Whitney Houston had more than 40 chart singles in the United States over a 28-year career, including 11 No. 1s and 22 Top 10s — from 1985′s “You Give Good Love” to 1999′s “My Love Is Your Love.”

Here are some of Houston’s greatest moments in music video:

(See a video tribute to Whitney Houston)

LOS ANGELES — Whitney Houston, who ruled as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.

Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday (Feb. 11) that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It’s a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to cast a heavy pall on Sunday’s ceremony. Houston’s longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it was unclear if it was going to go forward.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the perfect voice and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

With Kevin Costner in "The Bodyguard"

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop’s pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

“When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place,” she told Rolling Stone in 1993. “You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that’s their image. It’s part of them, it’s not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody’s angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy.”

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America’s sweetheart.

With Bobby Brown

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with “The Bodyguard.” Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy’s record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.” Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, “My Love Is Your Love,” in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. … I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. … I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.”

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on “Good Morning America” went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

Tom Scherberger at the Tampa Bay Times continues his excellent craft beer coverage with a story about Tampa Bay Beer Week, a series of early March events focusing on local craft beer. Scherberger writes:

“A loosely knit group is organizing the event, representing virtually all the major players in the Tampa Bay craft beer scene — brewers, distributors, tavern and home brewers. And it’s being run with the same sort of collaborative spirit that has characterized the development of the local brewing industry.

…

Organizers hope the week will spotlight the already thriving Tampa Bay craft beer scene — and become an annual draw for tourists.”

Read the full story for more info, and you can see a full list of events on Tampa Bay Beer Week’s Facebook page.

Earlier this week I was all over the arrival of my No. 1 beer, Bell’s Hopslam, both on draft and in bottles.

Now distributor JJ Taylor reports on its blog that another of my Top 10 favorite beers, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine, is here. This is another monster (9.6 percent alcohol) of a beer, which Sierra Nevada says “boasts a dense, fruity bouquet, an intense flavor palate and a deep reddish-brown color. Its big maltiness is superbly balanced by a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness.”

I love Bigfoot. Many people like to age it to take off the harsh hop edge, but I love it fresh precisely for its harshness.

Bigfoot is much more affordable at about $10 per six-pack, while Hopslam is closer to $20. Of course, they are very different beers, with the only thing they have in common is their extreme qualities.

I called Total Wine today to check, and they said they don’t have it in stock yet. I’m guessing JJ Taylor’s blog post is a bit of a heads-up to keep our eyes open.

When it comes in, you’ll be able to find Bigfoot at many more places than Hopslam. I’ve seen it in years past at Publix as well as at the best craft beer stores.

Have you seen Bigfoot in town? Please use the comment section below to report your sightings.

As I wrote in my last blog, we really don’t know what the Mayan calendar ending on Dec. 21 this year really means. According to some researchers, it was a preset time frame based on generations. The circular Mayan calendar only goes out 52 years because that was the average lifespan of a person of that time. So between 300 AD and 900 AD by the ripe old age of 45 you were losing bodily functions and staining your tunic or soiling the old loin cloth.

In this day and time, 52 is the age you get an AARP membership, a prescription for Cialis, Botox, a Boob Job, facelift, convertible, condo, and then open an Italian Bistro & Piano Bar in a South Florida strip mall.

Wow, how time has changed.

Take the largest city in the Mayan empire, Tenochtitlan; it was about the same size population as Sarasota but only had two Italian bistros. Cortez and the Conquistadors were more focused on real estate, retail, and chasing hot young Mayan tail than opening another sorely needed Mama Pepperoni’s or Café Madone.

If Columbus had gotten there first, the Yucatan Peninsula from Cancun to Tulum would have been much more like South Florida dotted with establishments vowing to provide any visiting guest with the best Pasta Fazool and Cacciatore this side of Mama’s Genoa Cucina.

Instead, the area evolved into tacos and belly shots at Carlos and Charlie’s while singin’ Buffett tunes. If the Italians had gotten to the Mayan Valley first today, you’d be suckin’ down dry martinis at Francos and Frankies singin’ Sinatra and grabbin’ yourself.

But back to the Mayan conspiracy theory insisting that we cancel all insurance and health club memberships as of yesterday and eat like a stoned Paula Deen.

No matter how much evidence there is to support that the end of the world is highly unlikely to happen on Dec. 21 of this year and that the Mayans’ foretelling this is a total sham. There will still be those that believe. This year, some folks will do everything in their power to believe it and others will produce books and DVDs and films and music and survival kits and non-shrink wrinkle-free quality cotton T-Shirts that feeds these human lemmings manic march to oblivion.

If you are one of the believers, do one thing for me: Carefully check out the folks who are making money off this mass hysteria to see if these prophets are saving any of the money they are raking in off your need to believe 12/21/12 is the end or are they spending every penny as fast as they make it. If they are saving money, then they are also planning on saving the date for welcoming in 2013 at the Ultra Lavish Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Ball at the Waldorf Astoria with hostess Nicki Minaj and musical guests Jay-Z and Nickelback. This is a sign, a sign that they are selling you with all the integrity of a free-tour timeshare agent in an east Okeechobee canal front condo association.

Now if these denizens of devastation are spending their money as fast as it is coming in on lavish vacations, homeless shelter upgrades, or a plan to quickly colonize the moon and Mars they are most likely well-meaning goofballs … and who are most likely going to wake up on the morning of Dec. 22nd like a 22-year-old Chili’s waiter — hung-over, broke and pissed off!

So if you are one of those Armageddon-believing folks, consider this possibility. Maybe the guy in charge of calculating and chiseling the calendar (and I am not being prejudice against women by writing guy because if you think it’s tough for women to get equal opportunities now just check into the Women’s Rights of the Mayan Valley 500 AD. It is abysmal) was just working along. Doing a great job, and his boss came in, “Hello Bob” (or whatever Bob’s name would have been in Mayan maybe Bobticuintican), “Bob, how far along are you on the calendar?”

“Well, sir, I am almost finished with 2012.”

“What?! Bob you weren’t supposed to go out more than 520 years. We only wanted 10 future calendar disks. You know there is no way you are getting paid for any work past that date.”

