Creative Loafing Tampa — June 6, 2024

PHOTOGRAPHER

POLITICAL CARTOONIST Bob Whitmore

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora

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ILLUSTRATORS

Pereira

Events and Marketing

MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Leigh Wilson

MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Kristin Bowman

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING MANAGER Corrie Miserendino Circulation

CIRCULATION MANAGER Ted Modesta

Chava Communications Group

FOUNDER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Michael Wagner

CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Cassandra Yardeni Wagner

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Graham Jarrett

VP OF OPERATIONS Hollie Mahadeo

DIRECTOR OF AGENCY SERVICES

Kelsey Molina

SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Meradith Garcia

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT STRATEGY Colin Wolf

ART DIRECTOR David Loyola

DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Jaime Monzon chavagroup.com cltampabay.com cldeals.com

EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is a publication covering public issues, the arts and entertainment. In our pages appear views from across the political and social spectrum. They do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.

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The cast is at the top of its game both vocally and dramatically. Tampa Rep’s ‘Next to Normal’ is a must-see, p. 33.

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do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from June 06 - 12

I want to believe

Cryptid lovers of Central Florida, unite. The Great Bigfoot Conference is back. The celebration of and investigation into all things Bigfoot (and Skunk Ape!) is back for a third year, but believers will have to drive a bit to get there. Guests this year include Russell Acord and Ryan “RPG” Golembeske from Travel Channel’s “Expedition Bigfoot,” Animal Planet’s “Finding Bigfoot” co-host Ranae Holland (pictured), “Essential Guide to Bigfoot” author Ken Gerhard, and more. Organizers are even taking applications for anyone interested in sharing their Bigfoot encounter onstage.

Great Florida Bigfoot Conference: Saturday, June 8. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. $25 & up. World Equestrian Center, 1750 NW 80th Ave., Ocala. @greatFLbigfoot on Facebook —Ray Roa

Co ee, meet caviar

Tampa Heights cafe and bar King State hosts a weekend party that features the beloved summertime trio of: fresh oysters, hotdogs and caviar (accompanied by plenty of beer, of course.) Tickets for a reserved amount of oysters ($36 for a dozen assorted oysters, accouterments and two bumps of caviar or $72 for two dozen oysters and two gin cocktails) are available on King State’s website, but all food and drink specials will be available on a first come, first served basis, too. King State’s kitchen will also be dishing out fish dip and hot dogs amongst other items from new head chef Emily Kaneff, a former Rocca chef that took over the cafe’s kitchen last month. Sponsors for this weekend’s oyster party include King State Beer, Fords Gin and Florida Wine Company, so definitely expect a few featured drinks to accompany the oysters and other bites.

King State on the Half Shell: Sunday, June 9. 4 p.m.-dusk. No cover (pre-sale tickets available). King State, 520 E Floribraska Ave., Tampa. king-state.com —Kyla Fields

Feel good drag

Tampa’s swanky new drag meets, well, drag, this weekend when Water Street hosts a lineup of queens as part of its Pride Celebration. The early block of festivities (5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.) happens at the Via Corazon plaza located between the East Cumberland garage and the Cora building, and includes Price face painting, pop-up bars, and tarot card readings. Nearby Raybon Plaza hosts a silent disco (7 p.m.-10 p.m.) emceed by the “Tallest Drag Queen in Captivity,” Daphne Ferraro (pictured). Metro Inclusive Health—a nonprofit that works to provide “quality health and wellness services that are inclusive, relevant, supportive and represent the lifetime continuum of the diverse people in our community.”

Pride Celebration at Water Street: Friday, June 7. 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. No cover. Raybon Plaza, 536 Channelside Dr., Tampa. waterstreettampa.com Ray Roa

Fido, meet Flipper

Since it’s not enough to just bark at other dogs and the mailman, and because St. Pete gonna St. Pete, there’s now an excursion that lets furballs get a look at another one of humankind’s favored toothed-mammal. Pier Dolphin Cruises and Dog Bar have teamed up to offer a 90-minute boat ride that brings Fido face-to-fin with Flipper. Promising an “opportunity to witness these two intelligent species observe, engage and connect with each other in a safe, controlled environment,” the series of cruises kicked off last month and include just one date in June, plus two more in July. Anyone suffering from bipedalism pays $39 to get on, while dogs come about for $5. Dogs must be registered with the bar before boarding.

Dogs and Dolphins Cruise: Sunday, June 9. 11 a.m.. $39 ($5 for dogs). St. Pete Municipal Marina, 40 2nd Ave. NE, St. Petersburg. dogbarstpete.com —Ray

Roa

A serious man

Academy Award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins—best known for his involvement in blockbusters like “1917” and “Skyfall” and his wife and creative partner James Ellis Deakins—are headed to St. Petersburg for a three-day, cinema-focused event. A signing of Roger’s photography book “Byways,” plus screenings of “The Big Lebowski” and “The Shawshank Redemption” happen at Coastal Creative next Thursday and Friday, while a screening of “1917” and a Q&A between Roger and James takes place on Saturday at downtown St. Pete’s AMC Sundial. The “Team Deakins” Q&A that will close the three days of events out, also shares the name of a podcast where the couple and creative team talk about their experiences in Hollywood and interview other industry professionals. Entrance into each event costs $40 each or $120 for all three days, but attendees will have to shell out some additional funds for a copy of “Byways” and the chance to get it signed.

