“Our finger prints don't fade from the lives we touch.”- Judy Blume

February 13, 2020

George and Judy





Joan Osbourne

“Our finger prints don't fade from the lives we touch.”- Judy Blume

One of the coolest perks of having served for a dozen year’s on the board of the Key West Literary Seminar is all the amazing people that we have had the good fortune of getting to meet and befriend. All of them are truly fascinating and interesting people and a few are actually well-known. Such is the case with beloved writer Judy Blume who has been on the board with me the entire time that I have served. Kathy and I have had the good fortune to become friends with her and her husband George and it was our pleasure this week to join with hundreds of other friends and admirers of theirs to celebrate them being awarded the coveted Humanitarian of the Year Award presented by the Red Cross.







The Gala honoring George and Judy was held at the ballroom in the Marriott Beachside resort where the island of Key West turned up in force to honor and recognize the tremendous civic commitment that George and Judy have made to our island community. There are few causes on the island that they have not donated to, volunteered for or had a massive impact on. Often without fanfare, the couple has quietly worked hard to make the community that they call home a much better place and they are more than worthy of the recognition.





Matthew

Carol, Nadene and Ginny





I know them mostly through Judy’s work with the Literary Seminar and George’s tremendous commitment to the Tropic Cinema (whose board I also recently joined) as well as their work at the wonderful bookstore that they founded, Books and Books at the Studios of Key West, but those amazing contributions represent only a small fraction of what they have done for Key West. The gala was tremendous fun and it seemed that a large portion of the community turned out to thank them.
It was just another amazing event in a long list of literary type events that have kept us incredibly busy this past month.



Nadene and Lori

Arlo







This week also saw a major expansion in programming for the Key West Literary Seminar with a week- long celebration of our recent acquisition of the house at 624 White Street in Key West where famed poet Elizabeth Bishop resided in the 1930s and 40s. It is a major historical landmark and a huge investment by the Literary Seminar and we have been holding a capital campaign to raise the funds for the purchase and renovation of the property.

Elizabeth Bishop House

624 White Street









This past week, we hosted a number of noted scholars here in Key West including biographer Thomas Travisano, founding president of the Elizabeth Bishop Society and author of “Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop,” as well as Bishop scholars and poets Bethany Hicok, David Hoak, Barbara Page and Emily Schulten. The events included roundtable discussions, book readings and the showing of a film about Bishop’s life and homes at the Tropic Cinema by filmmaker Barbara Hammer, “Welcome to This House”.



Emily





There was also a terrific private party at the lovely home of board member Peyton Evans for all the visiting guests and the friends and board of the seminar who are assisting in trying to raise funding for and awareness of the Bishop House. The myriad of events had us out almost every night for more than a week and that was just for the seminar related events. There were also the normal full schedule of regularly scheduled activities and fun things happening.



Joan Osbourne







This week included another concert at the Key West Theater, this time by 90s songstress, Joan Osborne. I had seen her perform way back in the early 90s when she played along with the band War on a Duval Street stage erected to celebrate what was the grand opening of the Hard Rock Café. That show was a benefit for the organization that I was working for at the time Reef Relief and was the last time I had seen Osbourne in concert.



She played at the Theater last year as well, but Kathy and I were out of town, so I was excited by the chance to see her live again, though the show was somewhat disappointing. She sounded great and played a good selection of songs including a number from her recent album of Bob Dylan covers, and she played her ubiquitous hit “One of Us”, but overall the show lacked much of a spark and was not nearly as fun as I had hoped.

With Joan Osbourne



The Champagne Room

Trish and Landon

Finally my friend Trish opened a new bar here in town. She owns the popular Firefly restaurant and is expanding her Key West footprint with a new restaurant and bar called the Tiger Bar and Champagne Room. The Tiger bar part is not quite ready, but they hosted a grand opening for the beautiful new Champagne Room which is a small, beautiful intimate and upscale bar just off Duval Street. I meet my friends Breezy and Reverend Peyton there and we shared a few beverages before heading over to watch the band at the Green Parrot.

With Rev and Breezy









Elizabeth Bishop article