I wanted to  offer  Michelle Obama some words of support  in Sarasota on Thursday. But it was she who ended up giving me an encouraging  pat on the back.

“We admire and respect the work you do, and the example you set,” I told the First Lady as I posed for a picture with her in Caren and Dick Lobo’s bayfront home. “So remember that when the crazies get you down.”

“Thank you, but I don’t let any of that get me down, ” Mrs. Obama said, flashing a magnetic smile as a photographer clicked away. Later, during a 20-minute speech before 300 in the Lobos’ back yard, Mrs. Obama was a dynamic and forceful  advocate for her husband’s policies and his re-election bid.

“You’re here because you know that we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country,” she told the enthusiastic crowd. “You know that in less than a year, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come.

“And make no mistake about it, whether it’s healthcare, the economy,  whether it’s education or foreign policy, the choice we make will determine nothing less than who we are as a county–but more importantly, who we want to be. Who are we? Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top? Or will we be a place where, if you work hard, you can get ahead, no matter who you are or how you started out?”

Wearing a sleeveless black dress with silver accents, Mrs. Obama spoke under a tent and against a backdrop of U.S and Florida flags.  Her visit lasted about an hour, and encompassed the photo sessions and a private reception with some of the higher-end donors (donation levels started at $500).

Security was tight but relatively unobtrusive. Off-duty policeman patrolled Bay Shore Road in front of the house, and all visitors were searched with electronic wands before entering.  As the luncheon guests enjoyed roast beef sliders and salmon satay,  several police boats bobbed in the bay.

Referring to Barack Obama at various times in her remarks as “your president”  “my husband” and  “Barack,” Mrs. Obama she spoke extensively about his accomplishments, from bringing troops home from Iraq and abolishing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to pushing for equal pay for women and passing healthcare reform.

“But now, there are folks out there actually talking about repealing that reform,” she said, talking about the health care legislation. “Are we going to stand by and let that happen?”

“No,” shouted the crowd.

“Are we going to back to the days when insurance companies could deny our children coverage because they have a pre-existing condition like cancer or diabetes or even asthma?”

“No,” audience members yelled, with even more passion this time.

As the cheers continued, she told the crowd  it was “time for us to get moving. It is time for us to get it together, to get to work. Stop complaining and worrying. We need to stand up and work.”

And then, referring to the “I’m In” slogan printed on questionnaires that each audience member received, she asked repeatedly, “Are you in? Are you in?”

She beamed and applauded as audience members shouted, “Yes.”

“Because I am so in,” she said. “I am so very in.”

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Johan Kobborg is one of the world’s premier ballet dancers, but he’s in town to perform the role of choreographer  for the Sarasota  Ballet.

Wearing  jeans, a pullover and a baseball cap, Kobborg stared intently as  company members  danced his  “Salute”  in the rehearsal studio a few days ago.  The piece, which he created  for the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2009, will be performed  along with George Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations and  Will Tuckett’s Kinder Games  next weekend at the FSU Center.

Now a principal with England’s Royal Ballet, the Danish-born Kobborg was  for many years  a star of the Royal Danish Ballet. There, he became renowned as the foremost interpreter of the work of  the esteemed Danish choreographer  Auguste Bournonville.

Salute pays tribute to the Danish style.  “But I wanted to see if I could that traditional, classical style of moving and dancing and make it new,” Kobborg said.

The piece has 10 sections, and includes solos and pairings for three and four dancers as well as the entire ensemble.  Though it is not strictly a story ballet, “gradually a story line emerges,” Kobborg said. “It’s basically about soldiers and their girlfriends, about young people coming together.”

Kobborg and Sarasota Ballet artistic director Iain Webb have known each other  for 20 years, and they teased one another as only old friends can during a “Backstage” talk at the Historic Asolo earlier this month.

“Let’s start at the beginning,”  said the 52-year-old Webb as the program started.  “Yours or mine?” quipped the 39-year-old Kobborg. “Because that’s a different decade.”

Kobborg began choreographing only three years ago. “I always had lots of ideas, but I never had the time before,” he said.  “But I love getting an idea and bringing it to life, figuring out how I can get it out of myself and get it into somebody else’s body and brain.”

He described himself as a collaborative choreographer who welcomes input from dancers. “I want the dancers to be happy,” he said. “If they come up with something different  that would have a greater impact, then I’m open.”
Smiling shyly, he joked that he hoped no Sarasota Ballet dancers were in the audience to hear his admission. But  several  hands shot up from the dancers in the back of the room. And later,  the dancers told me Kobborg  was indeed as  open and encouraging as he implied. They are clearly thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from someone of his stature.

Singing the Praises of Cirque des Voix

Last year, I described the partnership between Circus Sarasota and Key Chorale on Cirque des Voix as the collaboration of the year among arts groups.  Well, I know it’s early, but I’m prepared to give them the award again.
This year’s Cirque des Voix  performances, under the big red-and-white  Circus Sarasota tent on 12th street, were even more enthralling than last year’s.  The drama began with the opening act of fire-eaters and twirlers, accompanied by the 90-member chorus and a  live orchestra performing the powerful O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

The thrills and comic moments didn’t let up until the grand finale, when Tino Wallenda and the Great Wallendas performed their nerve-wracking high-wire act as the singers and musicians added to the tension with stirring music from Jurassic Park and Gladiator.

The Wallendas are known for working without a net, by the way. But not during these performances. That’s because the members of the Sarasota Orchestra, who were playing directly underneath them,  “do not work without a net, “ noted  Key Chorale artistic director Joseph Caulkins,  who once again was hilarious and brimming with enthusiasm in his dual role as conductor and ringmaster.