Team Deakins Book Signing & Film Screening: Next Thursday-Saturday, June 13-15. 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. $40 & up. AMC Sundial, 151 2nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg. coastalcreativetv.com —Kyla Fields

Hit this ranch

Screaming, throwing things into the audience, the chugging of questionable fluids (most likely ranch dressing)—these are all things to expect at Eric Andre’s stop in Tampa this week. The comedian, writer and actor has his faux, late-night talk show on the road this summer, turning his Adult Swim series filled with cringey interviews, sketches and comedic chaos into a live show. Far from a traditional stand up show with the occasional crowd work, Andre is known for his whacky, high energy performances that often cross the line into absurdity. The 41-year-old was born and raised in South Florida, too, so maybe Tampa’s crowd will get some Sunshine State-oriented bits thrown at them. Give Andre’s 2021 hidden camera film “Bad Trip” a watch to prepare for his upcoming Tampa performance; part-“Borat” part-“Jackass,” the Florida-based movie follows a road trip gone bad, filled with real-life reactions to Andre’s specific brand of shock humor.

The Eric Andre Show Live: Friday, June 7. 6:30 p.m.-10 p.m. $49.50. The Ritz Ybor, 1503 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. theritzybor.com —Kyla Fields

Stop the steal

Once

again, Florida lawmakers ignore attempts to fight wage theft.

By McKenna Schueler

Florida hasn’t had a state labor department in over 20 years, nor a statewide mechanism to combat wage theft, and a repeat attempt by Democrats to reestablish one during this year’s legislative session was ignored for a fourth year in a row.

Florida Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, filed a bill last November that sought to reestablish a state Department of Labor. This is a department that most states in the U.S. have, but which was dissolved in Florida by Florida lawmakers and former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002 as his administration instead chose to identify programs that could be “eliminated, consolidated, or privatized.”

The process of the department’s decentralization was initiated during the 1999 legislative session. Its eventual abolition was accomplished through the passage of several bills in the years after, including a bill during the 2000 session— a reportedly tumultuous affair which left state legislators “tense, tired, and often in tears,” according to the Sun-Sentinel.

According to disclosure reports, the only lobbyists who bothered registering to track the bill were four lobbyists for the Florida Chamber of Commerce—a powerful and deep-pocketed business lobbying group that broadly opposes wage mandates. The cost of creating such a division is unclear, because the bill has never been subject to a staff analysis—that’s reserved for bills that get a hearing.

The overall costs of lacking a state labor department are also unquantified, but can be seen at the very least in the lack of state action taken to combat wage theft—best explained as the failure of an employer to pay an employee what they are lawfully owed. This can include wages, overtime compensation, and tips, but it can also occur in the form of misclassification— when an employer incorrectly identifies and treats an employee as a contractor—or denying an employee mandatory breaks.

LABOR

Jacksonville Rep. Nixon and Orlando Sen. Victor Torres—a former Lynx bus driver and self-described “labor guy”—have filed legislation to re-create a state labor department or agency every year since 2021, each time without any luck.

Their legislation has been ignored and kicked to the wayside, denied even the dignity of a single committee hearing by their mostly Republican colleagues, who outnumber Democrats in the state Legislature more than two to one. This year was no different. Except that Nixon withdrew her original bill to reestablish a state labor department and instead pushed for the development of a state Division of Labor Standards—a more practical proposal, perhaps. Torres matched the move with his own bill filed in the Senate.

Under their bills, the state would have been directed to create a division within the Department of Commerce empowered to meaningfully enforce Florida’s minimum wage, and to “investigate and ascertain the wages of persons employed in any occupation or place of employment in the state as the division finds necessary and proper.”

Wage theft violations are most frequently discovered in the food service, construction, healthcare and retail industries, according to the U.S. Department of Labor—which helps enforce wage and hour laws in Florida, but is incapable of serving as a replacement for a state enforcement mechanism. Women, people of color and immigrants, who are over-represented in Florida’s low-wage jobs, are particularly vulnerable to being cheated of pay by law-breaking employers.

When Florida’s state labor department was dissolved, so too was a state agency empowered to investigate complaints of wage theft in a state that now boasts a labor force of over 11 million. While some programs in the state labor department were handed off to other agencies or not-for-profits with its dissolution, a mechanism for enforcing wage and hour laws was not.

The Wild West of labor law

Today, Florida still doesn’t have any kind of state department or agency that is authorized to crack down on wage theft—unless you make minimum wage.

The Florida Attorney General’s Office, currently led by Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody, is empowered to investigate cases of minimum wage violations only—and

“The minimum wage has largely been unenforced for, really, as long as Florida’s had a minimum wage.”

public records show even this occurs rarely. Kylie Mason, communications director for the Attorney General’s Office, confirmed to Orlando Weekly that the office recovered wages for exactly one working adult in 2023—just about $500 for a Hungry Howie’s delivery driver in Pasco County who was paid a sub-minimum wage.

Emails that Orlando Weekly obtained through a public records request show the franchise owner of the pizza spot failed to raise minimum pay for her tipped delivery drivers when the minimum wage increased on Sept. 30, 2022, from $6.98 per hour to $7.98 per hour for tipped employees.

Under a ballot referendum approved by Florida voters in 2020, the minimum wage is set to rise $1 each year on Sept. 30 through Sept. 30, 2026. Today the tipped minimum wage is $8.98 per hour, and $12 per hour for non-tipped employees.

