By Thom Smith
Jeff Bolton was one of the good guys. Great accountant. Tremendous sports fan. Loving husband. Unwavering father. When he learned six years ago that his son Jason had acute myeloid leukemia, a nasty bone marrow disease that attacks maybe five kids in the U.S. each year, he declared war, physical and psychological.
He found the best doctors at Dana-Farber Children’s Cancer Center in Boston. He virtually quit work for eight months to keep Jason company during his treatment. He rounded up all kinds of sports memorabilia and autographs, some for Jason, lots for other young patients. As painful as the treatment was for Jason, Jeff did his best to make the boy’s life a party.
It obviously worked. Today Jason’s in remission and back in school in Palm Beach Gardens. Jeff returned to work, steadily building Daszkal Bolton, the Boca-based accounting firm he co-founded.
But he wasn’t finished. He wasn’t about to forget about all the other kids. He joined the board of the Bone Marrow Foundation and chaired its annual “Sports Legends” event.
The next one is May 5 and 6 at Addison Reserve in Delray Beach — dinner and auction Sunday and golf the next day. The usual good feeling, however, will be tempered — Bolton won’t be there.
On Friday, April 19, while swimming in the Bahamas during the firm’s annual end of tax season holiday, Bolton, 47, was caught by a tricky rip current. In a flash, he drowned.
“I don’t know too many people as generous, kind and down-to-earth as Jeff Bolton,” close friend Harvey Oyer III said.
After briefly considering a postponement, foundation executives decided to proceed with the Sports Legends event. Former Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Bill Cowher is the designated “legend,” but the real honoree will be Bolton.
Varvara Levchenko (left) and Venus Williams laugh at mention of Cupcake Couture during a pre-tournament news conference at the Federation Cup tennis matches in Delray Beach. With them are Sloane Stephens, Serena Williams and Mary Jo Fernandez. The Williams sisters led the U.S. to a 3-2 win over Sweden. Thom Smith/The Coastal Star
The crowds may not have been SRO, but Delray built considerable capital from the Federation Cup tennis matches on April 20 and 21. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have the Williams sisters on — and in — your court. Home, after all, is in Palm Beach Gardens, so Atlantic Avenue isn’t unfamiliar.
During the draw ceremony and press conference, Venus, Serena and their teammates couldn’t hold back knowledgeable giggles at the mention of “the cupcake shop,” an obvious reference to Cupcake Couture. A little farther south, Venus had made a post-tennis investment in her interior design career by decorating one of the 52 luxury condos at One Thousand Ocean on Boca Raton Resort & Club property on the north side of the Boca Inlet.
The weather may have played a role in the United States’ favor. To locals, the low 80s were downright pleasant, but with Stockholm in the low 50s, Delray may as well have been Dubai to the Swedes.
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Faced with protests from students, faculty and community leaders, prisons-for-profit company GEO Group withdrew its offer to pay Florida Atlantic University $6 million for stadium naming rights. FAU President Mary Jane Saunders seems to have adopted a modified Teddy Roosevelt response —“Speak softly but say nothing,” except to brag about school successes.
For example, students from the school’s Diplomacy Program in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters received a seventh consecutive Distinguished Delegation Award for participating in the 2013 National Model United Nations competition in New York City.
More than 6,000 university students from around the world participated in the annual six-day U.N. simulation. Perhaps Saunders should sit in on some of the Diplomacy Program’s sessions. Established in 1996, it provides training “in the art of negotiation, conflict resolution and global problem solving.”
As GEO Group withdrew from the 12-year stadium deal, it simultaneously announced a gift of $500,000 to the school’s scholarship fund. Hmmm — $6 million divided by 12 is, right, $500,000. Yet hardly a peep from protesters. If the $6 million pledge was dirty money, why is GEO’s half-million OK?
To pour more spicy wing sauce on the owl, in mid-April former athletic director Craig Angelos claimed to have lined up a six-year, $1 million annual deal with a large, unnamed South Florida automobile dealership chain. His superiors, he said, told him to hold off in hopes of a better deal with … Chick-fil-A.
Oops. Chick-fil-A has never sponsored a stadium. Great waffle fries, but much to the dismay of Sunday shoppers at Boca’s Town Center mall, they’re closed on Sunday. Company policy is rooted in founder Truett Cathy’s vow to “not deal with money on the ‘Lord’s Day’.” Then last summer Truett’s son and company COO Dan Cathy spoke out against gay marriage, and word got out that the company’s charity wing had given millions to oppose gay rights.
