Stories

Does the thought of summer approaching make you dread the shopping that takes place to prepare for the heat? This year put the summer insecurities in the closet for once and step out into the world in fantastic style! Summer shopping doesn’t have to entail throwing clothes around the fitting rooms, this year you can make summer shopping fun!

I’m going to be honest here: I have always had a somewhat snobbish attitude towards cruise ships and people that spend their money and time on them. But when I saw an online offer of an all-inclusive package with an ocean-view cabin, food and gratuities for a little over $300 per person for the whole vacation, I gave in. It was time to overcome my preconceptions and give this whole cruising vacation the old college try...

It’s summer, and for a lot of us that means a lot of driving. Whether you’re going to the beach, to a party, to work, or to a movie, you’re probably cranking up the AC to stay cool and barreling down the road to your destination. Memorial Day ranks just behind Thanksgiving as the biggest travel day of the year, the roads are swamped. And along with the rest of the driving population, you’re probably getting hit pretty hard by gas prices.

For anyone who has lived in Florida for more than a year, the mere mention of love bugs is enough to cause a very serious panic. Every May and September, motorists all over the gulf coast are plagued by the copulation flights of these most sinister bugs. Akin to death and taxes, we endure love bugs twice a year without fail. Keep in mind taxes only happen once a year and death will probably only happen once, which by my account successfully places love bugs at the helm of the list of shitty inevitabilities.

Giora Schmidt. Joyce Yang. Two weeks ago it was the brilliant young violinist, Giora Schmidt, who brought down the house at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts. His contribution to the evening was an utterly stellar performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto. Schmidt is 24.

In a darkened hallway, a beam of light and the scent of cigarette smoke escape through a partially closed door. Inside, two queens sit semi-nude, basking in the warmth from the light reflected off two vanity mirrors. When you are a drag queen, vanity comes with the territory, and preparing to be seen requires careful concentration.

In a white T-shirt and black athletic pants, long-limbed Benissa Chery, 14, is center stage in Immokalee Middle School cafeteria.

Hollywood and Broadway love tales of two broken souls coming together to find new life, new hope and a new beginning. Finding a fresh take on this old tale is hard, yet playwright Jeff Baron manages in “Visiting Mr. Green,” an amusing and well-crafted work chosen by the Florida Rep to close its 2007-08 season.

Independent Congressional candidate Jeff George decided the best way to make a people’s campaign official was with a personal touch.

The Pelican Players lift the act of prevarication to an art form in “Tender Lies,” the final play of its 2007-08 season now playing at the Norris Center in downtown Naples. “Tender Lies,” a gentle drama from the pen of California playwright Nancy Pahl Gilsenan, is a garden-variety character study about the residents of a run-down Victorian in San Jose during the summer of 1961.

Ice carving may not typically elicit the same excitement associated with a grand slam or a touchdown in other spectator sports, but give Collier County residents good food and a cold beverage and they’ll cheer all the same. Sunday’s 25th annual Taste of Collier celebrated all things good about food, fun and sun at Bayfront from noon to 4 p.m. It was the event’s second year at the location, after moving from downtown Naples.

Bonita Springs’ first Cinco de Mayo celebration drew in hundreds of visitors Sunday, but came short of attracting the diverse crowd its planners had hoped for. The Bonita Springs Assistance Office organized the event to raise money and bring the area’s Hispanic and Caucasian communities together at Riverside Park on Old 41 Road in downtown Bonita Springs from noon to 7 p.m.

As the lead singer of Deb & The Dynamics belted out “Me and Bobby McGee” at the top of her lungs, Estero food lovers were treated to a treat for their ears and taste buds from 20 area restaurants during the first-ever Taste of Estero on Sunday.

Nir Sharon has a vision and he’s on a mission to make it become reality. He wants to wow Southwest Florida club goers like no one else has done before. He wants to do it the hard way, by convincing the loyal Sway crowd that the new Sway, his version of the beloved nightclub, is going to be better than ever before.

In a country where fast food is more popular than everywhere else in the world it’s hard to come by places that combine culinary traditions, innovation and good quality with the great value and ambiance of a French bistro. But Crust, formerly known as Toucan Grill on Bonita Beach Road, does all this and much, much more.

A younger and more diverse crowd than normal descended upon the Philharmonic Center for the Arts Friday night to catch the banging, thumping, clunking, drumming, clapping and yes, stomping, percussion act that is “Stomp.”

Maybe you still use it now and then. Or perhaps it’s gathering dust on some shelf in the garage or waiting in a box, ready for your next yard sale. Your Polaroid.

Florida Repertory Theatre is proud to announce a New Decade of professional theatre in the Fort Myers River District with its Eleventh Season as the Historic Arcade Theatre begins a New Century in 2008.