“Sir, with all due respect, that is a load of Black Howler Monkey Poo! I will be calling my FCWMVF (Future Calendar Workers Mayan Valley Federation) union representative and we will see who is not getting paid. Furthermore, screw this, I was almost finished with the beautiful completion of 2012 ‘The Magic Year of Universal Unity,’ but it will sit here 10 days from a finished product and it can stay that way until doomsday as far as I’m concerned.”.

Or, maybe the guy doing the calendar was an Autistic Savant. He was the Mayan Rainman.

Now, click here for the video conclusion of this week’s column …

COMING UP AT McCURDY’S COMEDY THEATRE

Feb. 10-11 — Bobby Collins, tall, dark, handsome, hilarious humor has been a theatre favorite here for 20 years just as he is from coast to coast. He is a Vegas regular, appearing with Tony Bennett, Cher, Dolly & Julio. Originally from NYC, his one-liners and stories reflect observations of the absurd habits and ridiculous situations that are the crazy pieces of our human puzzle, chronicled on his six hit comedy CDs. Rated AS.

Feb. 12 —   MAC Improvisation with the Mad About Comedy Players

Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Night, Black Diamond Burlesque will send you into the vintage era of Gypsy Rose Lee and Josephine Baker when creatively removing clothing put more emphasis on the Tease than the Strip. This is the perfect way to spend the evening on the day devoted to love and passion. The performance is Sex Funny Fun with comedy, music,and the lovely Black Diamond Dames. Check out the Black Diamond Burlesque on Facebook for Photos. Rated AB.

Feb. 15-19 — Eric Myer and Ken Miller, winner and first runner-up at the 2011 Florida’s Funniest Comedy Competition. The 10 top comedy clubs in the state auditioned more than 100 Florida comedians who went through five levels of competition to get to the final four at the West Palm Improv and these guys won hands down. The 10 Finals judges all had more than 25 years of experience each in the industry, including Les & Pam McCurdy. We think you are seeing stars of the future. Ken is a creative observationalist finding humor in everyday life and social issues and Eric is a high-energy mad man with machine gun punch lines. Rated AS.

Feb. 20 — Clean Comedy Family Friendly Show with The Bermuda Mavericks, stand-up and improvisation with audience participation. These shows are open to all ages, but not a children’s show — simply funny clean comedy. No alcohol is served at these performances and the show starts a bit earlier 7 p.m. and finished no later than 8:30 p.m. Rated AC.

Feb. 22-23 & 26 — Bermuda Mavericks comedy team Les McCurdy & Ken Sons have been performing together since 1980 with their brand of stand-up, stories, sketches and improvisation. They have toured North America headlining clubs and casinos and have appeared in concert with dozens of music and comedy stars including Bob Newhart, The Smothers Brothers, Jerry Seinfeld, Clint Black, Alabama and Kenny Rogers. Rated AS.

Feb. 24-25  — Hypnotist Rich Guzzi is back with his nationally known Comedy Erotic Hypnotic Show that takes members of the audience, puts many of them into a hypnotic state — then the fun begins. Shows are generally rated AS, but the late shows can tip over to the AB rating. It just depends on the volunteers. Some folks are just more naturally fun and crazy than others.

Until now.

Here’s where people have reported seeing it:

• Clueless Brewer reports on Twitter that Total Wine in Sarasota has Hopslam six-packs for $19.99. There’s a limit of one six-pack per person, per day.

• Brian Chrisman reports on Facebook that the ABC on Bee Ridge road at Tuttle Avenue also has it in bottles. I just called them and confirmed this. There’s no limit, the employee told me.

• Tod Abrahamson reports on Twitter that Whole Foods has it for $16.99 per six. I just spoke with David at Whole Foods and he said while there isn’t a strict limit, he’s not sure what management would think if you tried to buy the entire stock.

UPDATE: Earl reports in the comments below that ABC is sold out and Whole Foods has one case left as of Friday afternoon.

Spot Hopslam around town? Please use the comment section below to report where you’ve seen it.

A 64-ounce growler is filled in Maine in 2011. That size is illegal in Florida. (AP photo)

If you didn’t read it in today’s Herald-Tribune print Business section, Scherberger has written a good article about Florida’s antiquated beer laws that allow 32- and 128-ounce growlers, but not the standard 64-ounce size.

Opponents say 64-ounce growlers will promote over-drinking. But if that’s true, why are there no limits on wine or liquor bottles sizes? And why can you get a 128-ounce growler but not a growler that’s half that size? And why are breweries treated differently than wineries or distillers?

I recommend reading the full story:

Size matters: Craft brewers challenge Florida’s beer container laws

I’m a Willie appreciator, for sure, but I wouldn’t count myself among the die-hards. My introduction to the original outlaw includes admiring his image on black velvet hanging in a hometown pizza joint, as well as adding “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” to my open mic repertoire. I find his Old Whiskey River brand of Kentucky bourbon mighty fine as well. The night of the big show, I picked through the contents of my closet, puzzling over what one actually wears to go see the Red Headed Stranger (although by now he’s no longer red-headed and arguably a stranger to no one).

When we got to the Purple Cow, the answer was plain: wear whatever you dern well please. We saw ladies in evening gowns, gentlemen in tie-dye and flip flops, cougars in club wear and more than several leaves of the Devil’s Lettuce embroidered or screen-printed onto shirts.

The brains behind "Beer for My Horses."

We grabbed a round of Buds and did the “‘scuse me, pardon me” conga to our seats. Scotty Emerick got us all to chuckling with his hit songs “I Love This Bar” and “Love Me Like My Dog,” although most folks know those tunes best as sung by Toby Keith and Billy Currington. Emerick’s been a hit-maker for Willie, too, and I really loved to see the man behind the songs get a good 30 minutes in the spotlight.

Well, we grabbed another round and scrambled back over the trouser gauntlet under many baleful stares as the lights went down in the hall. And with a roar from the packed house, Willie strode out with a five-piece posse and launched right into “Whiskey River.” Dressed all in black from head to foot, he showed no mercy to his jangly, blonde acoustic guitar, nor to his back-up band. More than once they appeared to struggle to keep up as Willie blazed through song after song, hardly stopping for a breath or a “thank’ya.” Pretty soon he winged his black cowboy hat into the crowd, followed by his red bandanna. I’ll never know how a second bandanna found its way onto his head and then into the overjoyed front rows.