The Hungry Howie’s owner played dumb in email communications with the Attorney General’s Office, which gently reminded her that in addition to raising minimum pay for the driver who filed a complaint, she’d best do the same for her other delivery drivers, too. “I recommend that you make private efforts to remedy any other employees whose wages were similarly underpaid to avoid further complaints being levied against you,” warned Rebecca Snyder, an attorney in the Attorney General Office’s consumer protection division.

In addition to sending warnings to employers, the office is also authorized under law to bring a civil action, seek injunctive relief, and impose a fine of $1,000 per offense, payable to the state, for willful violations.

Even this single action to recover wages, however, is somewhat exceptional for the Attorney General’s Office—which serves as the only statewide option for recovering unpaid wages beyond taking private civil action.

Although the office has taken an aggressive position on retail theft—and more recently, Starbucks’ diversity, equity and inclusion policies—it doesn’t openly advertise its ability to recover unpaid wages for those who are denied Florida’s minimum wage. In fact, there’s little to no evidence that the Attorney General’s Office previously recovered a single cent through direct enforcement actions.

“The minimum wage has largely been unenforced for, really, as long as Florida’s had a minimum wage,” Alexis Tsoukalas, a policy analyst for the Florida Policy Institute who’s extensively researched the issue, told Orlando

Weekly. Florida’s minimum wage—previously tied to the federal standard—was first established through a ballot referendum in 2004. Moody’s top-cop predecessor Pam Bondi, a longtime Donald Trump ally who more recently served as a defense lawyer for the former president during his first impeachment trial, even sided with business groups over workers in efforts to combat wage theft.

Today, the office that doesn’t advertise its ability to recover unpaid pay for the state’s lowest-paid workers receives few complaints. Over email, Mason told Orlando Weekly that the Attorney General’s office received exactly 12 complaints of minimum wage violations in 2023.

Eight of those cases have been closed, with four still under review as of early April. Four of the closed cases, per Mason, were complaints related to other forms of wage theft, while another case was settled privately. Another person was unresponsive, and another had filed their complaint anonymously, which isn’t allowed if you want to recover unpaid wages.

Only one person—the Hungry Howie’s driver—recovered wages with the Attorney General Office’s help. The whole process took about eight months from when the driver filed the complaint in March to when he confirmed with the office over email in November that he’d received a check for $544.29 in owed wages from his panicked employer.

continued on page 13

HOWIE DOIN? Ashley Moody’s office recovered wages for exactly one working adult in 2023.

Several people who filed complaints with the Attorney General’s office last year, including the Hungry Howie’s driver, shared that they had also contacted the federal Department of Labor for help. One woman said in her complaint that the feds had referred her to the state AG’s office because she makes more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, but was paid below Florida’s minimum, which is several dollars higher.

This is one of the gaps in state enforcement that the federal government can’t fill.

Another woman—a restaurant employee— also said her case was denied by the feds, with a federal investigator citing their “current workload” and a statute of limitations on federal wage and hour cases as an excuse.

A spokesperson for the U.S. labor department’s Wage and Hour Division told Orlando Weekly in April that their division recovered over $16.8 million in back wages and damages for more than 11,000 workers in Florida last fiscal year and assessed employers over $1 million in additional civil monetary penalties. The spokesperson added, however, that there are currently over 9,000 employees in Florida for whom their division has money waiting to be claimed from the last three years of wage theft cases.

“The agency makes every effort to locate and notify all employees who are due back wages. If we cannot find an employee, we hold their back wages for three years while we continue our efforts to locate them,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “After three years, if we remain unable to find the person, we are required to send the money to the U.S. Treasury.”

Satisfied with the bare minimum

Florida isn’t the only state that does a poor job in cracking down on wage theft through its own means. Blue states like California and New York—both of which have state labor departments—have also faced scrutiny in recent years over their ability to ensure employers pay up.

Still, a 2017 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that, out of the 10 most populous states, minimum wage workers were least likely to be paid the bare minimum in Florida, with wage theft affecting an estimated one in four of Florida’s low-wage workers—our neighbors, friends and family members. Nationwide, the report found that employers are estimated to steal billions from workers every year through various forms of wage theft.

In the absence of a state mechanism, some cities and counties in Florida have stepped up to create their own local wage recovery programs. Osceola County—an area with a majority Hispanic population south of Orlando— launched its modest wage recovery program in 2015. An annual report shared with county commissioners shows that, through direct county

efforts and hearings, employers were ordered to pay out nearly $80,000 to eight workers from March 2023 to March 2024 who had filed complaints with the county.

The county program received 27 complaints of wage theft during that timeframe, and 11 of those still remained open as of March. Nine others were identified as “deficient,” one was withdrawn or dismissed, and five complaints were settled privately.

Through the organizing efforts of mostly labor and immigrant rights groups, similar programs have been established in a half-dozen other counties, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Palm Beach, Alachua, Broward and Miami-Dade.

bureaucracy that interfere in the employeremployee relationship.”

The Chamber also helped draft a bill this year that will block cities and counties from maintaining or enacting wage and benefit mandates for employers they enter into contracts with, effective Sept. 30, 2026. Such mandates—known as local “living wage” ordinances—generally require local government contractors to pay their employees a pay rate that’s a few dollars more than Florida’s legal minimum of $12 an hour.

LABOR

Republican state leaders, however, haven’t appeared interested in addressing the issue, and most Democrats—who have little voting power in Florida’s GOP-dominated state Legislature on their own—generally don’t bring it up that often either. The Florida Chamber of Commerce—a powerful business lobbying group—has also openly celebrated legislators’ neglect of bills like Nixon’s.

