What Parrotheads are to Jimmy Buffett, Plaidheads are to The Plaids - the fictional guy group from the off-Broadway hit "Forever Plaid." ...more

July 14, 2008

Divers dressed as presidential candidates displayed campaign placards and waved American flags underwater Saturday in the Underwater Music Festival in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. ...more

July 13, 2008

Some teenagers flip burgers as a summer job. Others mow lawns. Reid Fierheller-Conklin juggles fire by the water at sunset, competing for crowds with a tightrope-walking dog, a sword-swallower, acrobats and Catman (don't ask). ...more

June 16, 2008

PINE ISLAND - Palm tree farms still flourish here, a miracle of sorts in a state rapidly losing farmland to megamansions, strip centers and sprawling subdivisions. ...more

June 11, 2008

FEAR AND DINING WITH HUNTER University of Florida journalism professor William McKeen has a new biography of journalist Hunter S. Thompson coming out this summer, "Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson." Thompson died in 2005 from a self-inflicted gunshot. ...more

June 4, 2008

PALM HARBOR -- The Parrot Head Day Festival will go on as planned, next weekend, but it was a close call. Lesley Klein, a co-founder of the event and an Old Palm Harbor Main Street board member, said a lack of sponsors almost forced cancellation of the 2008 Parrot Head Day. ...more

May 31, 2008

This season Friends of Music on the Beach will play host to an almost endless summer of concerts in 2008. The popular monthly series of Thursday evening concerts at Sunset Beach, at the western end of Gulf Road, in Tarpon Springs, is expanding to 10 shows. ...more

February 23, 2008

Patrons at the recently opened Port Richey restaurant Fatty 'n' Mabel's can get in touch with their Southern roots with the music of a duo performing there tonight. ...more

November 21, 2007

Patrons at the recently opened Port Richey restaurant Fatty 'n' Mabel's can get in touch with their Southern roots with the music of a duo performing there tonight. Today, Wednesday, Slickside will offer a wide musical menu concentrating on blues, Southern rock and country. ...more

November 21, 2007

The first unconventional or non-traditional funeral we can remember attending was about 15 years ago. When we walked through the doors of the Catholic Church where it was being held, we were greeted by the familiar sounds of a Jimmy Buffett ballad. We knew the deceased well. The song and the artist were definitely his favorites. Many other Buffett singles could be heard preceding and immediately following the funeral liturgy. And the celebration at the family's home afterwards continued with a Margaritaville theme. What we didn't realize at the time was; that particular funeral and a few others like it were forerunners of things to come for aging boomers, their families and friends, funeral directors, and clergy of all denominations. As the New York Times said in July 2006, regarding The Boomer's Funeral, "It's My Funeral and I'll Serve Ice Cream If I Want To," – times and funerals have changed. ...more

November 9, 2007