#islanderthrowback... Key Biscayne’s Goo Goo Dolls perform at South Beach music festival headlined by Sheryl Crow

Mike Malinin on Tour

This December will see Key Biscayner Mike Malinin drumming with his band the Goo Goo Dolls at a South Beach music festival headlined by Sheryl Crow. Malinin, who began playing the snare drum the summer before his seventh grade year at Ransom Everglades School, insists he is the same person who grew up on the Key delivering the Islander News.

“I don’t think I am any different than who I was before I joined the band,” he says. “I actually like it when people come up to me after shows. People think rock bands are too busy. Often we’re not,” he explains, adding that more than once he has gone out for a beer with fans who approach him after a show.

Malinin is also a serious long-distance runner. When in Minneapolis recently for a gig, he reached out to Olympic marathoner Bob Kempainen, who is a music fan, and the two went running together. “I’m way more into meeting athletes than I am into meeting musicians,” Malinin says.

Note: Malinin is still drumming professionally, most recently as the bandleader for country legend Tanya Tucker.

Kids Return Lost Wallet

Give yourself this ethics test: you’re walking down the street and see a wallet lying on the ground. What do you do?

Raul Hernandez, 11, and Levi Sullen, 10, did the right thing. The two fifth graders in Paulette Skinner’s class at Key Biscayne Elementary School found a book bag on school grounds last Friday. Inside was a wallet stuffed with $130.

Without hesitating, the two friends turned the bag in to Assistant Principal Cory Yglesias. “The first thing we thought of was turning it in,” Levi said.

Sitting in the front office for an interview, Raul said, “I think I’m going to get something good for Christmas.”

Brrummmm!

Court Vernon and Jim Owens — Court Vernon (left) and Jim Owens

Two Key Rats – Court Vernon (left) and Jim Owens – attended Nascar’s Winston Cup Race on November 10 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Court Vernon and Jim Owens were guests of car owner Butch Mock, car sponsor Remington Arms Racing, and Stren Fishing Line. Car No. 75 was driven by Morgan Shepard.

Inaugural Ball

More than 650 people attended the first Art Museum Gala Ball, co-chaired by Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz of Key Biscayne. The museum was formerly known as the Center for the Fine Arts.

Around the World Fair

Michelle Aguilera represented Cuba. It was a trip around the world for St. Agnes Academy students last week when the school recognized cultures from various nations. Students dressed in typical clothing from different countries and enjoyed a luncheon with dishes spanning the culinary globe.

Judi Koslen

Judi Koslen began teaching her craft in 1973 after her son Jimmy, now 35, wanted to learn how to string beads.

Koslen, a former social worker, had been looking for another career after the family moved to Key Biscayne from Ohio. The daughter of a well-known artist, Koslen was struck by the art of jewelry making as a vocation.

“What appealed to me is that it’s such a relaxing art form,” she explained. “I love teaching people how to make jewelry and sharing ideas. I’ll teach anybody anything they want to know,” she said.

Koslen taught beachside classes for several years and then built up a clientele wide enough to teach after-school programs, birthday parties, school art classes, and summer camps. She also repairs jewelry for clients.

These days, Koslen teaches at the Sonesta Beach Resort six days a week, with programs ranging from Just Us Kids to an adult activity program for hotel guests. “For my regular adult program, I use everything from diamonds and pearls to semiprecious stones and glass beads to wood beads and shells,” Koslen explained.

Allen and Gallego

The first full-service law firm on the Island has opened near Winn-Dixie in the Key Biscayne Shopping Center. Allen and Gallego, whose main office is on Brickell Key, has established a satellite office to meet a variety of legal needs including real estate, banking, condominium, entertainment, environmental, immigration, tax, trademark, corporate, and wills, trusts, and estates.

“We will be able to bring over any of the other attorneys at any time if the client has some special need,” said Paul Auchter of Counsel, the Key Biscayne real estate attorney who will be based at the new office.

Greg Han

After talking with newly-elected Council Member Greg Han for a while, you get the impression he envisions himself more of a community guide than leader.

“I know from my own experience that the things you’re most successful at come the easiest. I think that is true on a community level as well as a personal level; it’s all in channeling the energy flow right.”

It’s no coincidence that Han sees the community as a fluid entity that can be channeled in the right direction rather than forced. Two of his professional areas of expertise deal with flow: he has a doctorate in fluid dynamics and is one of the foremost authorities on local tide circulation.

“At heart, I am a computer nerd type of guy,” he says with a laugh. “But I’m also interested in the way people interact. In truth, it’s the way we work together and the relationships we develop that are more important than what we actually do, like putting in a park somewhere. That’s what being a community is all about.”