Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis at The Colony

PALM BEACH – The incomparably wonderful Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis are at The Colony in Palm Beach this week and next.

The duo, part of the Fifth Dimension, will play at the Colony’s Royal Room Cabaret. They will perform March 31 to April 4 and March 7 through 11.

Hits include Up, Up & Away, Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, Wedding Bell Blues and One Less Bell to Answer. Their newest LP is The Many Faces of Love.

See more about them on their website, www.mccooanddavis.com or make reservations at the Colony’s Website.

Boy Scout Troop Fights Off Bobcat

A bobcat attacked two people in separate incidents in Citrus County Saturday, March 28.

Johnathon Knecht, 10, and Frank Womack, 71, both sustained scratches and bites from their encounters. Womack killed the bobcat in self defense.

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, Knecht was hiking in the Withlacoochee State Forest with his Boy Scout group when the bobcat jumped onto his back, scratching and biting. The other Boy Scouts came to Knecht’s assistance, and the animal ran back into the woods. Knecht was taken to Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness where he was treated and released.

The bobcat then moved on to Womack’s property. The animal bit Womack on the leg, and the man was able to put the cat down. Womack was treated and released at a local hospital. The bobcat was removed by county animal control officials who will test the bobcat for rabies.

Rabies always is present in wildlife populations and any warm-blooded animal can catch the disease if exposed to it.

Wild animal attacks are infrequent. However, most of the time when they do occur, the animal is sick.

Top Five Places To See Florida Mermaids

Florida is full of mermaids. Pretty ones. Live ones!

You just have to look underwater, where mermaids live. A quick roundup of mermaid haunts; these aren’t the only ones, just the easiest ones to find. Here are the top five, with two runner ups: Read more

Sham Wow Guy, Smoking Gun

The Smoking Gun reports that Vince Shlomi, better known to you as the ShamWow Guy, the ubiquitous television pitchman who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers, was arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room at The Setai.

Hurricane Grill Expands, Seeks Franchisees

WEST PALM BEACH - After acquiring the Hurricane Grill & Wings franchisor on December 17 2008, Hurricane AMT, LLC is moving forward with aggressive expansion plans for the Florida-based, tropically themed restaurants.

Investor partners Gail Meyer Asarch, John C. Metz (Chairman and CEO), and Dean Tendrich (Chief Marketing Officer), and company president Ken Adams have 10 new locations are currently under development and hope to expand in Florida, New York and Ohio.

“Even in a slumping economy, families need to get away from life’s hustle and bustle,” said Tendrich in a press release. “We offer great food at a great price in a fun, laid-back atmosphere – you feel like you’ve walked into your own mini-Caribbean vacation!”

The original Hurricane Grill & Wings opened in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1995. The current Florida locations include 18 in Palm Beach, Martin & St. Lucie counties up through Vero Beach; four in Orlando; three in the Naples/Fort Myers area; four in Miami-Dade/Broward counties; and four in Jacksonville. Locations are inline strip or shopping centers.

For franchise information, contact Tendrich at 561-254-5686, dean.tendrich@hurricanewings.com or visit www.hurricanewings.com.

Hurricane AMT LLC Principals

• Gail Meyer Asarch, Partner and Co-owner of the multi-brand franchise company RREMC Restaurants LLC. Gail Meyer Asarch serves in numerous partner, managing member and investor capacities with the Meyer Family business and philanthropic interests in South Florida. She is sole owner of Meyer-Asarch Realty Corporation, a Florida real estate brokerage. Previously, she worked as a real estate broker, financial officer on Wall Street, magazine publisher, and Director of Marketing for the Boca Raton Museum of Art. She is active in community service with many South Florida educational, cultural and civic institutions.
• John C. Metz, Investor Partner and Chairman/CEO. John Metz is founder of the multi-brand franchise company RREMC Restaurants, LLC, which includes restaurant, hotel and real estate groups. The restaurant group consists of 30 Denny’s restaurants with more than 1,500 employees; a Dairy Queen; Capone’s, a new concept to open in Miami this spring; and Hurricane Grill & Wings. The hotel group includes a Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites and the real estate group includes 35 retail properties comprised on 20 Denny’s locations, eight Value Pawn locations and seven former WAG’s restaurants locations.
• Ken H. Adams, President. Ken Adams is a former multi-unit Burger King and Bojangles franchisee. He is a restructuring and turn-around consultant to restaurant companies including Friday’s franchisees, Damon’s Restaurant Corporation and Roadhouse Grill. He is a former practicing CPA with PricewaterhouseCoopers and consultant with KPMG. He is also an adjunct professor of accounting and economics at North Georgia College & State University.
• Dean Tendrich, Investor Partner and Chief Marketing Officer. Dean Tendrich worked for 21 years as a broadcast meteorologist before retiring from a 12-year career at the NBC television affiliate in West Palm Beach, Fla. He founded Tendrich Media, which produces content in addition to performing traditional agency services. He is Spokesperson and Marketing Officer for Devonshire at Wellington Green, a 460-unit senior living campus in Wellington, Fla. He is also a principal at the Tendrich Companies, which has varied interests in investments ranging from senior living communities to consumer products.

