No Direction Home

This humble blog was started to document our travels around the country during the summer of 2006, We have opted to continue updating it due to the requests from family & friends. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Zombie Jesus vs. Robo Bunny

April 28, 2011

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Photobucket Chris & Erin

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Zombie Jesus vs. Robo Bunny

Since opening last year, The Porch has quickly become one of the best bars on an island that has more than its fair share of excellent drinking establishments. The casual hipster atmosphere, the fact that there are almost always locals there, being close to Duval without having to endure the schlocky hucksters and those they attract at many nearby bars are all factors that have made the Porch a place to be.

Photobucket The Porch

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Photobucket Erin, KP & Wendy

Photobucket Kathy

The tasty selection of craft beers and fine wines is also a big plus as well as the funky and ultra creative events that populate the Porch calendar. This month found the bar hosting yet another epic party, this time to celebrate Easter eve, the Zombie Jesus vs. Robot Bunny party. How or why they came up with the theme, I can not say- but I will tell you that the party was a fantastic blow out.

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Photobucket Michael & Eliza

The combination of themes brought out a wide variety of Key West most creative party types and Kathy & I were surprised to see so many people who actually dressed up for the fiesta. Lamely, we were not in costume. Kathy has spent the better part of this month in Easter Bunny garb and we just have been too busy to prepare properly for such an event.

Photobucket Liz & Michael

Photobucket Erin & Wendy

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We were in the minority and thankfully no one seemed to be too concerned that we were under-costumed. Hopefully these photos help capture the wacky creativity, spirit and sexiness of the party. There were so many girls in bunny outfits that I almost thought I was at a party at the Playboy mansion, Whomever conceived this theme was certainly on to something.

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The event lasted well into the early hours of Easter morning and featured an Easter Egg hunt through the yard in front of the historic home where the Porch is located. It was fun watching revelers search for eggs in the muted darkness, some people were very successful and even Kathy & I were able to locate a few eggs. The Easter Bunny even made an appearance and as the night went on things got more and more interesting. Kathy & I headed home long before it got too out of hand, but we had another great evening at the Porch.

Photobucket Nick

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Photobucket Shakti

Easter Sunday itself was much more subdued and relaxing. We joined our friends Najada & Howard, Nadene & Trevor and Reggie & Terry for the brunch at the Casa Marina resort. We had not been there in a long time, usually heading to the Westin for their fabulous brunch, when we happen to be in a brunching mood, but the Westin was booked solid (obviously word has gotten out). The fact that our friends Rob & Brian were the featured entertainment at the Casa also helped in our decision making.

Photobucket Rob & Brian

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Photobucket Najada & Howard

The atmosphere was spectacular; the spread of food was decent- though not nearly as awesome in either selection or quality as the Westin. We spent a nice long relaxing afternoon enjoying the beautiful day, great music and company of good friends on Easter. Afterwards we joined Trevor & Nadene and went to see the new film, “Water for Elephants” – all in all not a bad way to enjoy Easter weekend.

Photobucket Terry & Reggie

Photobucket Happy Easter!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Short Attention Span

April 23, 2011

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Photobucket Cast & Crew of SAS

Photobucket *photo by Nick Doll

Short Attention Span

The Red Barn Theatre is closing out their 31st season of bringing wonderful cutting edge theatre productions to Key West with another dose of Short Attention Span Theatre. Back by popular demand, Short Attention Span is a new collection of short 10 minute plays under the direction of the talented pair of Juliet Gray and Michael Marrero. The play runs until May 20th and I suggest that if you are anywhere near Key West that you rush out and grab some tickets and see this show before the word of mouth sells the thing out.

Photobucket *Photo by Nick Doll

Photobucket *Photo by Nick Doll

The play(s) feature some of the finest young talent in the Key West Theatre community including a bunch of our close friends which makes it fun for us, but is certainly not main reason we enjoyed the show so much. It is flat out funny, genuinely entertaining and exceedingly enjoyable. The sold-out audience in the barn roared with approval at many points throughout the evening.

Photobucket Chris & Erin

Photobucket Erin *photo by Red Barn Theatre

The play features eight, 10–minute individual plays featuring various cast members and totally different story lines. It would be tough to pick out any one play for special recognition, as they were all good and the performers were spot-on excellent.

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This week also saw us out and about attending this month’s installment of the Walk on White gallery stroll. This night found us starting out at the fantastic new exhibit at The Studios of Key West. It is a wonderful retrospective on the life and work of the late Key West artist Carolyn Gorten Fuller; which was organized by the talented Martha Barnes of the Studios.

Photobucket Martha

Photobucket Mark

Fuller is most likely best known by locals for her famous bottle wall that she constructed and eventually tore down at her home next to the cemetery. A smaller version of the wall, constructed of coral and mirrors is still there to this day, but the much larger and more intricate bottle wall came down back in 1991. It was a Key West landmark. The wall was only a small sample of the artist life that Fuller led here.

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Photobucket Leigh

It was truly amazing to see the scope and quality of what had previously been tucked away in her small home. It is a really great exhibit and seemed well received by the large crowd at the Studios for the Walk. As a bonus, Kathy & I got a sneak preview of the portrait Studios artist Marky Pierson is doing of our dog India. It looks great so far!

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We made our way down White Street and to the Coffee Mill, where another group of talented artists (dancers this time) were presenting the second in their series of small scale dance performances they called hIPSO Facto. It featured a wide array of performances from some of Key West’s most creative and talented dancers. Once again a packed house greeted the dancers, who have created a cool addition to the Walk on White.

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Photobucket Rich & Jack

Again, many of our friends were among the dancers including the amazing Leigh Pujado, Cricket Desmarais and Shawna Lacy Wynd and the wonderful hosts for the evening Rich Simone & Jack Meier. We had a great time and look forward to future performances.

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Finally Kathy once again donned the Easter Bunny suit, this time for the Key West Library’s Easter party. The library was a packed house on the Saturday prior to Easter Sunday as hundreds of kids gathered to hunt eggs, create some Easter crafts and mingle with the Easter Bunny. It was another opportunity for the Bunny to get in some quality time with the children of Key West and to support the library as well.

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