Editor's Note

By: Tobin Bennison

I hate flying. Now it’s not the waiting in lines, the security checkpoints, being cooped up with strangers for several hours at a time or the maddening delays that bother me. It’s the whole hurtling-through-the-ether-at-30,000-feet-in-an-iron-tube part that gets up my snout. “If man (you know what I mean, ladies…) were meant to fly, he’d surely have been born with wings”... [Read more...]

Features This Month

By: Tobin Bennison

Drawing and painting have always come naturally to Jessie Sibert. You might even say that his artistic talent is God-given. At least that’s how the self-taught Merritt Island artist sees it. “I truly believe that whatever talent I have comes from God,” he tells me. “In many ways,... [Read more...]

By: Tobin Bennison

Coconuts on the Beach By: Tobin Bennison When Punxsutawney Phil pokes his head out of his burrow this February 2 — Groundhog Day — there’s no telling whether he’ll see his shadow or not. You’d think that the recent frigid weather would suggest a protracted winter, but we’re... [Read more...]

By Vern Hobbs

Wilmington: The Overlooked Sister By Vern Hobbs Though often overshadowed by her flashier sisters, Charleston and Savannah, Wilmington, North Carolina is a sparkling jewel among the historic port cities of the American South. Located along the banks of the Cape Fear River, Wilmington beckons to the... [Read more...]

By: Tobin Bennison

TWENTY QUESTIONS with Aaron Collins, Conductor of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra Within the profound realm of classical music, conductors are some of the most caricatured personages of the lot. The mere mention of them conjures images of gloweringly imperious white-maned figures gesticulating wildly... [Read more...]

Word On The Street

Read about local news, information, politics, events and organizations for the beachside communities of the Space Coast. Got News? Send it to staff@thebeachsideresident.com

Local Scribes

By: Rick LaClaire

This Happened To Us! Part I By Rick LaClaire At age eleven I was given a gift which lasted ten years, a subscription to Outdoor Life magazine. Within were a wealth of stellar outdoor writers:  Ray Bergman, Byron Dalrymple, Joe Brooks, Jack O’Conner, Stu Apte… I only wish I could be among their... [Read more...]

By: Dan Reiter

Marriage By Dan Reiter It happened one idyllic afternoon, over six Valentine’s Days ago. The sunset flooded in through the church windows and shed a dreamlike, coral pink glow over our clasped hands. We recited our vows and donned the rings. I was 26. She, 21. At the reception, a friend of my father’s... [Read more...]

By: Judy Forney

SAND SIBLINGS By Judy Forney I’ve got a couple of girlfriends, one local and one back in Washington State, who each have a teenage son and daughter who at times… uhm… squabble. Recently I was chatting on line with the west coast girl. She’d HAD IT with her younger brother. She’d typed... [Read more...]

Previous Restaurant Reviews

By: T. Bennison

Love. Surf. Eat. You’d be hard pressed to find a motto that captures the spirit of beachside living better than that. Those three simple directives form Da Kine Diego’s guiding credo, which, while certainly catchy and pithily evocative of this area’s ingrained principles, also hides... [Read more...]

By: Tobin Bennison

When you’ve visited as many restaurants as we have for this feature, it should come as no surprise that there are times when you find yourself getting a bit jaded — even, dare I say it, snobbish — when it comes to dining out. The relative dearth of dining options in the area is sometimes... [Read more...]

By: Tobin Bennison

According to the British Beer and Pub Association, Britain has seen the closure of 52 traditional pubs each week since mid-decade, and figures for the first six months of 2009 show that number increased by one-third. To many, the pub is a solid cornerstone of English life, as integral to its collective... [Read more...]

By: T. Bennison

When you talk about jazz around here, you talk about Heidi’s. And when the subject of fine dining comes up, the Heidelberg is rarely far from anyone’s lips. Just as music and food are inextricably linked to both establishments, so serendipitously are the club and restaurant joined to each... [Read more...]