BuzzWorthyitems of note
Bill Sohl, Belleair police chief, was honored by Belleair Rotary Club President
Marc Walker and board member Joyce Baskin along with fellow Belleair
police officers and Rotary Club members during the club’s October lunch
meeting at the Belleair Country Club.
66 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
their music. The judging is based upon
creativity and quality of musical craft.
Nick is obviously feelin’ good.
Michael Francis, the musical director
of The Florida Orchestra, has extended
his contract with the orchestra for another
six years until 2024. His extraordinary
artistic talent, energy, enthusiasm
and humor have helped to build the
orchestra’s success. The 42-year-old
Francis has led the orchestra for three
years and in that time has raised the
orchestra’s standards and has taken its
music into the community, using his wit
and analysis to help audiences deepen
their musical listening skills.
Judy Lisi, Straz Center CEO,
celebrated National Opera Week by
having the Opera Tampa Singers
perform free concerts throughout Tampa
in the Jaeb Theater courtyard at the Straz
Center, at Timpano Restaurant and at
CinéBistro in Hyde Park Village as well
Kelly Hackman, owner of The
White Heron Tea and Gifts in
historic downtown New Port Richey,
has become Pasco County’s exclusive
purveyor of award-winning William
Dean Chocolates of Belleair Bluffs.
J. Michael Francis, executive director
of La Florida: The Interactive Digital
Archive of the Americas at the University
of South Florida – St. Petersburg, has
published La Florida’s first newsletter,
News from the Archives. The La Florida
project explores and examines the time
in 1565 that Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
founded St. Augustine, and the three
centuries that followed when colonial
powers, free and enslaved blacks and
Native Americans interacted to shape
Florida’s history. In the 16th century, the
“Provinces of La Florida” extended up
the entire Atlantic coastline and inland
to the Mississippi River. To learn more,
visit LaFlorida.org.
GRAM
Brian Gallaher, digital media
manager of the Florida Aquarium in
Tampa, has announced that Coppertail
Brewing Co. will be serving Sea Turtle
Sour, a sour wheat beer brewed with
Key limes grown at the aquarium. As
a result of this joint venture, a dollar
from every pint sold will help the
aquarium rescue, rehabilitate and return
endangered and critically endangered
sea turtles to the ocean. In May 2018, the
aquarium and Coppertail created their
first collaboration Coral Haze, a pale ale
brewed with calypso hops and hops
grown at the aquarium.
Nick Dukas of Palm Harbor has been
honored by the Global Music Awards
with a silver medal for outstanding
achievement for his song, “Feelin’ Good,
Feelin’ Fine,” and as a male vocalist.
The Global Music Awards are selected
annually to thank the musicians who
make the world a better place through