Carl Gardner as featured on his autobiography, 'Yakety Yak, I Fought Back'. (Courtesy The Coasters Web Site)

Carl Gardner, the last surviving member of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Coasters, died Sunday night in Port St. Lucie Hospice Home, according to his wife, Veta, on the Coasters’ official web site.

According to Veta, Gardner suffered from Alzheimer’s and congestive heart failure.

Gardner moved to Port St. Lucie in 1990 to escape the cold New York winters, according to a story written Bill DeYoung for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in 2003.

Gardner was the lead singer for the Coasters, the comedy-styled singing group that gave the world the 1950s classics “Yakety Yak, ” “Charlie Brown, ” “Youngblood” and “Along Came Jones.”

The first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Coasters sold 15 million records and scored more than a dozen gold singles.
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By Adriana Montoya

Fort Pierce native Arthur Davis’ twist on fried chicken has caught the attention of some television foodies.

Davis’ juicy fried chicken landed him a spot on the Food Network show “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” which airs Monday at 10:30 p.m.

While in high school, Davis worked at Tradewinds Cafeteria in Fort Pierce, where he acquired much of his expertise in southern cooking. His experience at Tradewinds and his love of food led to a successful career in southern cuisine when he opened Old Country Store restaurant in Lorman, Miss. Read the full story

Highwayman artist Mary Ann Carroll. (Photo by Sarah Grille)

By Joe Crankshaw

FORT PIERCE — The only female artist in the group of 26 black painters known as the Florida Highwaymen, Mary Ann Carroll, presented one of her paintings to first lady Michelle Obama during the First Lady’s Luncheon at the Congressional Club in Washington on Wednesday.

“I feel like a champ,” said Carroll Thursday morning after she returned to Fort Pierce. “It was a gracious thing that did not have to happen, but it did. I never expected this to happen and did not look for it.”

Carroll said the first lady was gracious and sweet in accepting a painting depicting a royal poinciana tree on the riverfront in Fort Pierce.
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By Cathy Reeder

Since she was a 6-year-old in Ukraine, Maryna Yermolenko has played the violin.

Her mother and father played violin, so it was natural for her to learn. She also had a natural talent, an urge to bring the music to life.

“I like playing, sharing what’s inside of me,” said Yermolenko, now 20. “I like seeing people’s reaction — that’s very satisfying.” Read the full story

When you’re talking authentic Italian cooking, you are talking about family.

“Family style is always better than high style,” said Marco Pilloni, who lives in western Port St. Lucie with his wife and 13-month-old daughter.

Pilloni is the go-to guy in his family if a niece wants to impress her date or a cousin wants to wow with a big spread at a family gathering. Read the full story

By Nina G. Willis

What do a vintage lace wedding dress, a Shoeless Joe Jackson bat and a 1941 Lincoln Continental have in common?

They all call the Elliott Museum in Stuart home.

The Elliott Museum, which opened in 1961, is an eclectic mix of art, regional history, baseball, inventions and automobiles. Read the full story

Joshua Bell -- here in his 2009 White House appearance -- enthralled a crowd at the Lyric Theatre. (Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images)

By MARILYN BAUER

Grammy Award-winning virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell played for a full house at Stuart’s Lyric Theatre on Wednesday night. The well-coifed crowd sat mesmerized by the violinist’s masterful interpretation of works by Brahms, “Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op.100; Schubert’s “Fantasy in C major, Op 159, D. 934 and Grieg’s “Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in G major, Op 13.”

Part of a 21-city tour of the U.S, this kick-off concert for the Lyric’s Ovation series (the mission of which is to bring Carnegie Hall to Stuart) has been sold out for weeks. Bell has recorded more than 35 CDs and played throughout the world both as a soloist with the world’s most acclaimed orchestras and as part of chamber music ensembles.

Bell took the stage Wednesday night with a signature smile and a salute with his Gibson Stradivarius (made in 1713). He is an elfish man, now 43, who maintains boyish good looks and nearly bursts with expression. His Beatle bangs shiver under the grand movements of his bow, which directs his full upper body.
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By Marilyn Bauer

STUART — As the Elliott Museum approaches its 50th anniversary in 2011, it is on the brink of becoming a revitalized Stuart institution providing quality programming, art education and a historical archive to the Treasure Coast. But the organization is in the midst of seismic change.

On Friday, museum officials asked the state legislative delegation for their support in sponsoring a bill that would designate the Elliott Museum “Florida’s Baseball Museum.” They also asked for the preservation of a $500,000 capital grant from the state’s $8 million 2011-12 Cultural Facilities Grant Program for the building of an $18 million, 45,000-square-foot musuem, for which officials already have raised more than $13 million. Read the full story

By HILLARY COPSEY

Want to know what Digital Domain, the animation company that received local incentives to open studios in Port St. Lucie, is up to?

Check out “Tron: Legacy” starting at midnight Thursday.

Digital Domain’s California studio had a major role in creating Disney’s $200 million, 3-D sequel to “Tron,” a 1982 sci-fi film. In addition to the final product, which opens across the Treasure Coast this weekend, the visual effects company worked on the environments and characters that helped persuade Disney executives to greenlight the movie, Digital Domain Holdings CEO John Textor said.

“It gave us a whole lot of confidence in our skills as we move into creating original animation content,” Textor said. “It was a great warm-up for what we’re doing in Port St. Lucie.”
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Guy Harvey

PORT ST. LUCIE — Marine life artist Guy Harvey will be signing autographs and raising money for the Save Our Gulf campaign Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Bealls store in the Towne Center shopping plaza.

While Harvey is most commonly known for his realistic underwater action scenes on T-shirts, many do not know that he is also a marine biologist, conservationist, diver and angler who founded the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation. Its mission is to inspire scientific research and innovative educational programs to help promote conservation and management for sustainable marine environments.

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