Tim Sukits

Category: Music

  • 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…)

  • 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…)
  • Cheap trick: A business model tailor-made for economic recession has allowed the Sarasota Guitar Company to thrive in a hurry

    Cheap trick: A business model tailor-made for economic recession has allowed the Sarasota Guitar Company to thrive in a hurry

    Published June 2, 2010 The case of Sarasota Guitar Company is a textbook example of how to launch a business in a tough economy. First, find a way to provide products for a fraction of your competitor’s prices. Next, give your customers everything they could possible ask for, before they even ask for it. And finally, watch the money start pouring in. Selling guitars out of a 10-foot by 10-foot booth at the Red Barn Flea Market last year, Sarasota Guitar Company owner Scott Cook could never have imagined what his business would look like today. In December he decided to take a chance in a highly unstable economy and opened a 900-square-foot retail store at 4333 South Tamiami Trail, Suite A. Fortunately, Cook was armed with a brilliant concept, which is why last Thursday, less than six months after opening, he moved two doors down to Suite C, effectively doubling his retail space. Cook’s golden idea was to sell factory-second guitars — instruments with small imperfections that guitar companies deem, for one reason or another, unworthy to sell at suggested retail prices. “Basically it’s a factory-second with a small blemish on it, and they’re cosmetic, nothing physical, so the guitars play correctly,” says Cook. “Sometimes we can’t find anything wrong with them. But because of that they’re saving quite a bit of money — usually anywhere from 50-70 percent off the manufacturers suggested list price.” (more…)

  • Local music: The Terry T. Trio deepens its family bond through music

    Published May 5, 2010 Terry T. Trio 7 p.m. every Wed., Mattison’s City Grille, 1 N. Lemon Ave., Sarasota, 330-0440 or mattisons.com; 6-9 p.m. every Tues., Ceviche, 1216 First St., Sarasota, 952-1036 or ceviche.com. Terry Pinkham’s son Josh didn’t just decide to walk in her and her husband Jeff’s musical footsteps. He chose to perform alongside his parents almost every evening as the mandolinist/guitarist for the Terry T. Trio, also known as the Pinkham Family Band. Terry and Jeff have been performing around the Tampa Bay area since they married over 26 years ago. Terry came from a musical family and grew up singing harmony with her mom while her dad strummed tenor guitar. Her grandfather Benny Thomasson is credited as a huge influence on the Texas fiddling scene; she would find herself singing at fiddling contests on the weekends growing up. Jeff plays guitar and fretted electric violin in the trio but his primary instrument was always mandolin, which he played on Bertie Higgins’ number-one Billboard-charting hit song “Key Largo” in 1982. (more…)

  • WSLR shake-up: A change at Sarasota’s community radio station leaves the anti-noise ordinance movement without one of its most prominent voices

    Published April 21, 2010 TERRY “T-BONE” RHODES: “I’m going to get behind [the scene] one way or another” For the past year Music Scene and Be Seen — broadcast on WSLR 96.5 LPFM — has been Sarasota’s only radio show focused wholly on local original music. Terry “T-Bone” Rhodes started the project with that goal in mind, but he also wanted to bring attention to Sarasota’s much-hated noise and entertainment ordinances. He took full advantage of his mouthpiece, playing local records, mentioning local concerts and hammering on the noise restrictions every time he took the air. FCC regulations stipulate that since WSLR is a nonprofit, non-commercial station, its programmers cannot promote events they are directly involved with. WSLR had reprimanded Rhodes for pushing the limits of those rules in the past — and two Mondays ago, the station went one step further. WSLR manager Arlene Sweeting informed Rhodes that he would be suspended from the station for six months, effectively canceling Music Scene and Be Seen. (more…)