Who Should Consider Semaglutide Therapy in Rockaway, FL?

“How many shows is this?” I ask the couple behind me — Jodi and Ed from Rockaway, New Jersey. The line to get into the Amway Center was wrapped around the block in both directions but moved quickly once doors opened. Our pace was brisk.

“It’s over 200,” Ed tells me. “The first was 1973. He opened for Chicago at Madison Square Garden.”

Patrice and Charlie Sturtevant from Lake Worth were staying downtown and making a weekend of it. They haven’t missed a tour since the early ’80s.

“We would have liked to see him at the Hard Rock, which is only 45 minutes away, but the cheapest seats were $700,” they told me.

The seats at Amway weren’t cheap, either, but for all the noise fans made over Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing — very few were used at all.

Not after Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band broke the seal on the evening with the energetic “No Surrender,” a fitting opener for a 73-year-old rocker whose rep for stage endurance remains in check and for longtime fans, who “grew young again” as the favorites poured forth and they flew to their feet.

Twenty-seven songs in close to three hours, with no breaks. But oh, there was dancing. And a few teary moments.

I had toyed with the idea of grabbing up a “cheap” seat — verified resales of which were going for $250 each at the time — before serendipity stepped in, and I ended up in the one meant for Orlando Sentinel arts writer Matt Palm, who was going to be out of town.

My sister, Jodie, and I logged more than a few Springsteen shows back in the day. Several in one week during the Born in the U.S.A. tour, for which we took the train from Brooklyn to the bus out of Grand Central Station to Giants Stadium. I was 15. She was 25. She was the bigger fan then — had all the records, along with a dozen or so bootlegs of late ’70s club shows from Los Angeles to the “swamps of Jersey,” about which The Boss so often sings.

The bootlegs are mine now. We lost Jodie in 1989 in a car accident. Bruce became that much more important to me, but even so, I hadn’t seen him in about 20 years. The last time was in Miami in the early aughts.

But as Sunday night’s set list unfolded — “Prove It All Night” from “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” the infectiously danceable “Out in the Street” from “The River,” the stellar build and crescendo of “Candy’s Room,” — it became clear that Springsteen, whose rasp and energy were rock-solid, remains an arena legend.

So are his bandmates. Springsteen still shares the mic regularly with gypsy rocker guitarist “Little” Steven Van Zandt, and his onstage camaraderie with saxophonist Jake Clemons — whose towering presence channels that of his late uncle, “The Big Man” Clarence Clemons — was touching, as was every iconic horn solo.

Emotional, too, was Springsteen as he told the story of “Last Man Standing,” which begins at the hospital bed of an old friend he’d known since 1965, when they played together in the first band Bruce ever joined. Hellos and tomorrows, he said, were in front of us at 15.

“At 73,” he said, “it’s all about goodbyes.”

This was only mid-set, though, and somber didn’t last long, as Springsteen showered fans with favorites — “Backstreets,” “She’s The One,” “Badlands,” “Thunder Road” — and amid this mix, a beautiful rendition of “Because The Night,” a song he wrote with Patti Smith in the ’70s.

A wind-down of “Thunder Road” was the band’s first bow, but after a quick shoutout to Apopka-based nonprofit, the Farmworker Association of Florida, it was back to the show. “Burnin’ Train” and “Born to Run” led into a lights-on dance party.

The spirited “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” “Glory Days” and “Dancing in the Dark,” (watch 17,000 AARP members do the Molly Ringwald!) paved the way for Bruce’s jaunt to a mid-floor stage before heading back to close out with a solo acoustic “I’ll See You In My Dreams.”

I’ll see Jodie in mine tonight.

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The surf spot is a subway ride from Manhattan, and it welcomes a diverse community connecting to nature and each other

It’s a silver-blue January morning with no separation between sky and water, and a diverse line up of surfers take in their ritual. The waves come choppy, clean, short, thick, fast, chest high and occasionally over my head. On this frigid day I’m encouraged to surf with a longboard, and I’ve almost forgotten to don my cap. The wind greets my face and I howl in return, grateful. I look around after finishing my ride and see people simmering in joy. These are the scenes at New York’s Rockaway Beach, a harbor for Black surfers.

