Tim Sukits

Category: Features

  • Vlad the Educator: One of the world’s greatest pianists teams up with his former student to open Cultural Center Miracle in North Port

    Published December 15, 2010
    Cultural Center Miracle Grand Opening Open house noon-4 p.m., Black Tie charity dinner 5 p.m. Sat., Dec. 18, Cultural Center Miracle, 5400 S. Biscayne Dr., Suite C., North Port, 564-6215 or culturalcentermiracle.org, free.
    Among Sarasota County’s municipalities, the city of North Port has always been overshadowed by Sarasota’s vast cultural offerings. But a world-renowned pianist named Vladislav Kovalsky is determined to spread the artistic love south. With the launch of Cultural Center Miracle, Kovalsky hopes to provide children with limited financial means the opportunity to take top-quality music lessons.
    The nonprofit will host an open house this Saturday to introduce the center and its mission to the public, followed by a black tie fundraiser aimed at racking up cash for scholarships and instruments for less fortunate kids. Kovalsky, a graduate of Russia’s prestigious St. Petersburg Conservatory and a Steinway-sponsored artist, will perform at the black tie dinner to kick off his life’s dream. After three decades of teaching piano, he has always viewed music as something that defies status and class. (more…)

  • Rock this way: The Rockstarr Bentley Landing Party is really Five Points Collective’s first lesson in musical promotion through community collaboration

    Published December 1, 2010 The Rockstarr Bentley Landing Party Presented by Five Points Collective with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Suncoast Charities for Children, 7 p.m. Sun., Dec. 5, Payne Park Auditorium, 2100 E. Laurel St., Sarasota, rockstarrbentley.com, $10 advance, $15 at the door. As I finish the last spoonful of my beef and vegetable soup, I look up to see two members of Rockstarr Bentley approaching my table from the other end of Word of Mouth’s patio — right on time for our interview. They are suited in full stage attire, guitarist Rocky Bentley in tight leather pants, sparkly shirt, furry top hat, and 4-inch KISS-style shit-kickers, trailed by DeeJay Imminent sporting a Legion of Doom get up with spray-painted shoulder pads, fake chains and a black boa. An older couple at the table next to us aren’t quite sure what to think. “Greetings, Earthling,” they take turns saying in a campy ’80s sci-fi movie tone. I ask the obvious opener: “So what planet are you guys from?” They proceed to regale me with the back-story of their fictional extraterrestrial origin. Since crash landing their spaceship into a foreclosed house in north Sarasota, they have been trying to receive transmissions from their planet, which they cannot remember the name of due to ill effects resulting from their prolonged hyperbaric space travel. So, they’ve been studying human pop culture in order to adapt, all while rehearsing in a secret underground missile silo hidden underneath a large sculpture in Sarasota. (more…)

  • Garbage Pail Kids: The four teenage members of The Garbage Men use music to drive home their eco-friendly message

    Published November 24, 2010 If you frequent some of the regular art walks and farmerss markets around Sarasota, you may have seen a band of teens entertaining crowds with some rather unorthodox versions of your favorite Beatles songs. But these covers are no mash-up, more like a trash-up, because they’re played on trash. Literally. The Garbage Men — comprised of a quartet of Pine View freshmen — started their band last summer as a way to not only have some fun playing music, but to draw attention to green living and what can be accomplished through recycling and a little ingenuity. Seeing how they all play on instruments salvaged from random household items, they’re obviously not lacking in the imagination department. But what they’ve managed to use as building material is quite impressive. Lead guitarist Jack shreds up a yardstick guitar neck with toothpicks in place of frets and a Mini Wheats box to hold the rig together (I guess it’s a hollow body…). Bassist Alex gears up with a fretless section of stairway banister attached to a large cigar box. Horn player Harrison mostly works with PVC piping and funnels as opposed to your standard brass. And percussionist Ollie rounds out the outfit with the most fitting setup of all: a trashcan drum kit. (more…)
  • Industry standard: A Ringling photography student is working to realize Sarasota’s fashion potential

    Industry standard: A Ringling photography student is working to realize Sarasota’s fashion potential