At a quarter or so to 10, we thought he was wrapping it up with “On the Road Again,” but we weren’t even close. “Always on My Mind” nearly put a tear in my beer, but I got to grinning once more with “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” Close to 10:30, Willie must have pitied our frail, citified constitutions and closed out with a  gospel medley. By then, I had lost count of all the standing ovations he’d received.

A little breathless, my armrest-mate and I wheeled out onto Tamiami Trail and headed for home. Suddenly a shadow loomed over our vehicle, and the most enormous tour bus I’ve ever seen, emblazoned with a war chief astride his mustang, pulled up alongside us. For approximately two minutes before the bus hung a left onto Fruitville, I may have gotten closer to Willie than I ever thought possible.

While this has its supporters, I can’t get behind it. Primarily because it’s not legal: You can’t re-sell alcohol. Also, you have no idea if what you’re buying is genuine or not.

Craft breweries aren’t happy with re-selling, either. They have taken different steps to try to limit it. Stone Brewing in California had a limited release with numbered bottles where they took down your name when you bought one. If they caught the bottle being sold online you’d be banned for life from future events.

Here’s another interesting technique. At The Lost Abbey* in California, if you want to buy a bottle of their very-limited Ultimate Box Set beer, you not only have to buy the bottle at the brewery, you have to drink it there, too.

Sage Osterfeld, The Lost Abbey’s media liason, says they did this precisely to prevent re-selling.

“We want it to be exclusive,” Osterfeld said. He said they are only making 900 bottles of each beer in the series. If you buy one at the brewery**, they will open it for you and you have to drink it right there, he said. You can keep the empty bottle, but he said security will stop you on the way out and tip it upside down to confirm that it’s empty.

I think this is a pretty clever way to prevent the beers ending up online. Lost Abbey’s director of brewing operations, Tomme Arthur, wrote a very strongly worded column in BeerAdvocate magazine a while back, taking re-sellers to task. While I can’t repeat the headline here, it did involve the f-word and a certain online auction website.

Osterfeld said the brewery doesn’t like seeing a $30 bottle of their beer sold on eBay for $300. He also said they’ve seen counterfeit*** bottles of Lost Abbey beers sold, a move that hurts their brand. The state of California has even contacted them to warn them about selling beer on eBay, even though they aren’t the ones doing that, he said.

Bradenton Beer Festival

Feb. 18 marks the return of the Bradenton Beer Festival, which runs 4 to 8 p.m. on Old Main Street downtown.

For the fifth annual festival, the organizers say they will be featuring new, local breweries from the Sarasota-Bradenton area like Little Giant and Darwin’s on 4th, along with Dunedin newcomer Seventh Sun. There will also be beers from other Florida brewers like the Sarasota Brewing Co., Cigar City, Swamp Head, Saint Somewhere and the Tampa Bay Brewing Co.

And if that weren’t enough, there will also be craft brewers from elsewhere in the United States and beyond.

All that beer is very cool, but an especially exciting feature of this festival is the food, which is being supplied by more than 15 food trucks from around the region. And if you don’t want to drink beer, you can buy a cheaper $10 ticket that gets you just food samples.

Tickets that get you beer and food samples cost $30. You can buy them online or get a list of local sellers (as well as more information, including a list of the food trucks) at craftbeerexpo.org.

* The Lost Abbey’s beers aren’t sold in Florida. Bummer.

** It’s first-come, first-served on these $15, 375 ml bottles.

*** Who could have predicted that there would be counterfeit beer?

Jill Sobule. PHOTO BY KRISTINE LARSEN

Jill Sobule is loving her visits to Sarasota.

The L.A.-based singer-songwriter has come here twice the past three months, to watch rehearsals and oversee the original music she wrote for the Asolo Rep’s version of “Yentl,” adapted for the stage by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer. She was also there for opening night last month.

Now she’s back Monday night (Feb. 13) for her own concert at Asolo Repertory Theatre.

“I have a feeling some of the kids in the cast are going to come and sing with me,” she says.

Sobule says she never has a setlist; she just wings it. “When you’re spontaneous and don’t plan anything, 97 percent of the time it turns out really good. That 3 percent, you go, ‘What was I thinking?!’ ”

Oddly enough, she says, fans don’t clamor for her 1995 hit “I Kissed a Girl.” They want her other signature songs (like “Supermodel”) and her quirky cover versions.

“I’ll do songs like ‘All the Young Dudes’ because you don’t expect it,” she says with a laugh. “I like to shake things up.”

Bello Nock wishes you a happy Valentine's Day. PHOTOS BY DAN WAGNER

(See a photo gallery of Bello’s death-defying trapeze act above the Circus Sarasota tent from last week.)

Before clown Bello Nock was hanging by his ankles from helicopters and doing somersaults on whirling wheels 40 feet high, he was just a clumsy, buck-toothed kid who told jokes to stave off schoolyard jerks.

“I always wanted to be the guy who made people laugh. I knew there was a power to it,” said Nock, 42, who will perform under the Circus Sarasota Tent Friday through Feb. 26. “It’s a release from the normality of life when you can make people laugh. I feel blessed to be able to give people that release.”

Nock has been mastering the art of comic catharsis for decades, and his gravity-defying tricks have earned him standing ovations worldwide. A Sarasota native from a seven-generation line of entertainers, Nock won the 2011 Golden Clown Award at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (the jester’s version of the Oscar) and set a Guinness World Record for walking the high wire over a cruise ship while at sea. He has even rappelled off Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“No one ever knows what I’ll come up with next. I’ll probably risk my life Criss Angel-style three or four times in a show. I’ll bungee. I’ll get in a giant inflatable costume Roger Rabbit style,” Nock said. “I’m like Jim Carrey and Jackie Chan mixed together, or Charlie Chaplin and Shaun White.”

Audiences can expect to “ooh” and “ahh” during Nock’s 17-day run under the Sarasota Big Top, which will be his first showcase in the 941 since 2009. The revue is dubbed “Bello Mania,” and it will feature a slew of global artists, according to Jennifer Mitchell, Circus Sarasota’s director of marketing.

