WHAT'S GOOD WEDNESDAYS - THE KICKOFF!
Happy Wednesday! We’re kicking off our first-ever
First Coast Connect (FCC) with Melissa Ross
weekly newsletter today. Look for fresh sparkling midweek updates and ramblings from Melissa and FCC producer Heather Schatz every Wednesday afternoon.
So what’s
good,
you ask, in this time of pandemic and recession? A lot, it turns out. Here’s what caught our eye this week.
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BRAVO, CAPTAIN SANDY
You know her as the luxury yacht captain on Bravo TV’s
“Below Deck Mediterranean.”
Now,
Captain Sandy Yawn
is becoming a bit of a landlubber. Yawn recently bought a 106-year-old firehouse in downtown Jacksonville and has plans to convert it into a rooftop bar and restaurant. The firehouse hasn’t been used in many years, and the realtor who brokered the sale to Yawn says the inside is an “empty shell,” but calls Yawn a person “of great vision” who can bring the old property back to life. We here at First Coast Connect are wildly in favor of anything sparking up life and excitement in this city’s urban core, so get after it, Captain Sandy!
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THEY WROTE “SWEET MELISSA,” SO THE ALLMAN BROTHERS TOTALLY DESERVE TO BE IN A MUSEUM, PEOPLE!
Here’s another repurposing of an old downtown building we’re excited about. The
Jacksonville Historical Society
wants to celebrate Jacksonville’s role in music with a new museum and performance venue dedicated to Duval’s massive role in birthing the genre known as Southern Rock. (We’re talking local heroes The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynryd, Molly Hatchet and The Derek Trucks Band, among others.)
WJCT Digital Editor
Bill Bortzfield
reports
the museum will be created in the old 1882 Florida Casket Company building in the sports complex area of Downtown Jacksonville. Rock on, Jax Historical Society.
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FCC Producer, Heather Schatz
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GLUTTONS UNITE!
First Coast author, food consultant and fabulous raconteur
Jeffrey Spear
has traveled the world in search of a great meal. His culinary adventures have taken him not only all across the U.S., but to a long list of far-flung destinations ranging from Montenegro to Malawi. Jeff brings back fascinating foods from these spots for sale stateside. As he says, “Living to eat is no longer an admission of gluttony or a problem with self-control. It has, in fact, become a badge of honor.”
It’s in this bacchanalian spirit that Spear encourages us to take a taste of his travels, captured inside his new book.
My Life in Gluttony: A Culinary Adventure
is full of the breezy anecdotes and tasty recipes we’ve come to expect from this funny yet serious foodie. (BTW, thanks for the cool apron, Jeff. This will be getting some use.)
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Bo Jackson with
Chef Ernest Hopkins
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SPEAKING OF FOOD...
Chef Ernest Hopkins
of the
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
will be teaching a
live, interactive virtual cooking class
this Friday night at 6:30pm. He’s teaming up with
Bo Jackson
on one of the MLB/NFL legend’s signature foods, Bo’s 34 Steaks, for a special recipe: The Perfect Bo’s Baseball Cut Steak Sliders. Yum! Those who register for the class will receive all the ingredients they need to create the Sliders and Home Fried Kettle Potatoes with toppings. The cost is $60 per person, and the class will provide ingredients for and teach how to make a meal that will feed four people. Virtual cooking classes have really taken off in this time of pandemic, so log on and get cooking,
Crustacean Nation
.
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RAISE YER CONSCIOUSNESS
Speaking some more of food, each Sunday, Conscious House in the city’s Talleyrand neighborhood consistently opens its heart to feed neighbors in need. Their upcoming
Butterflies R Free
event this Sunday will give contributors the opportunity to experience this weekly effort while reflecting on Conscious House’s mission of personal transformation illustrated through its newly installed art and surrounding gardens. Lunch will be served in exchange for a donation as patrons stroll the meditation path, meet the artists, and watch the completion of the mural. Social distancing guidelines will be observed. Now that’s consciously cool.
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YOU GET A SCHOLARSHIP! AND YOU GET A SHOLARSHIP!
The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone, but it’s sure been particularly rotten timing for high school seniors. The Class of 2020 missed out on prom, walking in cap and gown, Grad Night parties - all the rituals of graduation. LGBTQ+ youth in this age cohort have special challenges of their own, of course. So here’s something good to note.
PFLAG Jax
has extended its deadline to apply for scholarships this year, to July 1st. Anyone in the LGBTQ+ community applying for secondary education (be it traditional university or trade/technical school) needs to know that there is money out there to be had. They just simply need to
apply!
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CTRL+ALT+ *DON’T* DELETE THIS DEAL
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many small businesses to move operations online. If you need some help with navigating this new digital workplace where we all now reside, there’s some out there.
CTRL+ALT Digital
is offering up to two hours of donated website assistance from now until the end of July. Companies accepted into the
program
can use the time for technical guidance, consulting, or even hands-on development work.
Not only that, the owners of CTRL+ALT Digital also have listened intently to the messaging coming from the Black Lives Matter movement. They have decided to prioritize Black-owned businesses that apply to the program. Cool move, guys.
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Participating artist, Ansley Randall of Jax is Rad
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NAMASTE, THE ARTY WAY
Get into full downward dog mode at the first-ever
Yoga 4 Change
“Live Virtual Art Show,” coming up Tuesday, June 30th at 7pm via
live stream
. The event will showcase one piece of artwork from ten local Jacksonville artists. Artists have priced their own artwork, and a portion of proceeds will be donated to Yoga 4 Change programming. The pieces can be shipped anywhere making this event open to the general public, wherever you call home.
“It’s part of Yoga 4 Change’s mission to create and sustain community in the cities where we offer programming,” says Director of Development, Breanna Tivvis. “Networking in the Jacksonville Art Community has been both inspiring and gratifying.”
Yoga4Change brings the therapeutic power of yoga to veterans, the incarcerated, and people living with mental health conditions. In other words, they are the embodiment of What’s Good!
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ROUND IT UP THIS FRIDAY AT HIGH NOON
FRIDAYS AT NOON ON WJCT 89.9 FM
If you love getting all the state’s biggest news delivered straight to your noggin each week, don’t miss this Friday’s statewide call-in show
The Florida Roundup
. Hosted each Friday at noon by Melissa and
Tom Hudson
of WLRN, we’re covering all the biggest stories and trends affecting the Sunshine State - and since you live in Florida, you know the news is never slow!
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Melissa Ross
Producer & Host
The Florida Roundup
& First Coast Connect
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