Furthermore, when the stadium opened in 2011, Chick-fil-A was there … until it was bounced by Chartwells, the stadium concessionaire, because of its “late arriving and understaffed” crew, according to Owl Access, a sports website that covers FAU athletics. Chick-fil-A was replaced by Mississippi Sweets, a local barbecue restaurant.
Tired of waiting, the car dealer drove off, and the search for a stadium sponsor has resumed. It won’t be GEO Group Stadium. Or Owlcatraz. But don’t expect the hoot and holler to subside just yet.
Some alums are sticking by their alma mater. The Gotta Luv Them Fishing Tournament will benefit the FAU National Alumni Association. Kickoff party and auction are set for May 31 at Deck 84 in Delray Beach, with lines-in next morning at 8. Top prize for the biggest kingfish, dolphin, tuna or wahoo is $2,500. Entry fee is $400 per boat.
The tournament is sponsored by the Gotta Luv Them Foundation, which was just established by three FAU alums, Chris Trentine, José Herrera and Tyrone Bradley, to promote fundraising that benefits education, especially at FAU. Contact: (954) 900-6080 or gottaluvthem.org.
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After a week’s delay, Stage Left Theatre’s production of Last of the Red Hot Lovers enjoyed sold-out performances at Boynton Beach’s Madsen Center. Next up, July 8-11, is The Cat Princess, the first summer children’s show. Auditions are set for May 6 at 7 p.m. at Madsen Center, 145 SE Second Ave. (Call 301-5404 or email peterpag@comcast.net or stagelefttheatre.net for details).
“We got in half a season and will do the kids shows in the summer and see how it goes,” Artistic Director Peter Pagliaro said.
With two plays and two musicals planned for the fall, Pagliaro is optimistic for a change. For 18 years he ran the Royal Playhouse, first in Royal Palm Beach, then in suburban West Palm Beach for 10 years, then one more year in Lake Park before moving to Boynton.
“We’ve been bouncing around,” Pagliaro said. “We had great facility at Syms Plaza in West Palm Beach (Forest Hill and Military Trail) until Syms went under and the bank foreclosed on the center. Now Boynton has offered us the chance. We’re still working on it. Some things have to be fixed, such as noise, but we hope we have a home.”
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Stage Left didn’t win any Carbonells, South Florida’s version of the Tony Awards, but Palm Beach County theaters dominated the nominations and the winners at the ceremonies. Even the Caldwell Theatre Company, which shuttered last year, copped nominations for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity: best play; best actor — Brandon Morris; scenic design — Tim Bennett; and sound design — Tom Shorrock.
Scoring the most awards — nine — was the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Palm Beach Dramaworks took home one. Fledgling Plaza Theatre in Manalapan managed to draw two nominations for Driving Miss Daisy, John Archie for best actor and Harriet Oser for best actress.
Now it’s forging full speed ahead with Waist Watchers, which has been extended to May 12, and then will break for six weeks before resuming from July 24-Sept. 1.
On May 13 and 20, Wayne LeGette and Mia Matthews will perform Being Alive, The Music of Stephen Sondheim. They’ll be followed by 8-Track, The Sounds of the ’70s (complete with bellbottoms) from June 13 to July 7.
Before moving to Palm Beach and joining the social whirl, Matthews spent many years as a theater, television and film actress in New York. (588-1820).
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The Caldwell, incidentally, may not be dead. Marilynn Wick, CEO and president of Pompano Beach-based Costume World, the nation’s largest costume company, has announced that she’s buying the shuttered theater on North Federal in Boca. In the renamed Wick Theatre, she plans to stage six shows, a mix of classic plays and Broadway musicals.
Wick will move her Broadway Collection Museum to the site and plans an October opening. Because her business is costumes, she’ll leave the production to Douglas Evans, a veteran of more than 100 productions. Evans also serves as president of the Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook and spent five years as general manager and founding president of Classical South Florida which took over WXEL radio. He also served as CEO of Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment and president of its Broadway China Ventures.
Now if he can just put people in the seats.
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Now we know what Hollywood filmmakers mean when they talk about “a little movie.”