The lineup includes: Heidi Herriott with her dressage horse act; Alesya Goulevitch with her hula hoop; the jump-roping Shandong Acrobatic Troupe from the Big Apple Circus; Johnny Peers with his comedy dogs; Dolly Jacobs and Yuri Rjiskov on the aerial straps, and hand balancer Encho Keryazov.

To hype up his appearance, Nock did an aerial stunt on the morning of Feb. 2, in which he maneuvered a flying trapeze that was suspended below a helicopter. The chopper flew over Stringfield Avenue near the intersection of Tuttle Avenue and 12^th Street, and Nock estimated that 2,000 spectators were observing from the ground. The visual of that sea of locals made Nock’s painted eyes a little misty. Even though he has played gigs all over the planet, “there’s no place like home,” he said.

“I almost get emotional when I think about Sarasota and the legacy of circus here. St. Armands used to be like a circus ring and the Ringling Causeway was built by circus elephants,” Nock said. “When you’re standing in the grocery line, chances are someone next to you has roots in the circus. It’s part of us.”

It has been part of Nock since his birth at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. His parents were friends with stars like Lucille Ball, Red Skelton and Evel Knievel, and Nock involuntarily learned the humor ropes while he was busy growing up. Nock attended Tuttle Elementary and Sarasota Junior High School, started clowning at age 3, acted in musicals at 6, tiptoed the low wire at 9, and skied at Cypress Gardens and Sea World at 11.

As a pre-teen, Nock “wanted to blend in with the jocks,” so he asked the barber to give him a crew cut, he said. Then, his head got sunburned while skiing. Suddenly, his strawberry blonde mane started growing straight up in the air, so he just let it soar, and it quirkily became his signature. Nock’s ‘do made him a standout during his eight years of travel with Ringling Bros. Circus, and about 40 million audience members watched him in 500 shows a year. Crowds connected with his wild look and his slapstick, childlike antics.

“When you think of the innocence of a kid, if you watch them at the playground, there are so many funny things that happen just because they’re so naïve,” Nock said. “I’m a kid stuck in a grownup’s body and that’s what you’ll see in my act.”

You’ll also see homemade apparatuses, which Nock has designed and engineered with his bare — or white-gloved — hands. At his “Funny Farm” compound on Fruitville Road off I-75, Nock builds aqua traps and wheels of death. He lives at the Farm when he’s not on the road, and has a wife of 24 years, Jennifer, and three children.

Nock’s mind is clan-focused whether he’s offstage or on, and he’s thrilled to have built a career that lets other people laugh with him instead of at him. He encourages families to laugh with each other.

“At my show, four generations can laugh at the same joke without someone being embarrassed and someone else rolling their eyes,” Nock said. “In a day and age when there’s no shortage of excuses for people to be away from each other, I believe the show I’m in is a way to bring an entire family together.”

Bello Nock performs on a trapeze from a helicopter over the Big Top on Feb. 2.

A partially consumed glass of Bell's Hopslam at Growler's Pub on Feb. 6.

Beer: Hopslam

Brewery: Bell’s, Michigan

Notes: My favorite beer is released just once a year. It’s a masterpiece of floral and citrus hop flavors — I almost feel like I could blow a hop smoke ring after a sip — with a bit of sweetness to provide some semblance of balance. I had it on draft Monday at Growler’s Pub, who are likely out of it by now.

This is one of those beers that’s best really fresh: The amazing hop flavors fade quickly.

In years past the supply has been very limited, but Bell’s brewed more of it this time. Your local craft beer bar will likely have it on tap (and then in bottles) at some point (Mr. Beery’s already ran out). Shamrock put it on this week, North Bridge will tap it on Feb. 23, Legends Sports Pub on Feb. 24, Lost Kangaroo on Feb. 27 and World of Beer will have a keg and a cask on Feb 29.

Bottles will be here soon. UPDATE: Clueless Brewer reports on Twitter that Total Wine in Sarasota has Hopslam six-packs for $19.99. I assume that means Whole Foods and other craft beer retailers have it/will get it soon.

Have you had Hopslam? Please let me know what you thought in the comment field below. I’ve seen on beer forums that some people believe it’s different this year. The glass I had tasted the same.

“Safe House” has a lot going for it, and a few bad things that don’t spoil the ride.

It’s a slick, plot-driven thriller about the nasty underside of the spy game. It’s got Denzel Washington doing his smooth-talking thing, playing the man of quiet confidence who doesn’t feel a need to broadcast his exceptional skills to the world. His actions speak louder than.

The action scenes, especially the car chases and hand-to-hand fisticuffs, are crisp and well-staged. And the supporting cast is top-notch, including Vera Farmiga, Brenda Gleeson and Sam Shepard, not to mention Ryan Reynolds, who for once is not doing that smarmy cad with the heart of gold thing.

Some of the plot twists aren’t twisty enough to prevent the audience from seeing them coming a ways off, and the movie’s villain might as well be walking around with an “X” on their head. But still, it’s an undeniably engaging piece of entertainment, a bit of sweet cinematic candy with a little salt to it.

Reynolds plays Matt Weston, a junior CIA agent with the worst posting possible: babysitting a safe house in Capetown, South Africa. These are the sort of places the spooks bring bad guys when they want to do things while the international community isn’t watching. But Capetown is a sleepy burg, and Matt yearns for bigger things.

He gets his chance when a present arrives on his doorstep: none other than Tobin Frost, a living legend in the international espionage community. Tobin was once a top CIA agent himself, until he went rogue a decade ago.

Now he’s got something really valuable, a computer file with Very Important Secrets. It’s a classic MacGuffin — nobody really knows what it is, but everyone wants it. Soon the safe house has been breached by bad guys, and it’s up to Matt to bring Tobin in all by himself.

Tobin is one cool cat. When the goon squad threatens to waterboard him, he calmly informs them they’re using the wrong thread of cloth to cover his face, then brags that he can last longer than Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who managed 20 seconds. (A bit of Hollywood hoopla; Mohammed was reportedly waterboarded 183 times.)