Coming from the security of snow-blanketed mountain peaks to the crashing, storm propelled waves of the east coast, I’ve stumbled on a dynamic community of surfers: artists, activists, community leaders, film-makers, and creatives. Surfers mending the world through their connection to the sport.

Quest Soliman and Paul Godette, from Brooklyn and Queens respectively, are Rockaway surfers with a purpose. Stop Playin’ With ‘Em, a 2022 documentary directed by Sean Madden, captures their five-month experience with the local community while surfing in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

A screening of the film in November allowed the audience to witness the actualization of Black and brown people in nature, in the water. “Surfing is supposed to be fun and inclusive,” Soliman tells me.

Surfing is primarily depicted as a pursuit for white men with blond hair and blue eyes. Some have turned it into a selfish sport and lean into their privilege. Yet, here at Rockaway Beach that’s far from the reality.

Kids from Harlem and Brooklyn carry their surfboards on the train heading towards the Atlantic. The walls at Rockaway are painted with vibrant street art reflecting the culture. Surfboards lean outside shops and cafes, and Black and brown skateboarders, rollerbladers, and surfers ride between the skate park and the burger spot near 84th Street. There are restaurants and bars that operate as surf clubs, and garage parties that turn into community events. Late nights sitting around a backyard fire turn into early morning sessions in the water.

“It really does take a village to raise a child and you learn so much the more you’re in the water,” Soliman says, as he talks about the welcoming nature of the beach suburb. He was raised in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. Growing up surrounded by people from myriad cultural backgrounds shaped his approach in connecting with new spaces.

“As we travel and show representation, we always give respect to the spaces we’re fortunate to enjoy,” he says. If Stop Playin’ With ‘Em had a mantra it would be just that. Enjoying your stoke responsibly.

In December, Fat-Tire invited Soliman and Godette to Hawaii where they were able to connect with Hawaiian locals, fully encounter the North Shore, and rip some of the best waves in the world.

“This was not our home turf, we were just visitors, but we were welcomed into the pipe house, and everyone was dapping us up – pros I’ve grown up watching. It was cool,” Godette says.

In Hawaii, they linked up with friends from New York and California, as well as Pro-Am surfer and Hawaiian local Julian Williams. These aren’t just any group of friends but haymakers, creating room for themselves and their communities through intentional collective efforts in the water.

“It was amazing to have the west coast squad, the New York squad, and even though we were newcomers [to the Vans Pipe Masters] we weren’t the only ones and we had a good time bonding,” says Godette. Despite breaking his board during the trip, he found delight in surfing with two of Africa’s top surfers, South Africa’s Joshe Faulkner and Senegal’s Cherif Fall.

“Women are getting that equal prize pay, they’re ripping just as hard as the guys. That’s really important and cool to see – the increase in representation and seeing opportunities given for different people to surf pipe and compete,” says Godette.

Soliman and Godette now have their eyes and boards set for Bali, where they’ll be for the next four months. They’re on to their next project and seeking sponsors. For Soliman and Godette, inclusive surfing includes perfect waves, clean turns, and endless laughter.

I’m back in New York. I’ve gone from snowboarding soft pillow lines to getting smacked, dumped, and rushed by the sea. The joy of being a noob. Yet occasionally when the waves start firing, I pop up and find myself in a waltz with the ocean.

“The beautiful thing about surfing, is that it chooses you,” says Nigel Louis, owner of the Rockaways community hub, surf and skate shop, Station RBNY.

Surfing can’t choose you if you never get in the water. Surfing is more than a sport here. It’s a connection to your environment, community, and self.

