Three days into my May fitness challenge, I commit to working out with trainer extraordinaire Ashley Wilkerson. Three weeks later, I mentally prepare myself enough to brave the first session. Ashley trains at Evolution and I know her through Sam (remember him?). She’s a no-nonsense, get-on-the-ground-and-give-me-50 kinda gal. I like her because she manages Sam’s life so I don’t have to (and he’s a boy, so obviously someone needs to manage it). I dislike her because her legs don’t jiggle when she walks. Not even a millimeter. It’s with mixed emotions [...]

When I heard that this month’s End of the Dial Tone would take place upstairs at the Gator Club, I got a particular kind of excited. Aside from the fact that the antique moldings and old-style decorations provide a strangely perfect backdrops for the always fresh, always weird and unpredictable sounds of the Dial Tone’s “organized chaos,” this show would mark a full year since my first Dial Tone experience, which happened in this same place. So this year-marker seemed a good opportunity to write a kind of retrospective, where I [...]

It’s starting to become a challenge to keep track of all the feathers Sarasota has in its cap. The city is currently home to the #1 beach in the United States, has the one of the highest concentrations of Zagat-rated restaurants in Florida and leads other small cities throughout the nation as the top destination for the arts. Last week, Sarasota was bestowed with yet another honor when the Atlantic Caribbean Chapter of the prestigious Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) claimed the city as a temporary home base to [...]

Golden Returns → Eight-year-old Grayson Tullio, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, brought home his new service dog, Hooch, Friday, May 18. EAST COUNTY — For more than two years, 8-year-old Grayson Tullio has been dreaming about the day he’d get his helper dog. And, now, it’s finally here. Grayson, a student at Willis Elementary School, and his mom, Jen, returned from Georgia Friday, May 18, with Grayson’s new service dog, Hooch, a golden retriever … [click here to read on!] Circle officials bemoan lack of service → Provide garbage [...]

Shawna Machado, the Spring 2012 Outstanding Graduate from the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and a former student of mine, got her dream job last week as a counselor with abused and neglected children in Sarasota County. This is a well-deserved happy ending for an ambitious woman who let nothing stand in the way of achieving her goals. I met Shawna approximately a year ago when she contacted me about becoming involved in the Social Justice Initiative, an on-campus student group for which I am the advisor. I told her about [...]

Well, if not a saint, I suppose I’m a sinner … a groomed one at that. Today I confess my slight addiction to grooming rituals and come clean as a top-notch product junkie. I am not a Gillette kind of guy. It is true that I partake in many conversations in which usually girls—who am I kidding?—ALWAYS girls and I rave about our favorite new product, our deserted island top 10 essentials or the products or experts that have changed our lives. A bit dramatic, you may think, but it [...]