Gleeson, the wonderful Irish actor, falls down while attempting an American accent — no black mark there, since every U.K. thespian from Anthony Hopkins to Kate Winslet has punted in that regard. (The only truly good one I’ve heard, by which I mean I couldn’t even detect the effort, was Aaron Johnson in “Kick-Ass.”) He plays Barlow, a senior agency man and Matt’s mentor.

Farmiga is Linklater, an ambitious rival of Barlow’s who views Matt as an untested liability. Ruben Blades turns up as an old associate of Tobin, and Robert Patrick has a weary, professional air as the chief of the goon squad, tasked with doing stuff that isn’t very pretty.

Rookie screenwriter David Guggenheim falls into some clichés, but the story has good pacing and chirpy dialogue. Director Daniel Espinosa provides a sure hand, pinning Matt as the unimpeachable white knight surrounded by figures of dubious intention — including Tobin and the CIA bosses who want his head on a platter.

The interplay between the wily old Tobin and the inexperienced Matt is rather predictable, but is often delicious. Robin lectures and berates Matt like Hannibal Lecter toying with Clarice Starling, offering sage advice one minute and trying to rip his throat out the next.

Talk about on-the-job training.

– Christopher Lloyd is co-founder of TheFilmYap.com.

Funny is the new sexy: Christine Alexander (photo by Bill Elkins; encompasscreative.net)

Christine Alexander, Sarasota’s funniest funny woman will be performing improv at Florida Studio Theatre on Feb. 14 — making that pretty much the hottest V-Day ticket in town because laughing makes you feel good and feeling good makes you feel like, um, feeling even better.  (Also, I love the fact that Alexander’s Lazy Fairy Improv troupe offers “Laughing Lunches” for businesses — a surefire stress-buster for today’s workplace environment).  Buy tickets for the V-day fun-fest at www.floridastudiotheatre.org; learn about laughing lunches at www.christinealexander.net.

Jesse White (Herald-Tribune Staff Photo by Thomas Bender)

Jesse White, owner of Sarasota Architectural Salvage, has almost single-handedly made sustainability sexy.  He rescues and repurposes everything from massive wrought iron gates to glass door knobs, and concrete mermaids, but it’s White’s vision that gets me — seeing the value in what others might throw away, keeping our landfills less filled, and regularly hosting fundraisers to benefit the community — like the Feb. 22 party to benefit Habitat for Humanity.  Buy a pair of tickets for your honey’s V-Day gift; your romantic gesture will help buy roof shingles for a Habitat home.  $15 advance; visit www.sarasotasalvage.com.

Veronica Pastore (photo by Cliff Roles Photography)

Nobody in town does sexy as well as Veronica Pastore.  You may know her as the PYT (pretty young thing) who cut her teeth on Sarasota’s social scene as the original Scenestress columnist.  She passed that torch last fall and has now moved on to an even hotter gig as associate marketing director for the 2012 Sarasota Film Festival.  Going to the movies is the classic romantic move, so what better gift for V-Day than an SFF gift certificate?  Guarantees you a second date in a dark room. Visit www.sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of talking with Kerry Kirschner, executive director of The Argus Foundation, over a business lunch.  Charmingly erudite, he’s also a heck of a raconteur — which all adds up to sexy in my book. Sign your sweetheart up for some hot and heavy intellectualism on Feb. 20 when Argus is hosting Dan Henninger, Wall Street Journal deputy editor and “Wonderland” columnist. Open to the public, call 365-4886 for details.

One of the sexiest women in Sarasota has got to be Susan Goldfarb, executive director of the Longboat Key Education Center (www.lbkeducationcenter.org) .  Yes, she’s a gorgeous blonde, but it’s her vivacity and intelligence that really make her sizzle.  I gave a talk at her Center last month, and from what I can tell, Goldfarb’s rational exuberance for living and learning infuses her Center with a fun, relaxed vibe.  And since the mind is the sexiest organ in the human body — keep yours in peak performance by signing yourself and the object of your affection up for one of the Center’s many stimulating courses.

David Baas

Finally, when I read recent newspapers articles about Sarasota’s own David Baas, who as a center for the Giants just won his first Super Bowl title, crediting his Riverview High School coach John Sprague for helping to get him where he is today — even giving his former coach a coveted ticket to the big game. His comments to the press sounded sincere, modest, and confident.  That’s the sexy trifecta for a man — or a woman, for that matter.

This Valentine’s Day, why not give your beloved a dose of Baas-like behavior:  give him or her the credit they deserve for putting up with you all year-round … and loving you through every minute of it.

– Follow MC on Facebook (MC-Coolidge); email her at mcrealityonline@yahoo.com.

Try the charbroiled oysters with butter and herb sauce, the Rockefeller with a fresh spinach and cream cheese mixture, the Bienville with seafood and Italian breadcrumbs, and the Orleans with buttery barbecue sauce.

Seduced by an Aphrodisian menu, dimmed chandeliers and jazz melodies at Half Shell Oyster House last week, I underwent a taste about-face.

I’d never been much of a shucked mollusk eater or a martini buff, but after an evening at this month-old Main Street Sarasota bar, I was swiftly converted. Now I can usher in Valentine’s Day right — sensually charged on “love food” and open to things I never thought I’d dig.

“We like to dress up our oysters with all kinds of flavors and people love what we do with them,” said Half Shell’s president, Dino Mirando, who lived in Mississippi for 15 years and became a bayou cuisine connoisseur. “Oysters are high in zinc, and they say if you eat three a day, you increase your longevity and libido.”

While chatting with Mirando about the “zinc effect,” I admired the distressed brass bar top, oyster shells on the walls, stained glass panels, crystal chandeliers, open kitchen for onsite shucking, and general turn-of-the-century New Orleans vibe. The 6,239-square-foot, 170-seater hotspot launched on Jan. 9 — an offshoot of the original Half Shell that opened in Gulfport, Miss., about 16 months ago (there’s a six-month-old one in Biloxi, too).

Wendy Webb and Dino Mirando

There’s something wickedly sultry about the Southwest Florida locale, which is why the upcoming “Special Night, Special Someone, Perfect Combinations” dinner-for-two menu is already luring in Tuesday reservations. It starts off with an oyster combo, then some surf and turf, bananas foster cheesecake for dessert, and a bottle of La Crème Chardonnay or Pinot Noir for $95. Euphoria in less than three digits.