    Published October 20, 2010 Industry w/designs from E Marie by Eliza Torres and music by DJ RusDeep 8 p.m.-midnight Sat., Oct. 23, The HuB, 1421 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, 586-0681 or matthewholler.com,matthewholler.blogspot.com, $5. The coveted label of “arts destination” is something that Sarasota has boasted for quite some time. But there are a few artistic avenues our fair coastal city has yet to venture down — at least far enough to merit a reputation. One creative arena that has long lagged behind the more popular visual and performing arts, yet could provide a huge economic boost to the area, is the fashion world, with it’s clique of affluent, young, uber-chic entrepreneurs. Thankfully, there are still a few students in this kinda-quasi-college town that are passionate about seeing the Suncoast truly live up to its “art-infused community” claim, and become a fully developed beacon of creativity. One such student is senior Ringlingphotography major Matthew Holler. To complete his senior year requirements, Holler had the choice of doing an internship or creating a “professional project,” an event where students work with members of the community in an effort to forward the city’s artistic vision. Holler chose the latter, making the fashion industry his primary focus. “There’s not much of an industry here yet,” says Holler, “but I think that there’s a possibility for it. We pride ourselves on being an art community, but how many beach photos and paintings of birds can we have? I think it really needs that other element in order to grow into a larger industry.” (more…)

  • Arty pARTée: Organizations all over the Suncoast are joining forces to launch Festival sARTée in an effort to brand Sarasota-Manatee as a premier arts destination

    Published in Creative Loafing Sarasota, October 6, 2010   The Ringling International Arts Festival was originally slated to be an every-other-year event. But after the success of last year’s kick-off, the movers and shakers of Sarasota’s governmental, arts and tourism organizations felt they had to find a way to capitalize on the event again this year and started figuring out how to pay for it. Sarasota County had already committed $250,000 to RIAF, but after the city of Sarasota came up with $100,000 and Manatee County threw in another $250,000, organizers started thinking bigger. The final result is Festival sARTée, an arts extravaganza running Oct. 8-24 and stretching to every corner of Sarasota and Manatee counties, with events represented by nearly every arts organization on the Suncoast. The original concept behind Festival sARTée came from Charleston’s Spoleto Festival, which has grown into one of the biggest arts festivals in the world. “Spelato Fest started as a fringe festival,” says Sarasota County Arts Council Executive Director Jim Shirley. “Our arts organizations aren’t crazy about the word ‘fringe,’ so [the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Arts Councils of both counties] got together to talk about doing anything we can to come up with a Spoleto-type festival. We went out to all the arts organizations and encouraged them to do events during that time to create a lot of cultural activity, and start building what’s going to be a bigger festival down the road. We’re up to 60 events now. Some were on the schedule anyway and got souped up to be part of the festival, but many of them are built from scratch.” (more…)

  • Come original: Out of all the live music venues on the Suncoast, three have stood firm in their long-time support for original music, thanks to their owners

    Published September 22, 2010 Howie and Dawn Hochberg of Cock & Bull Cock & Bull Pub, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota, the-cock-n-bull.com. There’s no one in the area who has been in the original music game longer than the Cock & Bull. Owner Howie Hochberg started booking local bands seeking an outlet for their creativity way back in 1994 when he opened a coffee shop on Central Avenue in the Rosemary District, and soon found an accomplice in his future wife Dawn. The two upgraded to a bar on Main Street in 1997 and continued to book original acts, although the crack down on live music during that period often made it difficult, as they were frequently ticketed for violating the city’s newly instated noise ordinance laws. Fed up with the red tape, the Hochbergs moved operations to their current location on Cattlemen Road in 2001, and the industrial zoning location meant they were finally free from the sound restrictions that had been limiting them. Thus, the rustic beer hall we have all come to know and love was born. Over the years, the Hochbergs have become far more than just a venue willing to hire original musicians, they have actually developed deep personal relationships with many local artists, as well as many of the touring acts just swinging through town. “We love the Sarasota music,” says Dawn. “Some of them are old enough to be our peers, but we call them our kids.” She says her “kids” are too numerous to list, but mentions Cassolette, the Equines, Elysian Sex Drive and Sons of Hippies off the top of her head. “We’ve been doing this for about 15 years now and it’s definitely personal relationships,” she says. “That’s why this community works. You look around and all the people in the bands are pretty supportive of each other and they’re friends.” Howie chimes in: “Like Pete from Cassolette, his dad was coming and singing at my coffee shop just on a whim. It’s a family affair.” (more…)