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SRQ DAILY Dec 4, 2015

Friday Weekend Edition

Friday Weekend Edition

"We want this to be entertainment from the minute the starting gun goes off."

- Ryan McCarthy, Sarasota Music Half Marathon
 

[Marathon]  Sarasota Music Half Marathon Expands
Philip Lederer, Phil.Lederer@srqme.com

The Sarasota Music Half Marathon gears up for a triumphant return in 2016, with organizers announcing an expanded lineup for this second run, raising the participant cap by a third to accommodate 3,000 runners and bringing in five additional bands at five new locations along the route for the Feb. 7 event. Reaching a total of 20 bands this time around, event organizers report that the 2016 route, again snaking through Sarasota’s scenic downtown and surrounding neighborhoods and across the picturesque Ringling Bridge, will treat the huffing and puffing runners to live music reinvigoration at a total of 42 points. “We want this to be entertainment from the minute the starting gun goes off,” said Ryan McCarthy, event director for Sarasota Music Half Marathon, which hosts its first pre-marathon event this Saturday at Old School Bar and Grill.

With the Sarasota High School Mighty Sailor band playing the coveted spot atop the Ringling Bridge and Reverend Barry and Funktastic Soul slated to perform at the finish line after-party outside the Van Wezel, seven bands return from last year, joined by 13 Sarasota Music Half Marathon debuts. Local favorites such as Jah Movement (seen recently at the Payne Park Rock for a Cause), Boss Hawg, Aural Alchemy and Soul Sensations are on this year’s expanded lineup, as are Steel Relic, Matt Gerhardt, The John Patti Project and Trash Fence, traveling all the way back from San Francisco for member and Sarasota native Grady Lee. “I try to keep it as diverse as possible and to appeal to as broad a palate as possible,” said McCarthy, with everything from soulful Motown to Van Halen-style ‘80s rock available. “Whatever the proclivity, we try to cater to it.”

Runners and fans can get a sneak peek at two bands performing at the marathon—Kettle of Fish and Wild Root—at “Runner’s Night,” a one-night event off Main Street at Old School Bar and Grill this Saturday at 8pm. In addition to music, a special “runner’s” drink will be featured, as well as discounted registration for those signing up on the spot.

Alongside the expanded band list, the marathon itself has grown, now hosting up to 3,000 runners, as opposed to last year’s 2,000. Last year, tickets sold out 10 days before the event. This year, McCarthy reports more than 2,700 spots have already been filled.

“It looks like the perfect setup,” said McCarthy, just returning from driving the route. “I think I can fit a few more bands, but you don’t want to lose control.” 

[Good Bite]  Fresh Face for Melange
Kaye Warr

Melange Restaurant reopened recently after a refresh that included a facelift for the adjoining sandwich shop, Monkey Business, and sexy craft cocktail bar, Pangea Lounge. The new Melange is filled with fresh herbs dangling from the ceiling in baskets, growing in pots on the tables, and adorning Executive Chef and Owner Lan Bradeen’s stunning sweet and savory creations. The menu features exciting new additions such as The Axis Venison Shank with African rooibos tea and cranberry sauce, creamy mushrooms with Brussels sprouts and quinoa but, thankfully, some of my favorite dishes remain, including the rich and creamy Duck Brie Crepes. My favorite new addition is the Roasted Bone Marrow with soy seasoning, pickles and microgreens with sesame vinaigrette. The dish is silky and unctuous with a hint of sweet and tangy notes hanging out in the background. Finish any meal at Melange by journeying next door and discovering Pangea Lounge (I promise it’s there, you just have to know where to look) and you’ll be transported on a liquid adventure as exciting as the culinary one you’ve just completed.  

Melange, 1568 Main Street, 941-953-7111

[PINC]  The Human Ecosystem
Jacob Ogles, jacob.ogles@srqme.com

Daphne Miller has built an international reputation studying how the natural ecosystem is linked to the human system. Right now, she is a leader in the Healthy Parks, Healthy People initiative that hopes to improve connections between the medical system and the National Parks Service. Miller also has been booked as one of the lecturers at this year’s PINC Sarasota event on Dec. 10, and she spoke with us in advance of her trip to this environment. 

How different is a natural ecosystem and the ecosystem of micro-organisms that exist in a human body?  This whole project began several years ago when I picked up a book on soil science and started to leaf through the chapters. Suddenly, it dawned on me that it was one of the most engrossing medical texts I had ever read. Its pages offered important lessons for how to rejuvenate, rebalance, and heal a complex living organism and the more I read, the more I realized that its principles could be applied to me, to my patients, to all of us. It turns out that the nutrient exchange between humus, microbes, roots and the plant is similar to what takes place in our own intestines. The chemical makeup of soil has roughly the same ratio of nitrogen-to-carbon as the human body and a similar range for normal ph (6.0 to 7.5). Like us, it too depends on bacteria and fungi to supply it with the fats, amino acids and carbohydrates that make up its structures. The carbon, nitrogen and every other mineral and vitamin that is a building block in our own bodies is derived from soil. In fact, we are not simply nourished by the soil, we are of the soil. 

I have heard both celebration of the natural medical solutions in holistic medicine and a condemnation of certain anti-science elements, such as anti-vaxxers. Do you hear comparisons of medical ecology with holistic medicine, and is it more commonly favorable or critical?  Medical ecology is really not the best description for my work. The transdisciplinary work that I do does not really have a name, but it  involves understanding how our own health is linked to other ecosystems. These days much of science is moving away from a mechanistic way of thinking and focusing more on the complexity of whole systems. Soon I think that this approach will be the norm rather than the exception. Also, with the recent breakthroughs in DNA mapping, electron microscopy, and so on, we are able to look at natural systems on many different levels—from the micro to the macro—and understand these relationships.  

Learn more about PINC here

[Expansion]  Knight Marketing Expands Digital Team

With its recent acquisition by Spokane, Washington-based Imprezzio, Sarasota-based Knight Marketing gained one of the largest website and software development teams of any marketing or web design firm in the Tampa Bay region. The company is now offering a proprietary Microsoft .NET content management system, Zoom CMS.Knight Marketing is now a team of more than 80 people, including a 20-year professional serving as the firm’s vice president of web development and 46 developers, programmers, designers and account managers based in Cluj, Romania. 

Knight Marketing

[Exec Moves]  DSA Announces 2016 Leadership

The Downtown Sarasota Alliance announced its leadership team for 2016, including: Mike Beitzinger, IberiaBank vice president, as chair; Francice DiFilippo, AiSociety advanced valuation specialist and master appraiser, as vice chair and treasurer; and Tony Abate, of Shumaker, Loop and Kendrick, as secretary. 

Downtown Sarasota Alliance

SRQ Media Group

SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email

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