But the Half Shell isn’t just sizzling on V-Day. Every week is theme-packed: Martini Mondays with $5 martinis (any liquor) all day, Tequila Tuesdays with top “shell” tequila margaritas for $6.50, Wine Wednesdays with a $10 discount on any $25-plus bottle, and Thirsty Thursdays with $2.50 drafts (Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan from Mississippi, Abita from Louisiana and Florida Cracker from Tampa).

Happy hour is 3 to 6 p.m. daily with $2 off all drafts, mixed drinks and wine, not to mention $5 appetizers and 50-cent raw oysters. Sunday has all-day happy hour with $2 mimosas and $3 Bloody Marys (concocted with a to-die-for, vegetable-infused vodka). Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.

“We’ve created a welcoming, local hangout with delicious food and great drinks,” said marketing director Laura Daniel Gale. “I like to say it’s everything you love to eat but like nothing you’ve ever tasted before.”

Cajun Oyster Martini

Bartenders Deanne Spiliopoulos and Wendy Webb whip up troves of sweet potions. Try the $7.95 Cajun Oyster Martini, which is a “spiced-up” version of the classic Bloody Mary, made with Ketel One Vodka and Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix poured on top of an oyster. It is mixed with cocktail and hot sauce, and garnished with a Creole-seasoned rim and a lemon-shrimp skewer. There is simply no way to do this drink literary justice, so promise to take my word for it. Holy martini.

Other must-tries include the Wild Berry Infusion Martini with fresh sweet and sour mix, and the Triple Chocolate Martini with Stoli Vanil vodka, Godiva chocolate liqueur, rich cream and chocolate shavings.

“People are getting into our martinis,” Webb said. “They’re not overpowering and we use high-quality liquor to really bring out the flavors.”

Of course, all these libations go lip-smackingly well with the main event here: the oysters. Sample the charbroiled version with butter and herb sauce, the Rockefeller with a fresh spinach and cream cheese mixture, the Bienville with seafood and Italian breadcrumbs, and the Orleans with buttery barbecue sauce. The latter two take the pearl tiara, in my opinion.

But now matter how you shuck it, Half Shell is hot. Cheers to our new little Aphrodisia.

Chubby Checker returns to EPCOT this year as part of the Flower Power Concert Series.

Spring is prime time for concerts at Florida theme parks, and they begin in earnest this weekend. With more than 40 concerts scheduled between now and mid-May, music lovers may find themselves headed to a theme park every weekend. Here’s a rundown of the concert series coming up:

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has Bands, Brew & BBQ, a food and music festival that happens on weekends Feb. 11 through March 4. A beer festival with sampling of more than 80 beers is set up at the park (unlimited sampling wristbands cost $30), and purveyors of smoked meat are brought in to provide the BBQ part of the weekend. Concerts by classic rock bands are on Saturdays at 5 p.m. at Gwazi Park.

Also at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the Real Music Series is continuing through March 24, with concerts by artists from yesteryear at 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays at the Stanleyville Theater.

EPCOT has the Flower Power Concert Series, which is part of the Flower & Garden Festival at Walt Disney World. The festival runs March 7 through May 20, with concerts by favorite pop oldies artists on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 5:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. at the America Gardens Theatre. The Flower & Garden Festival also includes amazing topiary displays throughout EPCOT, as well as gardening demonstrations and seminars.

SeaWorld Orlando has its own version of Bands, Brew & BBQ, with a similar beer festival and barbecue tent set-up Feb. 11 through March 4. SeaWorld has expanded to offer concerts on both Saturdays and Sundays this year, with a primarily country music lineup. All concerts are at 4:30 p.m. at Bayside Stadium.

Universal Studios‘ Mardi Gras also kicks off this weekend and runs through April 14, with New Orleans food, a Mardi Gras parade with floats from New Orleans, and, of course, concerts on the weekends. Universal’s lineup offers the widest mix of artists, with pop star Kelly Clarkson, rapper J Cole and disco diva Diana Ross among the offerings. Concert times are either 8:30 p.m. or 9:30 p.m., based on the scheduled closing time for the park.

To help you decide who you might want to see and when, I’ve compiled a listing of all the upcoming theme park concerts, by artist:

• 38 Special: Feb. 26, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• The B-52′s: Feb. 11, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Big Time Rush: March 10, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• B.o.B: March 24, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Boyz II Men: Feb. 19, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Bret Michaels: Feb. 19, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Chubby Checker & The Wildcats: April 6-8, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night: April 27-29, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Cyndi Lauper: April 7, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Davy Jones: May 18-20, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Diana Ross: Feb. 25, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• The Doobie Brothers: Feb. 25, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Foreigner: Feb. 11, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Frankie Avalon: Feb. 8-11, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• Gary Allan: Feb. 12, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Goo Goo Dolls: March 3, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• The Grass Roots: March 14-17, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• The Guess Who: March 23-25, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Herman’s Hermits, starring Peter Noone: May 11-13, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Hot Chelle Rae: March 23, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• J Cole: March 16, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Jose Feliciano: March 9-11, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• KC & The Sunshine Band: April 14, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Kelly Clarkson: Feb. 18, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Kenny Rogers: Feb. 19, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd: Feb. 12, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.: March 21-24, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• The Orchestra, starring former members of ELO: May 4-6, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• The Osmond Brothers: Feb. 15-18, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• Paul Revere & The Raiders: April 13-15, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits: Feb. 22-25, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• Plain White T’s: March 30, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Prince Royce: March 31, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• REO Speedwagon: March 4, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Rita Coolidge: March 7-10, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)
• Ronnie Dunn: Feb. 26, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Sara Evans: March 3, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• Scotty McCreery: March 4, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• The Spinners: March 30-April 1, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Starship starring Mickey Thomas: March 16-18, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• Sugar Ray: March 17, Universal Studios Florida (Mardi Gras)
• Trace Adkins: Feb. 18, SeaWorld Orlando (Bands, Brew & BBQ)
• The Turtles, featuring Flo & Eddie: April 20-22, EPCOT (Flower Power Concert Series)
• The Ventures: Feb. 29-March 3, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Real Music Series)

My calendar is bursting at the seams with all the shows I want to see this spring. How about you? Who are you most excited to see on this list?