Local writer and director John J. Budion’s coming-of-age film “Rockaway” is set to make its Florida premiere at the Sunscreen Film Festival on April 28. “This is a small story from the tiny village of East Rockaway that we’re going all the way down to Florida with,” Budion said. “We’re resonating with people who — they don’t even know us.” The film chronicles Budion’s experiences growing up and forming friendships in East Rockaway. It was one of 16 feature films selected out of thousands to screen at the film festival. In total, there will be 130 films at the event. “Rockaway” is scheduled to premiere on April 28 at 4 p.m. at AMC Sundial 20, in St. Petersburg, Fla. The movie has already generated a buzz, beating out eight others to win the Best Feature Film Award after its West Coast premiere at the Catalina Film Festival in California last September. It received a standing ovation from the audience after it was screened. The feature made its debut at the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival last August and won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. It was also honored at the Hollywood Film Festival as the Most Impactful Film by Paramount Studios.

Budion said he is tempering his expectations for Florida, but is very excited the film is being screened in the company of many that were featured at the Sundance and South by Southwest festivals. “Every film is such high quality,” Budion said of the festival. “To be in that company is really validating that we have a great product that people are responding to.” Budion, 36, a 1999 East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School graduate who now lives in New York City, spent nearly three years writing, filming, directing, editing and tweaking the film, which is set in the summer of 1994. In it, characters based on John and his brother, Anthony, spend time with their best friends Brian, Sal, Billy and Dom, and devise a plan to take revenge on the Budions’ abusive father. Talented young actors carry the film, Budion said. He cast Maxwell Apple to play the younger version of himself, and other young actors in the film include Keidrich Sellati, of FX’s “The Americans,” who plays Anthony, James DiGiacomo (Dom), from the CBS sitcom “Kevin Can Wait” and Tanner Flood (Brian), of Huntington, who is featured in Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Veteran actors Wass Stevens (“The Wrestler”) and Marjan Neshat (“RoboCop”) play Budion’s parents. Budion said that members of the cast and crew, his parents, and his friends and family members would accompany him to Florida. Though the film has had early success, it still doesn’t have a distributor. Budion said that he hopes to have a late-summer theatrical premiere in New York and Los Angeles, and to eventually find a distributor for a larger theatrical release and to land a streaming deal with services like Netflix or Hulu. “We will continue to look for a distributor,” he said. “The film resonates with people from all walks of life.” Budion said he is very excited to see how the audience responds to “Rockaway,” and added that he is thrilled to have it shown in an AMC theater. “I’m excited to see the crowd’s reaction to the way that it plays back in a true theater,” he said. “I’m not going in with any expectations, but it would be really great to walk away and win something, especially with the films that we’re in there with.” To keep up with the latest news about “Rockaway,” visit Facebook.com/RockawayFilm or www.instagram.com/rockaway_film/. To learn more about the Sunscreen Film Festival and to purchase tickets, visit http://sunscreenfilmfestival.com/festival-2018/schedule/.

The family of the 65-year-old Queens woman who lost “20 pounds of flesh” in a grisly shark attack off Rockaway Beach said Wednesday she is “grateful to be alive” after the harrowing encounter.

“Our mother is grateful to be alive … and we’re all thankful to the lifeguards, emergency response workers, and team at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center,” a representative told The Post on behalf of the loved ones of Tatyana Koltunyuk, who remained hospitalized following the Monday evening attack.

“We are deeply moved by the outpouring of support we have received, but for now we ask above all for everyone to respect our privacy as we focus all of our energies on helping her to recover.”

Koltunyuk was “treading water and relaxing” only about 10 feet off shore near Beach 59th Street shortly before 6 p.m. Monday when she started screaming for help, Chief Lifeguard Jose Diaz told The Post.

“We saw that she was bitten [on the leg]. The blood was coming out a lot so they gave her a tourniquet with the buoy, which has a rope, and they tied it so she doesn’t bleed to death,” the 68-year-old said of how his colleagues saved Koltunyuk’s life.

Photos showed the mother of one looking dazed and pale while first responders administered aid on the beach and in an ambulance en route to Jamaica Hospital.

Medical staff later said that Koltunyuk was in stable but critical condition.

