This weekend WSLR Community Radio celebrates 10years on the air and serving the community with the two-day “Hand-Cranked Festival” at WSLR Studios and the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center.

Festivities begin tonight with the Cigar Box Kickoff event. Self-taught Lithuanian blues musician and regional artist David Smash will perform, as will Steve Arvey and the Delta Swamp Rats and acoustic stylist Ben Prestage.

With sounds steeped in the dirty old-school lineage of the Delta blues, you’ll hear harmonicas, foot-stomping and even some all-too-rare slide guitar, but each band also embraces the legacy by performing on a series of makeshift and recycled instruments, such as the titular Cigar Box Guitar.

This sort of thriftiness and ingenuity is part of what the festival means to celebrate, according to WSLR station manager David Beaton, who chose the name “Hand-Cranked” not only because Saturday marks the anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of the hand-cranked phonograph, but for the image of a time when human’s created and their work harmonized with technology.

“The Hand-Cranked Festival celebrates the creativity of our local musicians and makers and will showcase some of the diverse, original and local music that the station broadcasts,” said Beaton. “It also symbolizes the people-powered nature of the radio station.”

The festival resumes Saturday afternoon at 3pm, with a whole slate of performances from The Wholetones, Wester Joseph and Stereo VuDu, Strangeways, Passerine and Ari and the Alibis. Less stripped-down blues than the Cigar Box Kickoff, Saturday’s artists bring more of a funk and jazz feel, though blues and bluegrass influences are readily apparent.

In addition to musical performances, the two-day festival will feature food from local vendors such as Peacecorn, specializing in made-to-order non-GMO popcorn, selections from Mangia Gourmet and refreshing microbrews from Cigar City Brewing and JDub’s Brewing. Cigar box guitars will also be on display alongside other folk skills and folk art.

Though on the books for a while now, with recent events rocking the nation Beaton feels the time is fitting for an attempt at community engagement and to create a place to come together.

“We’re celebrating the continued struggle that it takes to make people connect with their community and build community,” said Beaton, openly troubled by the events unfolding in Ferguson, events he believes could have been stopped, or at least tempered, by a stronger sense of community. “It’s a really disturbing time in this country and WSLR is an alternative to the mainstream media. It’s people-powered media and though we have our differences we come together and make this station work. It happens through volunteerism and building friendships and relationships that are deeper than the things that divide us. That’s what we’re celebrating.”

WSLR Community Radio’s Two-Day “Hand-Cranked” Festival begins tonight at 7pm at WSLR Studios and the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center. Advance tickets are $15 for Friday, $18 for Saturday and $30 for both days. Tickets are also available at the door for $20. Children 12 and under attend free and students at half-price. 

While Eastern cuisine may intimidate the timid home cook, Chef Lam Lum from Taste Asia offers these simply instructions for bringing some sweet soy flare to your next seafood endeavor in your own kitchen.

Steamed Basa Fillet for Two

Ingredients: 2 pcs. basa fillet (8 oz. each)

Ingredients (for rub): 1 stock Dill; 1 stock Cilantro; 1 clove fresh garlic; 1 pc. red shallot; 1/8 red bell pepper; 1 pinch of salt

Puree all ingredients until it becomes a paste.  Rub over fillets on both sides and wrap with alluminum.  Wrap fish individually for better cooking.  Steam for 20 minutes.

Ingredients (for Ginger Sauce): 2 tsp. vegetable oil; 1/2 cup ginger julienne sliced

1/8 coarsely chopped Spanish onions; 1 clove finely chopped fresh garlic; 3 1/2 oz. oyster sauce; 3 1/2 oz. sweet soy sauce; 3 1/2 distilled white vinegar; 2 cup water; 3 1/2 tbsp. corn starch (for best result, stir into water before using)

Heat up the pan on medium temperature. Add vegetable oil, garlic, onion, ginger. Stir until ingredients in pan turn golden brown. Add water, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce and vinegar. Turn heat to high temperature till ingredients boil. (Adding fresh vegetables of your choice and stirring with ingredients is optional.) Last add cornstarch mixture and stir until it thickens and remove from heat.

When basa is done cooking, remove from foil and place on serving plates  Sauce may be poured over fillets or used as dipping. May be served with jasmine rice and/or desired steamed vegetables.

At its Nov. 18 board meeting, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority elected Commissioner Peter A. Wish as chairman. Wish will serve as chairman until the organizational meeting in November 2015. He was appointed to the board by Gov. Rick Scott in February 2013. Wish has served on a number of philanthropic boards and is the Airport Authority representative to the Sarasota Council of Governments. 

Sarasota Airport

Jeff Gerhard, from Bradenton, joined the CS&L team as audit manager. Gerhard has over 16 years experience in public accounting and is a member of the Finance Committee for the Humane Society of Manatee County. He is originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan and received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Oakland University in 1997. Gerhard is a certified fraud examiner as issued by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The firm also hired Sean McCarty, originally from Valrico and who graduated from the University of South Florida in May 2013 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting. McCarty has been hired as a staff auditor and is currently completing his Masters Degree in Audit/Systems from USF. He is due to graduate in December, 2014, and is a former recipient of the CPA Becker Review Scholarship. 

CSL CPAs