Forgettable.
Timolin and Casey Cole had such high hopes. The Grammy Awards show was going to honor their sister, Natalie. Her unexpected death New Year’s Eve had left a big hole in their lives and those of music lovers around the world, and the tribute dug it even deeper. Death played a prominent role in the Feb. 15 show, with salutes expected for Cole, the Eagles’ Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, B.B. King and Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister.
First up was Lady Gaga with a high-energy, over-the-top paean eight-song medley to Bowie, complete with flaming red hair. The Eagles with Jackson Browne saluted Frey with Take It Easy. With The Thrill Is Gone, former Grammy winners Bonnie Raitt and Gary Clark Jr. joined first-time multiple winner Chris Stapleton to say farewell to B.B.
Before announcing song of the year, Stevie Wonder and Pentatonix offered an a capella rendition of That’s the Way of the World for Maurice White. Wonder got a big laugh when he joked that only he could read the winner — the card was in braille. The award went to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud.
Though Motorhead, founded in England half a century ago, was considered a seminal influence on heavy metal and punk, it won only one Grammy. Yet Kilmister received the full treatment, courtesy of the Hollywood Vampires — Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. Yes, that Johnny Depp, who cut his show biz teeth playing in bands in Broward County.
Into the memorial clips and still nothing — Celine Dion’s husband, Rene Angelil, Lesley Gore, Ben E. King, Chris Squire from Yes, Paul Kantner from Jefferson Airplane, Lynn Anderson and many others.
Finally, the last clip — the Unforgettable video. Forty-five seconds of Natalie singing in a virtual duet with her legendary father, Nat King Cole, who died in 1965. The original video of Nat singing was recorded in 1951. The duet, cut in 1991, won three Grammys, including Song of the Year.
Those Grammys had special significance because they marked Natalie’s triumphant recovery from drug addiction and cemented her place among the great pop singers.
Nevertheless, Cole’s sisters, who live in Boca Raton, thought more would have been done, and should have been done, declaring the 45-second video “a forgettable tribute.”
“Words cannot express the outrage and utter disappointment at the disrespectful tribute, or lack thereof …,” they said in a written statement.
“It’s very bittersweet,” Timolin said. “We were hoping that there will be some sort of actual tribute to her fitting of her artistry and stature. She had 21 Grammy nominations and nine wins. She was such a force in the music industry and she transcended genres. … I think she should be recognized for the impact she has had.”
The show’s producer, Ken Ehrlich, who attended Natalie’s funeral in Los Angeles, countered that he had spoken with Timolin before the show and thought the family was OK with the clip. They discussed a live performance, he said, but the last 45 seconds of that clip “where her father throws her a kiss, she throws him a kiss, and then she turns to the audience and throws everybody a kiss” was the perfect ending to the farewell segment.
“I hadn’t looked at that clip in several years,” Ehrlich added, “but when I saw it again, I knew it was right.”
As the situation cooled, the sisters tempered their comments, stressing that Natalie be remembered not for a brief TV salute but rather for her work and her music.
That hole left by Natalie posed major problems for the Boca West Foundation. She was scheduled to headline an April 5 lawn concert at the sprawling development that would raise money for 22 children’s programs, including Nat King Cole Generation Hope, which provides musical opportunities to children who don’t have the resources.
But the show must go on, so organizers got together with Timolin and Casey and found a last-minute replacement. Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin! For tickets, $175, call 213-8209 or info@natkingcolegenhope.org.
***
The show will go on, too, at Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on March 25. Earth, Wind & Fire continues its tour and no doubt will celebrate its leader and founder, Maurice White, with more than a few horn flourishes, enhanced by the presence of a second headliner, Chicago. A cool mix of Got To Get You Into My Life and You’re the Inspiration. Hot show.
***Unfortunately, the show is over at Jazziz Nightlife in Boca. Michael Fagien’s dream combination of classy supper club with classy music at the south end of Mizner Park is history after barely two years.
Fagien, however, can fall back on his day job — he’s a radiologist — and he still has Jazziz magazine, which boasts a readership of more than half a million and gives readers two compilation CDs with each quarterly issue.
***
Imagine if some headliners at the 10th annual Festival of the Arts Boca had seized the opportunity to drop by and perhaps sit in at Jazziz. The festival will showcase the musical talents of Herb Alpert and Lani Hall (March 6), Joshua Bell (March 16) and the Grammys’ newest and youngest star, Joey Alexander (March 11).
Nominated for Jazz Instrumental Album and Improvised Jazz Solo, Alexander didn’t win an award, but his 70 seconds of improvisation on the Steinway won a standing ovation.
Alexander is all of 12. Born in Bali, he first caught the attention of jazz great Herbie Hancock four years ago during Hancock’s visit to Indonesia for UNESCO. A year ago, his family moved to New York so he could pursue his muse. During a segment on 60 Minutes in February, Wynton Marsalis, director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, just shook his head as he declared Alexander a prodigy in the true sense of the word.
***
Another standing ovation … for Kathi Kretzer-Sayler. She’s been selling pianos in the area since 1985 — her store now is in Jupiter — but her mission is much greater than sales. For 12 years, the Kretzer Kids, a group of gifted young musicians, have played more than 50 concerts a year in nursing homes, hospitals and similar facilities. Since 2002, her Music for the Mind program has provided more than 10,000 young musicians the opportunity to perform monthly concerts at CityPlace while raising more than $550,000 to support music programs in the schools. Keyboard for Kids, soon to begin at the Center for Creative Education, will provide group piano lessons for 72 inner-city schoolchildren.