“[It’s] definitely a shark bite,” Dr. Gavin Naylor, the Program Director at the Florida Program for Shark Research, told The Post after seeing an image of the victim’s wound.

“Looks as though it was a fairly clean single bite with some force. You can see the spacing between the teeth,” he continued while noting he would need to see the other side of the woman’s leg “to narrow the species down.”

Diaz, who has been lifeguarding for over 50 years, said that he has never seen anything like what happened to Koltunyuk, who was known by lifeguards to visit the beach regularly,

“She lost a lot of blood. The artery came right out. You could see the bones and everything. It was crazy,” he recalled.

“We go swimming with the lifeguards and we see sharks but they don’t really do anything to us. This is the first time this happened. It’s weird. Everybody’s afraid to go into the water now. I don’t blame them.”

The popular Queens beach was closed on Tuesday, but reopened on Wednesday while NYPD and FDNY said they would be scanning the waters for shark activity daily using drones and other methods.

The attack is believed to be the area’s first since 1953.

Koltunyuk, of Astoria, is originally from Odessa, Ukraine, her Facebook profile indicates.

Her daughter, Dasha Koltunyuk, is a renowned pianist who graduated from Princeton University, according to her website.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Dasha is married to composer and pianist Gregg Kallor, whose PR team, Unison Media, is representing the family following Monday’s incident.

She declined to comment Tuesday outside the hospital where her mother is recovering.

Courtesy John J Budion

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Local writer and director John J. Budion’s coming of age film “Rockaway” continues to pile up hardware. The film, set in 1994 and based on Budion’s experiences growing up with his friends in East Rockaway, made its Florida premiere at the Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg on April 27. The movie chronicles characters based on Budion and his brother, Anthony, as they plot revenge against their abusive father and spend time with their friends in East Rockaway. At the Sunscreen Film Festival, Keidrich Sellati was awarded Best Actor for his role as Anthony. “I started freaking out, man,” Sellati said after learning he won the honor. “I was so excited.” Sellati, 16, who has a prominent role on the FX drama “The Americans,” was selected by Budion and casting directors Billy Hopkins (“Good Will Hunting”) and Ashley Ingram (“Mudbound”) to play Anthony.

Budion said that Sellati has a lot in common with his real-life brother and was able to channel a range of emotions during his auditions. Because the movie is mostly about Anthony protecting his younger brother, Budion said, Sellati did a good job of portraying the character’s feelings. “Keidrich had to wear a lot of emotional hats in this film, and he nailed it,” Budion said. “He carried the film and he sets the tone for everybody else in this film, who are all amazing and wonderful.” Sellati’s win is just the latest of many awards for “Rockaway” since it made its debut last year. The film beat out eight others to win the Best Feature Film Award after its West Coast premiere at the Catalina Film Festival in California last September. The feature made its debut at the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival last August and won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. It was also honored at the Hollywood Film Festival as the Most Impactful Film by Paramount Studios.

Budion and Sellati each had the opportunity to speak on a panel at the Florida festival, and shared their experiences about directing and acting, respectively. Budion said having the movie premiere in an actual AMC theater was “a thrill,” and added that it continues to receive positive feedback. “They were laughing, there were some people crying,” he said of the audience. “There were people clapping. It was a great response from the Florida crowd.” With the Florida premiere behind them, Budion said, he is still trying to arrange for a New York premiere and, eventually, a theatrical release and to get “Rockaway” on a streaming service. Though many of the film’s supporters have likened it to “Stand By Me,” a favorite of Budion’s, the director said he is still looking for a distributor for it. Sellati said he too is hopeful that the whirlwind of success will continue. He said Budion has become a family friend to him and vice versa, and that he remains close with his young cast mates. “My favorite part of the entire project was getting to meet the guys and doing the work with John and all of them,” Sellati said. “I’ve made what I feel like will be some lifelong friends.”

To keep up with the latest news about “Rockaway,” visit Facebook.com/RockawayFilm or www.instagram.com/rockaway_film/.