In their 2024 legislative recap, the Chamber reported to its members that Nixon’s Division of Labor Standards bill was “defeated”—a very good thing in their view, because the Chamber had opposed it. As the Chamber saw it, the creation of such a division would negatively impact Florida’s “business-friendly climate” by establishing “new layers of government

The bill also blocks local governments from requiring employers to adopt heat safety policies for outdoor laborers, as well as those who work indoors with few or no cooling measures, like warehouse workers.

According to emails Orlando Weekly obtained through a separate request, filed postsession, the bill was a priority of the “entire business community” in Florida.

“HEAT cannot die,” wrote Carol Bowen, lobbyist for the Associated Builders and Contractors in Florida, in a text message to the Florida House’s chief of staff the night before the last day of the legislative session. “The entire business community is in lock step on this.”

The bill was one of the last to pass the next day.

The Chamber, and other business lobbying groups, have sought to ban local wage recovery programs like Osceola County’s through similar preemption legislation. Such preemption bills date back to at least 2011, one year after

Miami-Dade County established the very first local wage recovery program in the state.

Businesses complained following its initial passage, and the Florida Retail Federation even sued, unsuccessfully, to have the law invalidated. Within less than three years, the program reportedly ordered employers to pay more than $1.5 million in back wages to workers who had been cheated of pay.

Sen. Torres, who is term-limited from running for reelection this fall, told Orlando Weekly that he was proud to file bills over the last four years to reestablish a state agency to help address pressing labor issues. But with a disinterested GOP majority, he believes the makeup of the state Legislature needs to change before such an effort can really move forward.

“Let’s get this straight, there is zero appetite from the majority party to meaningfully increase worker protections and that won’t change until the legislature changes,” Torres told Orlando Weekly in a statement. “In one of the hottest states in the country, the legislature has gone as far as preventing local governments from implementing their own heat protections for workers, and has now deeply weakened child labor laws in our state.”

A state labor department, he added, “would be able to enforce the few worker protections we do have, help protect against wage theft, and finally be a state advocate to help workers settle disputes.”

This story was first published at our sibling paper Orlando Weekly.

BUS DRIVER: Sen. Victor Torres filed legislation to re-create a state labor department or agency every year since 2021.

JUNE 13TH - 23RD

CREATIVE LOAFING’S annual Food Issue hits stands on June 13th, and to celebrate, we’re hosting our 19th annual Tampa Bay Restaurant Week from June 13th through 23rd.

For a limited time, participating Tampa Bay area restaurants are o ering multiple-course prix fixe menus and exclusive pricing on drink specials and more!

To take advantage of Restaurant Week, all you have to do is ask for the Tampa Bay Restaurant Week menu, at any of the following participating restaurants:

3 CORNERS PIZZA

4 RIVERS SMOKEHOUSE

ALLELO

ANCHOR AND BRINE

BEACON ROOFTOP LOUNGE

BESITO MEXICAN

BIRCH & VINE

BON APPETIT RESTAURANT

BULLA GASTROBAR

CIDER PRESS PUB

DRIFTLIGHT STEAKHOUSE

ELEVAGE SOHO KITCHEN AND BAR

FORTU

GANGCHU

GOOD INTENTIONS

JACKSON’S BISTRO, BAR & SUSHI

JIMMY’S TACOS

KONA GRILL

LATITUDE 28 (@ JW MARRIOTT CLEARWATER BEACH RESORT & SPA)

LONA

LOS CHAPOS TACOS

LUNA LUX

MADFISH ST PETE BEACH

MEL’S HOT DOGS

MUST WINE LOFT

ROME + FIG GLOBAL BISTRO

SAL Y MAR ROOFTOP BAR

SEA SALT ST PETE

SEASONS 52

SIX

THE BRINEHOUSE

THE BRISKET SHOPPE

THE DUNEDIN SMOKEHOUSE

THE HONU RESTAURANT AND TIKI BAR

THE ORIGINAL CRABBY BILLS

THE PEARL TAMPA

THE SPANIARD

THE TIDES SEAFOOD MARKET & PROVISIONS

TIBBY’S NEW ORLEANS KITCHEN

TIMPANO HYDE PARK

WAGAMAMA

WILLA’S + MORE TBA

INTRODUCING

THE RESTAURANT WEEK APP!

Scan the QR code to download, then check in at your favorite restaurants during Restaurant Week to win prizes.

This year, a portion of proceeds benefits:

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

RESTAURANTS RECIPES DINING GUIDES

Bye, bitch

Breakfast spot abruptly closes downtown St. Pete location, and more local food news.

By Kyla Fields

Apopular brunch restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg (with a somewhat contentious reputation) recently closed its doors. After about four years at Bodega’s former location at 1122 Central Ave., Bacon Bitch has closed. “Sad to inform you that this location has closed. Bacon Bitch locations continue in Orlando (UCF), South Beach (Miami Beach) and Bayside (downtown Miami),” a sign on Bacon Bitch’s closed doors read. “We are sorry about the short notice and we will miss St. Pete. Best Wishes!” While it’s not exactly sure what day Bacon Bitch closed its doors, it seemed to have quietly shuttered sometime within the past three weeks.

Although Bacon Bitch is still listed as “open” on Google with its normal hours, all signs of its St. Pete location have been taken off of its website. The abrupt closure has not yet been addressed on any of the restaurant’s social media pages either. St. Pete’s Bacon Bitch location made its debut in the fall of 2020. It was known for its menu of breakfast sandwiches, avocado toasts, salads, burgers, BLTs, plus champagne, beer, wine, daytime cocktails and sangrias for its “thirsty bitches.”