Full disclosure: I’m a Key Chorale board member, and I’ve never been prouder to be associated with this innovative, boundary-pushing organization.  And I’m so pleased they’ve forged such a great partnership with another community treasure, Circus Sarasota.

“Hardball” Host Chris Matthews Gets Warm Tampa Reception


Who would have thought that the rumpled, pugnacious, left-leaning host of MSNBC’s Hardball would be greeted like a rockstar in Tampa days before the GOP primary?

But Chris Matthews got a roaring ovation from an excited crowd of about 500 when he ambled into a Tampa Tribune meeting room Saturday for a lecture and book-signing.  The crowd was far too big for the room, so many people stood in the back and sat in the aisles. When Matthews took the podium, he invited those standing to sprawl out on the stage, and several dozen people did.

Most of his remarks focused on his new best-seller,  Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. But Matthews also covered the news of the day.  Noting that the Florida primary was just 10 days away, he said, “You guys are the epicenter of the political universe.”  There probably weren’t many Republicans in the audience, but, grinning broadly, Matthews urged everyone to vote for Newt Gingrich, “just to keep the entertainment value high for guys like me.”

Rolling up his sleeves and clearly enjoying himself,  the gregarious Matthews talked for nearly an hour without notes about his Irish-Catholic upbringing in Philadelphia, his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer and his work for such legendary Washington figures as Tip O’Neill.  His speaking style is rambling and disjointed, but his obvious passion for politics – and for America – made this a compelling encounter.

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At the opening of an exhibition of objects from his spectacular glass collection at Ringling College of Art and Design on Friday, Richard Basch made note of an interesting juxtaposition. 

Ringling is has a reputation as a cutting-edge center of  computer animation and  is “the most technically advanced school in the country,” Basch said. “Yet glassmaking is a combination of air and heat and tools that date back thousands of years and haven’t changed.”

And he joked that, “If there is a crash in the computer room, you just re-boot.  If there’s a crash in here, it’s a disaster.”

The  glass pieces, by Dale Chihuly, William Morris, Martin Blank and other  great American artists, look right at home in their dazzling setting in the Ringling Academic Center. The exhibit is the third Ringling has mounted of the collection of Basch and his wife Barbara. The couple has pledged to donate to the college their entire , multi-million dollar collection, which numbers 250 pieces and includes works that are six feet tall and weigh up to half a ton.

“We’re just giving it floor space in our home until Ringling is ready for it all,”  Richard Basch said.

The couple became Ringling supporters through their involvement with the Sarasota Museum of Art,  an organization which merged with Ringling several years ago, and is more than halfway to its goal of opening a modern and contemporary art museum in Sarasota.

The Basch glass show will be on exhibit through March 24.

Tina Brown talks of success and failure

Ringling events have kept me quite busy recently. On Saturday, I attended the always stimulating Ringling Library Association’s Platinum Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton.  The guest of honor this year was the renowned magazine editor  Tina Brown, who reviewed her career in a speech delivered in rapid-fire style.

Brown said that career could be titled Three Weddings and a Funeral. By that she meant she’d had enormous success revitalizing Britain’s Tattler magazine, and then repeated her triumph  in the United States with the New Yorker and Vanity Fair. But then, she had a well-publicized flameout with the short-lived magazine Talk.

Brown said she’d learned as much from that failure as from all her successes,  including paying attention to what your strengths are, and realizing that your success depends a great deal on the people you surround yourself with.  She also said the launch of Talk, celebrated  with a party at the Statue of Liberty,  involved too much hype.  She  quoted approvingly a Hollywood producer, who said the opening-night party “should never be better than the film.”

Brown  is now marrying old journalism and new journalism as editor of the provocative website The Daily Beast  (named for a newspaper in the Evelyn Waugh novel Scoop) and its partner, the venerable newsmagazine Newsweek.

She was introduced by Herald-Tribune publisher  Diane McFarlin, who was quizzed all night about what the change in the paper’s ownership might mean.  Brown said she hoped the new owners  will keep the paper the same wonderful community asset “that I hear that it is.”

A  Fascinating Lunch with James Woods


When I met actor James Woods at an intimate lunch at Ringling on Monday, I told him I had to apologize for bothering him on his Caribbean vacation in 1986. I then showed him a picture of me posing with him  on  a Caribbean beach . He and I were both passengers on a 100-passenger sailing ship called the Windstar.  I’ve followed Woods’ career all these years not only because he’s a great actor, but because he was so gracious and friendly toward his fellow passengers on that trip.

“And I’m still a nice guy,”  quipped Woods, who told the luncheon guests to “call me Jimmy.”  He then amazed me by recalling all the stops on that long-ago cruise. “Do you remember when we anchored at one island and then swam to another?” he said.

Woods was at Ringling for a screening of one of his earliest films, Salvador, and to speak to students in Ringling’s digital film program. Extremely bright and displaying a sharp, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor,  Woods held court for nearly three hours at the lunch. He touched on everything from the follies of Hollywood to politics, architecture and how a perfect dinner table should be designed.

Woods was enthusiastic about what he’d already learned about the Ringling program, and by the plans to build a post-production facility. He said he’s at a stage where he’s more interested in producing and directing than acting, and expressed the hope he could one day bring a project here. He was particularly happy that Ringling is placing a major emphasis on storytelling, an art he thinks Hollywood has lost sight of.

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