Four Country Clubs for One Price

TAMPA – Join four clubs for one.

The Tampa Bay area golf and country clubs Hunter’s Green Country Club, Countryside Country Club, East Lake Woodlands Country Club, and Tampa Palms Country Club have a new joint membership scheme called Cross Bay. This membership opportunity by these ClubCorp clubs allows members full social, golf and tennis privileges at all four Tampa-area clubs.

Members will have access to 99 holes of championship golf designed by top course designers, including Tom Fazio, Arthur Hills, Gary Player and Von Hagge-Devlin.

Additional benefits include discounts of 50 percent on Tampa Palms room rates.

“We are excited at the opportunity to provide our members more bang for their buck at a time when many other golf clubs are offering smaller packages at higher costs,” said John Woodeshick, regional vice president, southeast region, in a PR Newswire press release.

For more information on the Cross Bay membership, please contact Duane Brown at 727-784-8576 or see www.clubcorp.com.

Marquis Cooper Drowning Report Release Set

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has completed its boating accident investigation into the Feb. 28, capsize of a 21-foot fishing boat occupied by four local men that included its owner, NFL player Marquis Cooper. The FWC will release its boating accident report on Friday, March 27, shortly before a press conference to discuss the findings.

The boating accident report will be available online at 11 a.m. Friday. The accident investigation with accompanying photos will be at: MyFWC.com/NEWSROOM/Resources/News_Resources_BoatAccident.htm.

JetBlue Orlando to Costa Rica $69

ORLANDO – New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq: JBLU) today launches Orlando’s only daily nonstop service to San Jose, Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), the carrier’s first Central American destination and ninth country in its network. To celebrate the new service, sale fares as low as $69 (a) are available between Orlando and San Jose each way for travel purchased today through April 8, 2009 at www.jetblue.com.

TradeWinds Offers $250 Credit to Floridians

St. PETE BEACH – The TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach are currently offering Floridians a complimentary $250 Resort Credit with any room reserved at the prevailing rate. The offer is valid from now until Sept. 30, 2009 with a three-night minimum booking made directly with the resort, and is subject to some conditions. Read more

Best Value Port Canaveral Cruises

PORT EVERGLADES – Celebration Cruise Line officially began operations out of Port Everglades with the inaugural cruise of the MS Bahamas Celebration on March 16. The new cruise line does two and three-night cruises to Nassau, Bahamas, departing from and returning to Port Everglades every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. With limited advertising, cabin bookings for March are at 96-percent capacity and April is trending similarly.

Celebration Cruise Line is creating its niche in the crowded South Florida cruise market by trying to offer the best value in the industry. According to Glenn Ryerson, the cruise line’s marketing vice president, passengers will get a top-notch cruise experience at prices starting at $199 per person for a three-night weekend cruise. If on a tight budget, there are three-night cruise options as low as $119.

Understanding that money is tight in the current economy and schedules are hectic, Celebration Cruise Line offers lower priced two-night cruises with sailings every Monday and Wednesday. Celebration is the only cruise line in South Florida with two-night cruises to Nassau.

At nearly 700 feet and over 35,000 gross tonnage, the MS Bahamas Celebration can hold up to 1,500 passengers, making it both spacious and intimate at the same time. With its classic European style, the ship was ready to begin sailing out of South Florida after being purchased in 2008, but Celebration Cruise Holdings wanted to first add many cruise ship amenities to the what was the former MS Prinsesse Ragnhild.

The MS Bahamas Celebration has four restaurants, a 630-seat nightclub, multiple lounges, a spacious casino, a complete spa, a fitness room, three children’s clubs with age-appropriate electronic games and activities, a pool for adults and a pirate-themed pool with a 180-foot slide for children. The cruise also offers a variety of live music and shows, as well as snorkeling, sightseeing tours and beach resort excursions.

The four dining options include a classic American restaurant, serving five-course meals from a broad menu, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian-style steakhouse and buffet and a casual Italian restaurant, all as part of the cruise price. For individuals looking for more upscale dining, the elegant and romantic Cove Restaurant is available at an additional cost.

Celebration’s reservation number is 800-520-2410 and the Web site is CelebrationCL.com.

Next Page »