In return, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County is honoring Kretzer-Sayler with its Muse Award as Outstanding Civic Leader. She and other recipients will be honored during a special awards program and show at the Kravis Center on March 31. (For tickets: www.palmbeachculture.com/muse)
***
We hardly knew ya. More than three years ago, Kevin James, who’s been doing pretty well as a mall cop, began buying up property on A1A across from the beach at the north end of Delray, paying just under $23 million. He was Delray’s new favorite son, dining along Atlantic, posing for selfies, showing up with the kids at St. Vincent Ferrer Church.
But on Feb. 22, the entertainment press blurted that James is selling the estate — a main house and guest apartment totaling more than 26,000 total square feet, eight bedrooms and nine full baths and three half baths, pool, tennis court, finished basement, gym, spa and massage suite, children’s playroom, walk-in wine cellar. It all fits on 2.77 acres. Only drawback: It isn’t on the water. Still he wants $28.8 million.
No word on his post-Delray plans, but maybe he’s headed up to Manalapan. It offers more privacy, but still offers an easy drive to dining and entertainment spots and airports. Plus his bud Billy Joel owns three properties there: his residence on the ocean, and two others on the Intracoastal. The Intracoastal estate and the lot are on the market for a reported $29 million. And it boasts 150 feet on the waterway!
***
In 1959, Bethesda Memorial Hospital began accepting patients in Boynton Beach, the county’s first hospital south of West Palm Beach. It opened with 70 beds, 32 physicians, 65 employees and a foundation that had already been raising money for three years.
On March 5, the Bethesda Hospital Foundation will flash back to those days of early rock ’n’ roll, when cars had fins bigger than the marlins caught offshore, telephones were black and had dials and presidential candidates were chosen at conventions. The theme for the 61st annual ball at The Breakers is “Palm Beach Revisited, An Evening on Island Time.”
Palm Beach is famous the world over for its charity galas, but it wasn’t the first. Boynton Beach, surprisingly, was a year ahead with the Hospital Ball held at what was then the Boca Raton Hotel & Club.
“I was told that everything was handmade,” Bethesda communications director Paula Henderson said. “They did pots of flowers for their centerpieces.”
Nationally known entrepreneur and philanthropist Warren G. Grimes served as chair for the inaugural in 1955 and again a year later. Palm Beach’s first bash, the Heart Ball, was held on Valentine’s Day in 1956. Perry Como and Dinah Shore served as king and queen.
***
For several years, something fishy has been going on in Boynton Beach, thanks to Tim Collins and his dad, Tim. They own The Fish Depot, one of the few genuine fresh seafood markets in South Florida. Whole fish, fillets, steaks, fresh-made salads, shellfish, shrimp — you name it, they sell it in what was once an old restaurant with a faux windmill on the roof at 1022 N. Federal Highway.
But for a while now, young Tim has been getting a little antsy: Let’s open a restaurant, he prodded the older Tim. Only one problem, they needed a location. He didn’t have to go far to find it. Six blocks south on an alley just west of Federal, the owners of the Backyard Lounge were looking for a tenant. The deal was cut and in mid-February The Twisted Fish was in the boat.
The tiki hut atmosphere bar and live entertainment will remain, but Tim and Tim intend to emphasize fresh seafood and the raw bar.
***
Rumors are hot around Boynton Beach that Pro Football Hall of Famer and TV sports personality Michael Irvin is part of a group interested in opening an upscale soul food restaurant on South Federal. Stay tuned.
***
Florida’s longest dining table returns to Delray Beach March 21. Guests will pull up to a table stretching five blocks along Atlantic Avenue for the eighth annual Savor the Avenue. Four-course meals with appropriate wines will be offered by 18 restaurants.
The menus can be viewed at bocamag.com/savor; reservations must be made with each restaurant no later than March 18. The Delray Beach Historical Society will receive $3 for each reservation.
***
South Inlet Park in Boca Raton was closed in late February. No riptides, no man-o-war, no tar. It was lights, camera, hunks as a film crew shot scenes in and around Boca Raton Inlet for Baywatch, the movie version of the ’90s TV series.
The TV series may have been a California phenomenon, but the movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who happens to live in Broward County.
The plot, according to Internet Movie Database, has two unlikely prospective lifeguards vying for jobs alongside the buff bodies who patrol a beach ... in California?
Joining Johnson are Zac Efron and 5-foot-8-inch Alexandra Daddario, in the female lead of “Summer,” which Johnson has promised will be “iconic.” Billions actress Ilfenesh Hadera plays Johnson’s love interest while Kelly Rohrbach, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie of the Year in 2015, fills the Pamela Anderson role. Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) directs.
According to a lifeguard at South Inlet Park, shooting was going smoothly as the crew shot a scene where Johnson’s character rescues a kite surfer who crashes into the jetty rocks. But when a windsurfer, apparently oblivious to the moviemaking onshore, lost control of his board and floundered, the director had to yell “Cut!” No harm done but filmmakers must have total control, so the hapless windsurfer’s intrusion will end up on the cutting room floor.
By the way, the guy hitting the water to “rescue” the movie kitesurfer was not Johnson. That was Tanoai Reed, stunt doubling for The Rock since his film debut in The Scorpion King in 2002.
Born in Honolulu, Reed, like Johnson, played college football — at the University of Hawaii — and is a live ringer for Johnson, who happens to be his cousin.
Look for a May 2017 release.
Reach Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.
Comments