Talk of the Town

Rock stars who live in the Gulfshore don’t usually party like rock stars. From Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton in Captiva to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke and Bad Company’s Brian Howe in Fort Myers to Bob Seger in Naples, most live more like regular guys than jam gods. That’s why it was such a treat to see normally low-key AC/DC bass player Cliff Williams in a mean blues-rock breakdown with drummer pal Steve Luongo at the January kickoff party for this month’s Rock On concert and golf tourney.

Williams and Luongo, a Fort Myers resident who was the drummer for the John Entwistle Band, were joined on Lee’s Alliance for the Arts stage by local legends Larry Hobbs and Danny Shepard. Luongo, head of the John Entwistle Foundation, a children’s charity, is the key persuader in getting performers lined up for the March 23 concert at Magnolia Landing, including Eddie Money and Mike Reno of Loverboy fame. (Waiting for the big-screen video that introduced Money, one female baby boomer was overheard to moan, "If he’s old and fat, I’m not going to be able to stand it." No worries: Judging by the tape, Money appears to still be shakin’ it.)

The golden-throated Randy Thomas (the voice of the Tony Awards) introduced an opening band she bets will be the first rock mega-act to be homegrown in Lee County, TJ Kelly and Kerosene. We wouldn’t wager against her after hearing Kelly and crew, whose Southern Rock originals have caught the ear of Williams and Thomas’ husband, rock promoter Arnie Wohl. Listen for them (and for the expert wolf-whistle of drummer Jeffrey Bennett’s proud mom, Cheryl) at Rock On. There, rocking chairs painted for the event by a host of notables (including pop art sophisticate Romero Britto) will be auctioned off to benefit Luongo’s foundation and other children’s charities.

Art collectors have a mantra: You never regret what you buy, only what you don’t. But don’t rub it in to Naples’ Jim Malone. At the Naples Art Association’s Art Off the Walls, ticket holders had a one-in-four chance of winning one of the 60 Hunt Slonem pieces hanging for the night at the von Liebig. While everyone else sized up their favorites, Malone had eyes only for the night’s live auction piece. His paddle was the first up, but not the last standing. With one long last look at the piece (and a glance at his wife, Linda, who stood firm), Malone lost the montage of blue butterflies to physician Gary Layton at $14,000. (Lucky Layton was also one of the first ticket holders chosen at random to pick a piece from the walls.) Slonem, in from Manhattan, was glad to add to the nonprofit’s coffers but couldn’t always watch as his pieces were taken from the walls. "It reminded me of  Tibetan sand paintings, seeing them disappear that way."

Attendee Dottie Gerrity had her sights set on a lively watercolor, but when her ticket was drawn, she decided instead on the monochromatic work that her husband, Bob, favored. And when his own number came up? He went straight for the object of his wife’s desires. Smart man.

Gerrity is the chair of the Community Foundation of Collier County, which this year honored Immokalee Healthpark benefactress Isabel Collier Read at its Celebration of Philanthropy. In from Palm Beach to accept for Read, who was under the weather, were son Barron Collier and his wife, Tammy. (No resemblance between this friendly looking, bespectacled Barron and the county patriarch whose stern portrait stares from the walls of local government buildings.)

Spring finds the Gulfshore in full bloom: Sculptor Kathy Spalding, whose Old Naples yard is filled with orchids, has been taking a break from bronze to cast the ethereal blossoms in molten gold. She’ll have a show at Miami’s Fairchild Gardens the last weekend of this month, and on March 21 she’ll be one of "stars of the arts" honored by Collier’s United Arts Council at the Naples Grande.

Third Street is also blossoming under the watch of new promoter and event impresario Jody Rosenbaum. We expect her to make some noise (albeit tasteful noise), beginning with March 29’s Third Street in Bloom, a fundraiser for the Naples Botanical Garden.

Wine flows so freely now in Naples that it’s hard to believe the city was once in the grip of Prohibition. Actually, as the 1920s silent film Naples on the Gulp shows, it was a pretty loose grip. Written and produced by the town’s original snowbirds, the film features such historic figures as Rose Cleveland (sister of President Grover) swigging unlicensed liquor from teacups. Palm Cottage itself is a character in the movie, which will play to a large audience for the first time in more than a decade at the Naples Historical Society’s March 24 gala at the cottage. That night the society will also unveil its Ellin Goetz-designed Norris Gardens, named after the parents of historical society patron Lavern Gaynor, who were themselves the philanthropic minds behind the Conservancy and Delnor-Wiggins State Park.