Talk of the Town

Shaking hands and kissing babies—it’s all in a day’s work for our man in the House, Garrett Richter. The newly elected member of Florida’s legislature was at Naples’ Fun Time Academy to turn some of his campaign spoils over to the 45-year-old nonprofit child-care center. While there, he made a class of four-year-olds giggle and beam by greeting each member with the intense gaze and strong grip that other elected officials reserve for voting constituents. He even got down on the playground for a session with craft paper and pink fluorescent fingerpaint, his handiwork overseen by Naples’ first lady Chris Barnett and a short but vociferous art critic named Ashley. Still, there are some things the can-do Richter won’t do: When told it was time for a song, he joked, "Now I have to sing? That’s where I draw the line." In the end, he couldn’t resist joining in on the toddlers’ two-and-a-half-tune serenade. With friend and board member Mike Watkins and campaign chair Jim Rideoutte looking on, Richter presented a $5,000 check to Fun Time board chairs Sue and Peter Manion and executive director Franny Kain, returning to the preschool after a five-year absence.

We weren’t surprised that 80-plus friends showed up to pay tribute to Suzanne Chute at her ’60s-themed 60th birthday luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton. As her husband, Bob, said from the ballroom stage, "There’s not much dearer to Suzanne than her girlfriends." ("Well, there’s you," said the birthday girl mildly.) And because they’ve spoiled us with their past parties, we were impressed but not shocked by the lengths to which organizers Shirlene Elkins and Denise Cobb and their committee went to make the day perfect, from 50fifty’s pink, orange and brown mod décor down to themed cocktails (Pink Lady, anyone?) and retro hors d’oeuvres.

The 23 committee women gamely donned white go-go boots, aviator caps and navy-and-white shifts to undertake a purposely bad round of doo-wop before letting guest crooner Bobby Rydell, one of Chute’s teen idols, show them how it’s done. We do admit to a little bit of envy at the dance-floor prowess of the ladies at this lunch. They did the stroll and the mashed potato (Martha Fligg and Marie Andrews were particularly enthusiastic on that one). Dottie Yunker kicked it like the Rockette she once was, and Ann Bain proved that if international finance hadn’t worked out so well for her, she always could have been a Solid Gold dancer. Chute herself broke out some deft footwork for Rydell’s multi-hit set, with such friends as Retta Singer screaming like teenagers when his still-booming pipes started the familiar chords of Volare. Audrey Hepburn look-alikes, including Elizabeth Star and Simone Lutgert brought off the Breakfast at Tiffany’s vibe, while those choosing Jackie O. as their fashion icon included Patti Wagner and Chute herself, right down to their pillbox hats. One difference, though: "Jackie never had friends like these," Chute said.

It’s sometimes said by those who don’t know any better that downtown Fort Myers is about to happen, or that the Lee County arts scene is about to happen, but it was a genuine happening, Warhol-style, when Space 39 held a reception for artists Jonas Stirner, James Ferrari and James DiGiorgio. (That Man of Steel’s work can also be seen sprawling across the Alliance for the Arts campus). More than 400 people spilled through the gallery and into the surrounding Patio de Leon courtyard, including Robert Rauschenberg, Kat Epple and adult auteur turned video artist Gerard Damiano. Darryl Pottorf, having briefly lost friend Rauschenberg in the crowd, paused to confide that he’s already hard at work trying to snag a celebrity emcee for Arts for ACT, which benefits the charity headed up by sis Jennifer Benton. FGCU’s gallery director Scott Snyder was on double-duty, one of many in the crowd who took in an inventive sculpture show by his school’s students at the Davis Arts Center (nee the Florida Arts Cultural Center) before heading to Space 39, where his own cutting-edge works are hung.

Although the Space 39 art is high-end, downtown Fort Myers isn’t your mother’s Gallery Row. It’s an urban setting, says Robert Fontaine, who directs the gallery for owner Terry Tincher, and the urban scene gives rise to a counter-cultural art that is "raw, authentic and very pure." This month, check out a full slate of exhibits, shows and, yes, happenings at the gallery, the Davis Arts Center and McGregor Boulevard’s Alliance campus, where Art Royale visionary Aida Buckovica is masterminding the subversively sly Love Effects fundraiser on Feb. 10.

Catch Manhattan cabaret star and recording artist Jim Van Slyke at the Cancer Alliance of Naples’ Moondance on Feb. 24. Talk about singing for your supper: He got the gig when the piano man at Truluck’s, recognizing the vocal celeb, stepped away from the ivories so Van Slyke could wow director Kat Nicklaus with an impromptu version of Fly Me to the Moon.

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