Green Flash Brewing from San Diego, maker of some very hoppy beers, will be bringing their beers to Florida, according to a report from Gerard Walen on Beer in Florida.

Walen writes:

The award-winning San Diego craft brewery is well-known for its hops-forward brews, especially those in the California IPA style, though it produces stouts, Belgian-styles, barleywines and others.

…

An official roll-out party is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, February 10, 2012, at Pour House Tampa, which is tagging the event as “California Beer Night,” so expect some other tasty West Coast beers on tap.

It’s been a long time since I had any of their beers, but I remember liking them.

Check out Walen’s story for more details.

Police in Flagstaff said 44-year-old Martin Kombate had originally been arrested for trespassing. He was supposed to be released on his own recognizance, but when officers showed up to escort him out, Kombate wouldn’t leave. He said he couldn’t find his wallet.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun, Kombate became disorderly, so police arrested him. He remains in jail.

Who can you trust?

A lawsuit filed by a Colorado man who took a Kansas couple hostage, then sued them for breach of contract for turning him into police, has been punted from court.

Jesse Dimmick of Denver contended he had a legally binding oral contract with Jared and Lindsay Rowley that they’d hide him from police in return for cash. He was a fugitive facing a murder charge when he burst into the Rowleys’ home and took them hostage at knifepoint. They escaped and called the cops when he fell asleep.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, Dimmick was later convicted of kidnapping and other charges. He sued the Rowleys for $160,000 for hospital bills and $75,000 for pain and suffering.

A judge dismissed the suit without compensation.

Dude, that’s my car

A woman in Central Florida was forced to take the bus after her car was stolen. She wondered if she would ever again see her black 2002 Saturn again. Then it drove past her bus.

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the woman was forced to take a bus after her car was stolen from her driveway in Deltona. But when she saw it drive by, she called 911.

An alert deputy spotted the car and pulled it over. Arrests quickly followed.

To serve and get robbed

Police in St. Louis say a woman who called the cops for help ended up robbing one of them instead.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the woman told police her boyfriend had stolen her keys. So the officers who responded gave her a ride home, leaving her in their cruiser while they went inside to check the place out.

That’s when the woman allegedly took a bank card from one officer’s bag. The same cops only discovered the theft hours later while responding to a theft at a nearby store. They found the woman and her car filled with groceries, cigarettes and lottery tickets. Receipts showed she used the cop’s stolen bank card.

Wait, what?

“Thief Steals 7 Wooden Penises, Other Props”

— Headline in the Arizona Republic over a story that suggests you can find just about anything in the back room of a theater

Till death

A Kentucky couple who’d been married for 73 years proved they couldn’t live without each other, either. They died within hours of each other.

Ethel Bradshaw, 99, moved to a Louisville nursing home four years ago when her health began to decline. Her husband Presley, 101, would visit several times a week until two years ago, when he moved into the home to be near her. He was the first to go, reports the Lexington Herald Leader. Though staff at the home were unsure if Ethel knew Presley was gone, since she suffered from dementia, she died about four hours later.

“They were a true epitome of the word love,” said one of their nurses.

Guitar goddess

An 8-year-old British school girl is the latest child musical prodigy to become an Internet sensation.

Zoe Thomson is astonishingly accomplished on the electric guitar, reports London’s Daily Telegraph. Her latest video, which has attracted more than 2.1 million hits on YouTube, features Zoe playing along to a tune by the Finnish symphonic metal band Stratovarius. She makes the speedy fretwork look as effortless as you might expect from such guitar gods as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page or Brian May.

Zoe’s band, titled Mini Band, catapulted to fame last year with a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

Oops

These days, newspapers earn their living on the Internet as much as with their print products. Ticket Sarasota is but one fine example. However, when copy is moved back and forth between the two platforms, problems can arise.

Take the Honolulu Advertiser, for example. According to the blog jimromenesko.com, the print version of the Advertiser carried a story on the front of its automotive section that included this line: “The Fiesta Sedan comes as a sedan or fastback. … Click here to compare them.”

All the news that fits

Newspapers are older than God. Well, maybe not quite that old. There probably wasn’t a newspaper around to report on Noah and his ark — but it wasn’t long after. Moreover, folks have always had something to say about newspapers ever since. Take this sampling, compiled by newspaper consultant Ed Henninger.

• “I am not the editor of a newspaper, and I shall always try to do right and be good — so that God will not make me one.” — Mark Twain

• “Newspaper editors are men who separate the wheat from the chaff — and print the chaff.” — Adlai Stevenson

• “Were it left to me to decide between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — Thomas Jefferson

• “The press is free — to the man who owns the press.” — Benjamin Franklin

• “Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” — Gore Vidal

• “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” — Twain again

• “My doctors told me this morning my blood pressure is down so low that I can start reading the newspapers.” — Ronald Reagan

• “A newspaper is a business. It used to be a fabulous business that made extraordinary margins. It’s now a very good business with appropriate margins.” — Sam Zell

• “There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.” — Winston Churchill

• “It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.” — Jerry Seinfeld

• “Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever — even to the protagonists.” — Norman Mailer

• “No American newspaper will print anything contrary to its own interests.” — George Bernard Shaw

• “Far more thought and care go into the composition of any prominent ad in a newspaper or magazine than go into the writing of their features and editorials.” — Marshall McLuhan

• “The volume of mail that comes into a newspaper is no index of anything — except that you happen to attract a lot of idiots.” — H. L. Mencken

• “A good newspaper is never nearly good enough, but a bad newspaper is a joy forever.” — Garrison Keillor

– Follow Telescope on Twitter (@terrymac2)

Lots of Gulf Gate places serve a craft beer or two: Few joints remain that offer only Bud or Bud Light. I’m glad those days are receding. Just thinking about them makes me shudder.