While some were captivated by its quirky and “bitchy” service, neon signs and straightforward brunch options, others detested the Miami-based business for animal abuse allegations that date back to 2017. A Change.com campaign claims that Bacon Bitch founder Chris Viso paid one of his restaurant employees to shoot and kill a stray cat named Strushie with a crossbow. The Miami Herald reported in 2017 that Georgios Kollias, the employee who followed Viso’s orders to kill the cat, was arrested and deported back to Greece before he went to trial. Viso was never charged for the crime that he allegedly organized. Ironically, the Bacon Bitch website states that it “puts just as much care into how an animal is raised and treated as we do into how all our bitches are treated. Bacon Bitch goes to great lengths to ensure all are treated equally.” Viso also opened a ‘Burg location of his other concept The Chicken Spot next to Bacon Bitch in 2021, although its Central Avenue location quietly closed about a year later.

Armature Works pizza spot The Fold debuts new Harbour Island location

A new pizza spot with a sweet counterpart just opened at 601 S Harbour Island Blvd. The Fold’s new Harbour Island location dishes out a menu that its Armature Works patrons will surely recognize, plus a few more Italian-

location also dishes calzones, chicken and meatball parmesan sandwiches, cheesesteaks and pastas like baked ziti and rigatoni. A few sides include garlic knots, antipasto, fried mozzarella and Ceasar salads.

The Fold is one the several Tampa-based concepts that local restaurant group Three

inspired entrees. It features classic flavors of hand-tossed pizzas like pepperoni, sausage and peppers and Sicilian, as well as unique options like The Fold’s “Firebird” za’ with tomato sauce, mozzarella, buffalo chicken, jalapeños and hot honey. In addition to a variety of pies and its “pizza of the day” special, The Fold’s new

Oaks Hospitality operates, in addition to Hyde Park’s Ro, Sesame, Jekyll and Armature Works’ M. Bird, Stones Throw, Butcher & BBQ and Kipos. It also owned the popular speakeasy Ciro’s, which closed in South Tampa last month. The Fold shares its Harbour Island space with newly-opened dessert shop Lily’s Sweet Treats,

which is also owned and operated by Three Oaks. Lily’s offers unique ice cream flavors that can be mixed with a variety of different cereals and toppings like Oreos, fresh fruit, pretzels, Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

For the latest updates on the popular pizza joint’s new Harbour Island outpost, head to @ thefoldtampa on Instagram. The Fold’s second location is now open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday and 11 a.m.-2:30 a.m. Thursday-Sunday.

St. Petersburg’s Gateway Subs opens first Tampa location

A new up-and-comer in St. Pete’s sandwich scene has just crossed the bridge. Gateway Subs recently debuted its first Tampa location inside of downtown’s Duckweed Urban Grocery at 803 N Tampa St.

The popular, ever-expanding local brand offers a variety of both classic sandwiches (spicyItalians, tuna salad, turkey and bacon), as well as a few unique “Gateway Original” options. A few of these sammies include the “Cool Ranch Rider” with buffalo chicken breast, bacon, hot peppers and crushed Doritos and “Da Beast,” with roast beef, mayo, Swiss cheese, onions, banana peppers and horseradish aioli. Wraps and salads are also on the Gateway menu.Gateway Subs also has an exclusive “sandwich of the month” offering, although it’s still unsure what June’s special will be.

Tampa’s newly-opened outpost marks Gateway Subs’ fourth Tampa Bay store, with other stores in Historic Kenwood, Pasadena and on 4th Street N in St. Pete. Owners Grant Strayer, Brandon Ruditz, and Morgan Zook opened their first location in 2021 with a goal of “bringing transparency and quality back to the restaurant industry,” according to Gateway’s website.

Before Gateway Subs moved in, the food counter inside Duckweed belonged to The Farmacy, a plant-based concept that offered a variety of grab ‘n go wraps, pasta salads, sandwiches and entrees. It closed in December 2023. Head to @gateway.subs on Instagram for the latest news on Gateway Subs’ new Tampa location. Downtown Tampa’s newest sammie spot is now open from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. every day.

DOUBLE FISTING: Bacon Bitch was known for its breakfast sandwiches and daytime cocktails.

Old beginnings

Alive, and loving Fringe.

By Jennifer Ring

I’ve written about Tampa Fringe since its fi rst festival in May 2017. Back then, Creative Loafi ng writers had to explain what a fringe festival was to Tampanians who’d never experienced one. Former CL Editor-in-Chief David Warner provided that introduction.

I’d been a stringer for less than a month — nowhere near long enough to be considered for festival coverage. But I’d read Warner’s 2017 Fringe Preview, and even though I’d never been to a fringe festival before, I knew Tampa Fringe was not to be missed. So I showed up on Fringe Preview Night, camera in hand, hoping someone might notice. And someone did. At the end of the night, Warner asked for my photos, and I earned a gig photographing the rest of the festival. That was how I experienced the first Tampa Fringe — as a photojournalist.

Back then, the festival sprawled out across multiple Ybor City venues, many of which I’d never seen the inside of. In my 30s and on oxygen, I stood out. Most of the time, that wasn’t a good thing. But at Fringe, where anyone is welcome to try anything, my younger, disabled self was welcome to try and be a photojournalist. Like the performers, I made friends that week, friends I’m happy to see once a year during Tampa Fringe, and sometimes in between.

a special place in my photography portfolio and my heart.

