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| A Woman's Directory For Travel and Life. WAVE Journey is your one stop online resource for women oriented businesses and services around the world. WAVE Journey is for every woman to enjoy. If you love to travel, cook, read or revel in outdoor activities this website is for you. If you are looking to connect with other like-minded women or if you are interested in finding businesses or services that cater to women, WAVE Journey is your number one online resource. |
| WAVE Journey |
| Women's Adventures, Vacations, Experiences ~ Your Journey Starts Here! |
Key West: Sophisticated pleasures from cabaret to literary parties
Article & photos by Lucy Komisar
Article & photos by Lucy Komisar
On a sultry evening in Key West, we meandered
down Duval Street, toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Almost at the water, we followed the paths in the
gardens of the Pier House that led to a favorite
cabaret and a smashing singer, Carmen
Rodriguez. Her mellifluous voice gave joyous
soulful expression to jazzy piano bar tunes.
Carmen is a regular here, and listening to her at
the Pier House is one of the sophisticated
pleasures of Key West.
down Duval Street, toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Almost at the water, we followed the paths in the
gardens of the Pier House that led to a favorite
cabaret and a smashing singer, Carmen
Rodriguez. Her mellifluous voice gave joyous
soulful expression to jazzy piano bar tunes.
Carmen is a regular here, and listening to her at
the Pier House is one of the sophisticated
pleasures of Key West.
Key West is two towns. One is a mass tourism venue that attracts people from all over
America and the world. Las Vegas-South. They fill Duval Street at all hours and jam the rock
bars and “Margaritaville.” The other is an urbane center of music, art, and literature that
draws repeat visitors and winter residents. It’s what keeps me coming back.
The premier winter-season cultural event is the annual Key West Literary Seminar. At the
one I attended, more than 30 authors, scholars and critics discussed the expanding
boundaries of contemporary literature under the title: “New Voices: Where Have We
Been? Where Are We Going?” It asked what does it mean to be a new voice in literature,
how does a new voice get heard and what does one sound like? There were new writers
and established ones knocking around that theme.
America and the world. Las Vegas-South. They fill Duval Street at all hours and jam the rock
bars and “Margaritaville.” The other is an urbane center of music, art, and literature that
draws repeat visitors and winter residents. It’s what keeps me coming back.
The premier winter-season cultural event is the annual Key West Literary Seminar. At the
one I attended, more than 30 authors, scholars and critics discussed the expanding
boundaries of contemporary literature under the title: “New Voices: Where Have We
Been? Where Are We Going?” It asked what does it mean to be a new voice in literature,
how does a new voice get heard and what does one sound like? There were new writers
and established ones knocking around that theme.
A featured participant was short story writer
and novelist Ann Beattie. She writes about the
generation of Americans who grew up in the
60s. “Park City,” Beattie's 1998 story collection,
chronicles the Woodstock generation from
youth to middle age as they experiment with
drugs, travel aimlessly, settle down, break up,
find resolution. She talked about ambient
sound. It was for the literati.
and novelist Ann Beattie. She writes about the
generation of Americans who grew up in the
60s. “Park City,” Beattie's 1998 story collection,
chronicles the Woodstock generation from
youth to middle age as they experiment with
drugs, travel aimlessly, settle down, break up,
find resolution. She talked about ambient
sound. It was for the literati.
Others at the seminar were Annie Dillard, Edmund White, Robert Richardson, Judy Blume,
and Mark Doty. And among new voices, you might have heard Uzodinma Iweala of Nigeria
read from his novel “Beasts of No Nation,” the story of Agu, a child soldier fighting in a civil
war in an unnamed West African country. We see Agu kill for the first time as his friends
give advice.
“Luftenant is saying don't think. Just let it happen. He is saying that the second you are
stopping to think about it, your head is turning to the inside of rotten fruit. Commandante
is saying it is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it. You are just having to do
it, he is saying, and I am believing him. What else can I be doing?”
and Mark Doty. And among new voices, you might have heard Uzodinma Iweala of Nigeria
read from his novel “Beasts of No Nation,” the story of Agu, a child soldier fighting in a civil
war in an unnamed West African country. We see Agu kill for the first time as his friends
give advice.
“Luftenant is saying don't think. Just let it happen. He is saying that the second you are
stopping to think about it, your head is turning to the inside of rotten fruit. Commandante
is saying it is like falling in love. You cannot be thinking about it. You are just having to do
it, he is saying, and I am believing him. What else can I be doing?”
The events take place at the San Carlos
Institute, a Spanish colonial-style Duval Street
building constructed in 1871 by Cuban exiles
of Key West as an educational, civic, and
patriotic center. The history is richly drawn in
the welcome by Institute president Rafael
Peñalver, who then joins participants at a
festive party.
Institute, a Spanish colonial-style Duval Street
building constructed in 1871 by Cuban exiles
of Key West as an educational, civic, and
patriotic center. The history is richly drawn in
the welcome by Institute president Rafael
Peñalver, who then joins participants at a
festive party.
The big seminar finale is the music and
champagne extravaganza at the Key West
Historical Museum, which this year featured
satirical knock-off sculptures of famous
paintings, such as the Mona Lisa.
champagne extravaganza at the Key West
Historical Museum, which this year featured
satirical knock-off sculptures of famous
paintings, such as the Mona Lisa.