But for those of us who are craft beer geeks, the options are narrower. There are two places in Gulf Gate where craft beer is a focus, and they’re only about 100 yards apart: Mr. Beery’s (2645 Mall Drive, 343-2854, mrbeeryssrq.com) and the Sarasota Brewing Co. (6607 Gateway Ave., 925-2337, sarasotabrewing.com).

Mr. Beery’s

Mr. Beery’s is a relative newcomer: The bar just celebrated its second anniversary last week. But it has quickly become a craft beer powerhouse, and not just locally. Draft Magazine lists it as one of the Top 100 beer bars in the country.

What’s the secret?

Mark Tuchman, right, owner of Mr. Beery's in Gulf Gate, talks to customers at his bar. (Photo by Carla Varisco-Williams)

“We are a craft beer bar,” said Mr. Beery’s owner Mark Tuchman. “That’s all we do.” Their events all orbit around craft beer, and Tuchman says they want everyone to feel at home, whether you are a craft beer neophyte or a seasoned beer geek.

Mr. Beery’s has 24 rotating taps, along with a firkin of cask-conditioned ale and two rotating selections of infused beers: One infused with hops, the other infused with things like coffee, cookies, even doughnuts.

If you get tired of staring into your beer, they also have several TVs, including a home theater setup with a giant screen. They also have possibly the only skee ball game machine in the region.

“I hope what we brought was a different dimension” to Gulf Gate, Tuchman said. He’s quick to promote his neighbors. “Gulf Gate has been, in my opinion, a wonderful destination for all types of people,” Tuchman said. The neighborhood has about 150 businesses, and he said he considers them all mom-and-pop places. Each specializes in something unique.

“I hope they all put Jai Alai on,” Tuchman said, referencing Jai Alai IPA from Tampa brewery Cigar City.

Sarasota Brewing Co.

If Mr. Beery’s is the newcomer, the Brewing Co. is the veteran, having been in Gulf Gate for more than 20 years.

For ages, it has been the only place to get beer brewed on premises. Fresh beer is best, and it doesn’t get fresher than drinking it at the source.

Ray Baltimore of Englewood enjoys a glass of beer at the Sarasota Brewing Co. in Gulf Gate while Paul Janes tends bar. (Photo by Carla Varisco-Williams)

“We have always strived to keep a consistent lineup of full-flavored, award-winning beers to match our full menu of bar and dinner foods while entertaining the sports crowd,” brewmaster Vincent Pelosi said via Facebook.

Pelosi has been brewing for more than 22 years, 18 of those professionally, he wrote. When it comes to the types of beer he brews, he says he’s not one to jump on to “every new flavoring fad to come along.”

He writes: “Consistency is the mantra. I love all kinds of beer but even I have my favorite styles and assume most others do as well, so I try to make a variety available so that differing tastes all have a choice.”

In addition to their house brews they also have guest beer taps and a full liquor bar.

Got a question?

If you have questions about beer, including what’s available locally, please send them to me using my contact info above. I’ll try to answer them in future columns.

The scene is set for Forks & Corks University.

I want a T-shirt that reads “I Survived Forks & Corks 2012 (and Loved It).” The weekend was a whirlwind of extraordinary wine, scrumptious local food and impeccable weather under which to enjoy it all. It seemed like the whole town was out celebrating Forks & Corks with me, and I’ll bet everyone who experienced a tasting or dinner came away with fantastic stories and new friends. Here are mine.

My weekend began bright and early at Michael’s On East for the “Vino Italia!” educational tasting, moderated by Master Sommelier Andrew McNamara. He and I share a weakness for champagne, which he calls a “terrible habit.” Now, I sincerely enjoy a drink any time of day, but at 9:30 in the morning I may have blanched a little to take my seat before 10 glasses poured none too lightly. Surely a tasting is the only public forum in which it isn’t vulgar to spit — and the five panelists representing the Italian wineries demonstrated graceful technique. We Sarasotans, however, are unabashed swallowers. No way in heck was I going to let a glass of 15-year-old red end up as a splash in a bucket. “You are my breakfast champions,” Vito Candela of  Rocca delle Macìe beamed from the head table. The tasting ended with smooth selections from Colle Massari, whose bottles can run $90 and up. “It’s not a cheap wine,” Commercial Director Maarten Leereveld remarked, “but then again, how long do you live?”

With that pithy little mantra in mind, we broke for lunch. I found myself seated in excellent company–Mr. Leereveld to my left and California winemaker Daniel Gehrs on my right. And in front of me: more wine. An oak-free Chardonnay from the Gehrs winery, in fact, followed by his Pinot noir, which Mr. Gehrs describes as “very sexy.” I’m personally not a Pinot Noir fan, but his hooked me. I left the table with promises to come visit him and the rest of his collection the next day at the Grand Tasting.

My dear friend Zaq Bencomo preps deliciousness under the Derek's tent.

If I’d been amazed by the scene at the Ringling Museum for the Skyspace Opening, this sumptuous party knocked my ankle boots off. As I walked into the courtyard, I believed I’d died and gone to culinary heaven. I was completely overwhelmed by the smell of dozens of local restaurants dishing out tempting treats, and dazzled by the ruby glitter from hundreds of glasses. I decided I needed a little bubbly to bring me to my senses. After a 92-point mouthful of Nicolas Feuillate and a spoon of scallop salad from Derek’s Culinary Casual, I popped over to see my new friend Mr. Gehrs and tried his buttery Chenin Blanc and rich, juicy Zinfandel.

Things of beauty, from left to right: Jennifer Edelson, Kristen Pace and Kirsten Sponseller.

A couple of my girlfriends and I eventually got roped into a pouring stint by Oregon wineries A to Z Wineworks and Rex Hill Vineyards. The fellows behind the table let us take over without a trace of anxiety. It was an “amusing experiment,” one of them told me later, to trade himself in for three sunkissed damsels in cocktail dresses. We didn’t know much about the wine we were pouring, save that we really liked drinking it, but suddenly it seemed like everybody wanted a sip, too!

As the afternoon wore on, the pours grew more generous. The last booth I stopped at simply handed over the bottle, to my violet-lipped delight. It had been a gorgeous day, and the 4 o’clock sun suffused the courtyard in a rich glow. The faces around me glowed brightly, too, but it wasn’t a trick of the sunlight — I could tell it was coming from inside.