As my health deteriorated, I traded photography gigs for less physically demanding writing gigs. Meanwhile, newspaper staffs shrunk across the country, and alt-weeklies like CL relied on freelancers more and more.

FESTIVAL

Tampa Fringe

June 5-16. Various times. $9 & up Kress Contemporary, 1624 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. tampafringe.org

I still keep remnants of that early assignment in an old scrapbook full of clippings: my fi rst press pass, my fi rst Creative Loafi ng interview to appear in print, a Fringe button. The photos I took during that festival have

Over the years, I went from taking a few pictures to previewing the entire festival and writing short reviews. Meanwhile, my lung disease followed its natural progression until in 2022, at 42 years old, I had to choose between hospice or a double lung transplant. I chose a double lung transplant, which is why I’m still alive and no longer need supplemental oxygen in 2024. But in 2022, the only thing sicker than me was beat journalism.

In 2024, as my health returned, I did what journalists have been doing for the past decade — I found a job in marketing so I could pay my bills. But I couldn’t leave journalism altogether, and I’ve never missed a Tampa Fringe.

So here we are, seven years later. A much healthier, happier version of me is spending the weekend writing this Tampa Fringe Preview. I’m far from the only person in journalism or the arts juggling multiple jobs right now. It’s a testament to our shared love of Fringe that we managed to schedule four interviews within a two-day period around all our other jobs. Three of those interviews were with local comics for our cover story, “Local laughs at Tampa Fringe.” The fourth was with Canadian magician Keith Brown because it’s not Fringe without Canadians.

Deciding who to interview isn’t easy at a festival with 30 different shows in about eight genres. We chose local comedy as this preview’s theme, and we mostly adhered to it. But if you stick to a single genre at Fringe, you’re missing out, so we’ve included a list of all this year’s Tampa Fringe shows by genre.

Tampa Fringe comes to Kress Contemporary in historic Ybor City June 5-16. For a full schedule of shows and special events, and to buy tickets, head to festival.tampafringe.org. And if you still aren’t sure exactly what a Fringe Festival is, tampafringe.org explains that, too.

GAY AWAKENING: Alby Queer shares their coming out story in a comedic seminar on Friday.

C/O TAMPA FRINGE

Funny business

Tampa Fringe makes a lot of room for laughter.

By Jennifer Ring

Comedy is a long-standing fringe tradition.

According to Playbill, well-known comedians Stephen Fry, Mr. Bean, Craig Ferguson, Robin Williams, Mike Myers, and John Cleese all performed at the original Edinburgh Festival Fringe before making it big. Several Tampa Bay area comics perform at this year’s Tampa Fringe, June 5-16 in Ybor City. We spoke with Clark Brooks, Cat Lim and Michael Jochims about what makes Fringe a good venue for comedy and what they’re bringing to this year’s Tampa Fringe. Here’s what they had to say.

The road to self-discovery is paved with jokes in ‘Cat Lim: An American Darling’

Cat Lim is more than just a comedian. She’s also a graphic designer, a marketer, and a musician.

“As of last week, I’m also a choreographer,” Lim told Creative Loafing. “It’s kind of ridiculous how many side gigs I have, but in a way, I don’t really consider them side gigs just because these are all things that I feel passionate about.”

“Cat Lim’s Deepest Darkest Secrets” sold out The Cage, the 15-seat venue it was staged in, earning her an encore performance at Fringe Theatre the weekend after the festival.

The 30-minute show was the kind of comic leap one could only pull off at a Fringe Festival. Most comedians will spend a year performing a five-minute set before a comedy club invites them to do a ten-minute set. Lim went straight to 30 minutes within her first year of being a comic.

This year, Lim’s graduated to a 45-minute show in Fringe Theatre, which seats about 40 people compared to The Cage’s 15.

Like its author, “Cat Lim: An American Darling” dips its toes in multiple creative media.

FESTIVAL

Tampa Fringe

Lim has enjoyed having a variety of creative outlets since she was a kid, but fitting all this creativity into adult life is a challenge. No one can provide you with a map to your own creativity. You have to figure it out yourself. It’s a journey.

June 5-16. Various times. $9 & up Kress Contemporary, 1624 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. tampafringe.org

Lim brings a slice of that journey onstage this June with her latest Fringe effort, “Cat Lim: An American Darling.”

In her new 45-minute show, Lim addresses the perils of being a people-pleaser.

“It gets me into these situations that I don’t want to be in, but for some reason, I get myself in, like conversations that never end,” Lim told CL. The best comedy, Lim tells us, is personal.

“You have to be yourself and know yourself to create comedy that is unique and authentic,” says Lim. “Audiences can sniff out inauthenticity. Your brand or persona needs to be rooted in something that’s real for people to connect with it.”

Lim’s journey to comedy started with improv at American Stage around 2018. She broke into standup comedy about two years ago. Since then, she’s performed at Studio@620 and Sunshine Comedy Club in St. Pete and The Commodore in Ybor.

Lim threw her name into the Fringe hat (Fringe shows are selected at random — festival organizers draw names out of a hat) for the first time in 2023. John of St. Pete comedy troupe Dirty Johns told Lim about the festival and how it nurtures the weird and unique.

