop listening to the new Bruce Springsteen album “Western Stars.” I’ve seen the movie (twice) at the Palace and it’s just awesome.

Until next month…have a safe and fun Halloween.

 

 

 

17 July, 2017 2 2 Comments

A Return To Bay Street

July 17, 2017 By 2 Comments

Greetings from The Bahamas.
About a dozen years ago, I was part of a small group that got invited to The Bahamas to meet business and political leaders looking to improve downtown Nassau.
I was thinking about that trip and a follow up visit by Bahamian officials to Delray this week as I returned to Paradise Island and made a trip to Bay Street.
U.S. Ambassador Ned Siegel asked former Mayor Tom Lynch and I to visit and talk about what we learned from the revitalization of downtown Delray Beach. We were joined by Boca Chamber President Troy McLellan and Kelly Smallridge, the president of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County.
It was a memorable trip. And thanks to Ned, we met a who’s who in the Bahamian business world and government.
What struck us was the lack of local government so that the “little things” that mean so much –stuff like potholes and traffic flow –were left to the national government to deal with.
One of the issues at the time for Bay Street business leaders was the magnetic pull of cruise passengers and tourists to Atlantis, the massive resort that kind of has it all from magnificent pools and restaurants, to stores, aquariums and of course a casino.
We were asked to make some recommendations and we did and we later hosted a delegation in Delray, Boca and Palm Beach County.
I’m still in touch with a few of the Bahamians from that trip, mostly on social media.
So it was interesting to go back and ask as many people as I could how downtown was doing.
Of course, when you ask you get the gamut of responses: Bay Street was “thriving”, “struggling”, doing “awesome” and “so-so.”
When we were there we saw four cruise ships and the streets and stores were busy.
Side streets looked the same as a dozen years ago–still in need of some TLC. And parts of Bay Street were doing well and parts were marked by empty stores and blight.
So it goes…but it’s a beautiful place, with nice people, vibrant color, tropical weather, good food and happy music. And the residents…they love it here. Lots and lots of pride.
One thing was notable. Everywhere we went, people seemed to still know and miss Ambassador Siegel. That’s pretty cool. He left a mark here.
I hope he knows that.

 

5 June, 2017 10 10 Comments

A Toast to Two Heroines

June 5, 2017 By 10 Comments

Dorothy Ellington

Last week, the ribbon was cut on the new Delray Beach Housing Authority “West Settlers Office Building” at 82 Northwest Fifth Avenue.

It’s a beautiful mixed use building right next to Donnie’s Place.

All of which gives me an excuse to write about Dorothy Ellington, the long time and tremendously awesome executive director of the Delray Beach Housing Authority.

Dorothy came into a troubled agency and righted the ship. She’s been a steady leader from day one and a great public servant. She cares, is passionate about her city, her staff and her clients.

Dorothy has worked extremely well with our Community Improvement Department and Community Redevelopment Agency and other agencies, organizations and departments for decades—leveraging resources and providing a basic human need—housing– which is becoming more and more out of reach for far too many people in our society.

She’s just plain good.

So are many of the public servants who wake up every day, go to work and try their best to make Delray Beach a better place.

It’s largely because of them that it is.

The Housing Authority is one of those agencies quietly making a difference in the lives of their clients. From administering a Section 8 program serving over 1,000 families to a Family Self Sufficiency Program that promotes employment and financial literacy, the Housing Authority is a big part of the Delray fabric.

Stop by the new office building on 5th Ave. You’ll see a part of what Dorothy and her team are accomplishing.

Karen Granger

Karen Granger is another one of those good people.

She resigned last week after a great run at the Chamber.

Immediately, the rumor mill went into motion– as it typically does when someone leaves a high profile position.

Rarely, if ever, are the rumors correct.

As a long time board member of the chamber under three of the five people who have been president of that 92 year old organization, I can tell you that Karen did an excellent job.

The chamber is a beehive of activity and Karen and her staff and volunteers made it happen.

The Lynn University MBA program, entrepreneurs renting rooms, lively committee meetings, fun networking events, great speakers, industry roundtables—the list goes on and on.

I knew Karen when she worked at Levenger, but while I always liked her she became a friend and a confidant during her tenure at the chamber. She serves that role for many people in our community—not just old guys like me, but young entrepreneurs seeking to find their way in business and in Delray.

Karen is always there when you need her—I felt that way about Bill Wood too–only Karen has much better hair. In fact, Karen has hair…but I digress. I just miss roasting Bill. More than I think is healthy.

As I grow older—and worry about my own hair—I find myself feeling a whole lot of gratitude for the people who give their careers and free time to our home town.

They are the ones who make a difference—often times quietly and often for little or no glory. They certainly aren’t in it for the money or because it’s easy work or because they expect a payoff beyond paying their civic rent.

It’s easy to bloviate on social media for all to see. It’s easy to label, disparage, disrespect, dismiss and defame. It’s harder to build something. But it is much more fun.

Dorothy is a builder. So is Karen Granger.

They build people up…they are kind, loving, respectful and hard working.

People often ask me if I miss politics and the answer is no, I don’t like politics. I do however miss the opportunity that politics gives you to help people.

I appreciate people …the ones who help our community; the ones who look out for others and care for them as human beings.

I like working with people and for people.

I like saying thank you and crediting a team for a job well done.

So to my friend Dorothy, congratulations on your latest outstanding project. And to Karen, thank you for being you and for being a friend to so many. Roles may change—but friendship endures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 February, 2017 0 Comments

This Week’s Goodshop: Unicorn Children’s Foundation

February 14, 2017 By Leave a Comment

Shopfunding for Delray/Boca — This week’s cause:  Unicorn Children’s Foundation

 

In 1994, Mark Rosenbloom M.D. was told over and over again by fellow doctors that his three-year-old son’s lack of talking was something he would just “grow out of.” But, he didn’t. After a series of one misdiagnosis after another, Mark was so passionate he founded the Unicorn Children’s Foundation.

Focused on children with developmental and communication disorders like ADHD, autism, bipolar, dyslexia and other learning disorders, UCF develops groundbreaking therapies and treatments to help diagnose and assess these issues better. FAU and Nova Southeastern Universities are also involved.

And as a non-profit, every penny counts. That’s why they love Goodshop so much. Through online coupons, supporters of the Unicorn Children’s Foundation have raised hundreds of free dollars, just by shopping online.

Want to help out? To raise free funds for UCF while saving at thousands of online stores, join our shopfunding campaign, where a portion of every purchase will go back to the foundation. Here are some of the deals you can find:

24 Hour Fitness discounts: Free gym pass at any location, and 7.5% will go back to help kids in need.

Best Buy: Up to 35% off tvs, and 0.5% will go back to UCF.

Box Lunch coupon codes: 40% off select tees, and 1.75% will go back to research developmental disorders.

My M&M’s: 20% off and 5% will be donated back to support Mark’s cause.

 

Next Page »