Maybe Bruce Mason’s little movie, Chez Upshaw, was chosen to be the closing film at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, to serve as a cinematic equivalent to The Little Engine That Could. Tiny budget, talented cast and crew who worked, despite the prospect of no pay, for the distinction of having its U.S. premiere as the festival’s closing film.
The plot: To prevent foreclosure on their bed and breakfast, Illeana Douglas and Kevin Pollak convert it into a resort where guests check in and then “check out” by way of assisted suicides.
One problem — the film was terrible. It needed the assist. It was made in a few days and it showed. Mason’s script gave Pollak and Douglas little to work with. Mason admitted he ran out of money on a Friday and told the crew and cast he might not have anymore. Still they all showed up on Monday. That’s the old Hollywood spirt.
At least attendees got a glimpse of the new Frank Theaters Cinebowl & Grill in Delray Beach — an indoor amusement park with movies, bowling, billiards, an arcade and restaurant. Seats are reserved.
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At the opposite end of the Delray Marketplace is an amphitheater, and on May 11, the cover band to end all cover bands will play.
It’s not like the Surf City Allstars are unfamiliar with the California surf sound. Not only are they led by original Beach Boy David Marks, who rejoined the “Boys” for their most recent tour, but all of the Allstars played with either the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean.
The show benefits the Achievement Centers for Children and Families in Delray Beach and Boca’s Golden Bell Education Foundation. Tickets start at $30 and include tastings from (Burt) Rapoport’s Restaurant Group and two drinks. Details at rapoportsrg.com/surf.
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If you want the best, go for the wurst … at Bad Ragaz Hall & Biergarten, which has finally opened at Las Ventanas at the corner of Federal and Woolbright in Boynton. For $58, chef and owner Alessandro Silvestri serves up one of each of the nine wursts in the kitchen — including brat, knack, rinds and Weiss — which guests can wash down with a VIB (Very Important Beer) from one of three taps at the table or from more than 75 others from the bar.
On the horizon:
May 9, 6-10 p.m. — On the Avenue in Delray Beach. Artists from Artists Alley in the Pineapple Grove Arts District will show their work along Atlantic Avenue. Chefs from Papa’s Tapas will cook up giant paella to sell. Music by Across the Universe, Beatles tribute band.
May 18, 6-10 p.m. — Old School Square Beer Fest at the Delray Center for the Arts. More than 50 craft brews and wine, live music, food trucks. Advance tickets, $30, $60 for VIP, $10 more at gate. (delraycenterforthearts.org)
May 31, 5:30 p.m. — John Scully, the man behind the Pepsi Generation, the man who made Apple more than a fruit, Palm Beach resident and as of March 8, newlywed, will speak about local entrepreneurship at Palm Beach State College’s Duncan Theatre. For tickets, $50, (561) 868-3450 or www.palmbeachstate.edu/foundation/Steam.
June 1, 1 p.m. — The Great Summer Quest at the Ritz-Carlton, Manalapan. Corporate teams and individuals participate in limousine-assisted scavenger hunt for big prizes, followed by cocktail party. Benefits Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. Entry: $450 individual; $2,500 for team of six. (683-3287).
Here and there:
The knot may be closer for former Delray resident and still occasional visitor Nick Loeb and his Modern Family squeeze, Sofia Vergara. The Colombian actress, who survived a bout with thyroid cancer, conceded on Entertainment Tonight, “At 40, nature doesn’t cooperate as much.”
Loeb, a businessman who also developed Onion Crunch, isn’t hurting for cash, but Vergara may have the bigger bank account. Forbes magazine declared her the highest paid actress in television, based on her series pay plus returns from her production company, a Kmart clothing line, and multilingual endorsements for Pepsi and Burger King, among others.
Tony “The Coach” Robbins has bought the spec-built oceanfront home at 750 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan for $24.75 million.
The specs: 12,124 square feet, six bedrooms, seven full baths, four half baths, two two-car garages, pool, media room, wine cellar, club room, 175 feet of oceanfront and Intracoastal waterfront, two-acre lot.
A reader spotted a plane flying along the beach in Delray recently, towing a banner with the message: TAKE UR THINGS FROM UR CAR. Signed: The Boca Raton Police Dept.
Delray Beach yoga instructor Jessica Om poses on the PranaSleep bed to demonstrate the upscale finishes in the new townhomes that were debuted at the Marriott in Delray Beach. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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