“It’s mostly standup, but there’s going to be a little bit of music and a little bit of a multimedia presentation,” Lim told CL. “I might be wearing a wig at one point. It’s a little bit different from a typical stand-up show. When I was putting it together, I felt some pressure to kind of fall in line with this standard stand-up show, but then I realized this is the Fringe Festival. This is an opportunity to have fun with it and see how I can fully express myself outside the bounds of a typical stand-up show.”

“Cat Lim: An American Darling” premieres at Tampa Fringe Festival Sat., June 8, 6:00 p.m., with additional performances on Sun. June 9, 1:45 p.m.; Tues. June 11, 8:45 p.m.; Sat. June 15, 8:30 p.m. and Sun. June 16, 1 p.m. at The Fringe Theatre in Kress Contemporary. 1624 E 7th Ave. Ybor City. $12. festival.tampafringe.org

Don’t know the answer? Make one up at Clark Brooks’ Trivia Only I Know

You won’t know the answers to the questions Tampa comic Clark Brooks’ poses at his new live game show act, “Trivia Only I Know.” But that doesn’t mean you can’t make something up. And in an audience of creatives, Fringe’s primary demographic, I expect to hear some very entertaining wrong answers.

“I’m going to ask questions about things that only I’ve experienced,” Brooks told Creative Loafing in an in-person interview at The Fringe Theatre.

So don’t bother inviting your smart friend. Instead, invite your friend who comes up with the most bizarre, offensive answers in a game of Cards Against Humanity. Because sometimes, wrong answers are the best answers. And once you’re done telling your tall tale, sit back and

let Brooks tell you the real story or whatever he’s prepared. It’s hard to tell what’s fact from what’s fiction when you’re talking to comedians.

Brooks’ has been performing comedy for Tampa audiences for about twelve years now.

“It was a bucket list item for me,” Brooks told CL. “I was a big fan of Letterman and Carson, and I always said I wanted to do standup comedy one time. I’d written some things on Twitter and got fairly good responses.”

One day, Brooks performed some of his Twitter jokes in front of a live audience at a Double Decker open mic. It went well enough, but when Brooks saw how hard everyone else had worked on their material, he decided to take his comedy more seriously.

“You can tell the ones who take it seriously,” Brooks told CL. “And there’s others that just riff, and they’re usually terrible. You can tell when people put the effort in. It usually shows up in the finished product.”

Brooks has performed at Side Splitters Comedy Club and Tampa Improv before it became Funny Bone. He’s also performed in bars, coffee houses, a retirement home in Bradenton and a fertility clinic in Lakeland.

In 2019, as Tampa Fringe entered its third year, Festival Producer Trish Parry went

CAT LIMITLESS: Cat Lim is more than just a comedian. continued on page 26

hunting for Tampa Bay comics on Facebook. Brooks answered the call.

“I looked at the parameters where you get to keep all the ticket revenue, they give you a venue, and it costs virtually no money,” Brooks told CL. “It was a no-brainer.”

Brooks got together with fellow Tampa Bay area comedians Ricky Hicken, Natasha Samreny, Elijah Hernandez, Amanda Wilson, and Kaiti McCoy, and together they performed “The Restful Bitch Face Show.”

“It’s a little bit different from a typical stand-up show.”

“None of us knew what Fringe was about when we joined,” Brooks recounts.

“But then one of the first nights, one of the other performers, Dandy Darkly, walked all the way over from Hillsborough Community College just to come over and say hi. And we realized, oh, this is what Fringe people are like; they’re all about supporting each other. And so one of our performers, Elijah Hernandez, took time off work and just spent all day at Fringe watching shows, which is the way it’s supposed to be experienced.”

Fringe has since become a well-known venue for comedy and storytelling, and Brooks’ “Trivia Only I Know” has both. We can’t tell you if it’s going to be any good, because we

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“I get a lot of satisfaction from making an effective joke out of dangerous material.”

have to wait until June 8 to see the show just like everyone else. But if past performance is any indicator, Brooks’ new show will be both surprising and funny.

Clark Brooks’ “Trivia Only I Know” premieres at Tampa Fringe on Sat. June 8, 3 p.m., with additional performances on Sun. June 9, 4:30 p.m.; Mon. June 10, 8:20 p.m.; Sat. June 15, 9:30 p.m. and Sun. June 16, 2:45 p.m. at The Cage in Kress Contemporary. 1624 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City. $10. festival.tampafringe.org

Comedian Michael Jochims shares his personal brand of insanity at Tampa Fringe

What if you could build a giant robot to take revenge on all the people who’ve wronged you? That’s the premise behind Michael Jochims’ new sci-fi comedy, “When We Finish Our Robot,” at Tampa Fringe.

And if you’re thinking, “Well, that’s different,” so is Jochims.

Being unapologetically different is challenging in a world where everyone else tries to fit in. As a person with autism, Jochims often feels misunderstood, but he’s not looking for you to feel sorry for him. Jochim copes with his differences and how others react to them with humor.

“The idea of the show [When We Finish Our Robot] is that I and the other anti-social aggrieved get together, look at polite society and normal people, and are like, ‘Okay, they need to die.’”

It’s absurd, dark, and risky. That’s Jochims’ brand of comedy.

“I get a lot of satisfaction from making an effective joke out of dangerous material,” he explains.

But it doesn’t always fly at a traditional comedy venue.

FESTIVAL

The concept started as a throwaway line, an off-the-cuff reaction to a joke gone wrong.

Jochims was onstage riffing his way out of a hole when he said, “I get that you guys aren’t into this. I’m not going to take it personally. I’m not going to go and build a giant robot and get revenge.”

Unlike the one before, that joke worked, so he built on it. Now, Jochims is finally building that robot.

“Doing stand-up, I don’t get to be at my most ‘me’ until a crowd’s warmed up enough that they’ll put up with me,” Jochims wrote CL. “In a lot of rooms, I have to ‘work’ the audience into shape with my most accessible material and the more generic standup moves and energy.”

By contrast, Fringe audiences are more accustomed to genre-bending weirdness.

“Fringe is giving me a chance to unapologetically lean into my personal brand of insanity,” says Jochims.

Jochims is also leaning into the science fiction portion of his plot, which, with the most

recent AI explosion, is starting to feel more like reality than fiction.

When he’s not working a press (his day job) or writing new material, Jochims is training AI chatbots on his brand of comedy.

When he wrote to tell me he was busy “designing a very labor-intensive merch product that gives audience members permanent access to AI chatbots from the show,” I thought that perhaps I was becoming the butt of a joke, but Jochims assured me that these AI comicbots are really happening, and they’re mostly benign.

Despite the shocking premise, Jochims says, “When We Finish Our Robot’ is cute. It’s funny. The mood is upbeat.”

Michael Jochims’ “When We Finish Our Robot” premieres at Tampa Fringe Fri. June 7, 8:45 p.m., with additional performances Sat. June 8, 3:30 p.m.; Sun. June 9. 6:45 p.m.; Mon. June 10; 7:15 p.m. and Sat. June 15, 4:45 p.m. at Screen Door in Kress Contemporary. 1624 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. $15. Festival.tampafringe.org

ANTI-SOCIAL AGGRIEVED CLUB: Absurd, dark and dangerous is Michael Jochims’ style

Rudolph Eickemeyer, Portrait of Evelyn Nesbit, 1905, Hand-colored platinum print, On loan from a private collection

We focused on local comedy because we figured everyone could use a good laugh these days, but Fringe shows come in all genres. Eighteen and up shows for the adults in the room (read: burlesque), family-friendly shows to go see with your kids on Father’s Day, storytelling, dance, music, magic and more. Here’s what this year’s Tampa Fringe has to offer in every genre.

Keith Brown brings his award-winning magic show to Tampa Fringe. Toronto’s best magician (according to A1 Radio) is coming to Tampa

Keith Brown’s “Absolute Magic” combines magic and storytelling in an hour-long show that recently won the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Magic Show at the 2023 Orlando Fringe.

“Someone offered me money when I was 13 years old to work in a bar, and my parents let me do that,” Brown, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about his first gig. “Things kind of snowballed from there.”

That bar was a college pub called Christina’s Paul at the gates of Western University in London, Ontario. A card trick for the owner turned into an invitation to perform at a charity event and then a steady gig performing three nights a week. At around 16-17 years old, Brown discovered Fringe in his hometown of London, Ontario. His first London Fringe performance, in 2011, earned him an Impresario Award. Brown’s been Fringing ever since; 2024 marks Brown’s 10th year on the circuit. By the end of summer, he’ll have performed his 50th Fringe show.

“I really like the Fringe because you get to build a sense of community and you get to see patrons and artists year after year,” Keith told Creative Loafing. “I’m at the Orlando Fringe right now, and we just had the teaser/ preview night. It’s like the first night that any of us have seen each other for a year, so it’s like a big family reunion.”

As an audience member, Brown enjoys the festival’s affordability and unpredictability.

“It’s also a chance to see a bunch of stuff that you wouldn’t normally go see, and you get to do it for cheap,” Brown told CL. “It’s not like you’re going to Broadway and spending hundreds of dollars. You also might not see a Broadway-level show. You might see a complete piece of shit, but that’s part of the fun of Fringe. You could see a total train wreck, or you could see something amazing. Worse comes to worse, it’s like an hour of your time and $10. Or best comes to best, you think, ‘I can’t believe I only spent $10 for that. I should have paid way more.’ You get to see a whole range of artists at different levels, and you get to see weird and wacky things that are, you know, on the fringe.”

“Absolute Magic” is one of the first shows Brown brought on tour. He’s been performing and perfecting it for close to a decade.

It’s magic: Tampa Fringe by genre.

RANDBEREICH: Paco Erhard will teach you how to be German.

“It’s definitely changed over time,” Brown told CL, “because you get better as a performer, you update some of the tricks and you update the stories as well.”

Tampa sees a more refined version of Brown’s family-friendly magic show Father’s Day weekend. Fri. June 14, 7 p.m.; Sat. June 15, 4:45 p.m.; Sun. June 16, 1:15 p.m. West Annex, Kress Contemporary. 1624 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. $15. festival.tampafringe.org

Jennifer Ring

The Other Side: A Brain-Bending Magic Show Orlando magician and brain cancer survivor Sebastian Gerhardt shares his magical story. Wednesday June 12, 8:30 p.m.; Sat. June 15, 9:45 p.m.; Sunday. June 16, 4:45 p.m. West Annex. $15

Dance & physical theatre

Canvas Tampa's Break the Mould Dance Company performs with body paint to create a unique image in this family-friendly offering. Thurs. June 6, 7 p.m.; Friday, June 7, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 1:15 p.m.; Sunday. June 9, 1:30 p.m. West Annex. $12

Shedding Skin Idaho’s Creative Moves explores the process of growth and transformation. Fri. June 14, 7 p.m.; Sat. June 15, 3:45 p.m.; Sun. June 16, 7:15 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $12

Acrobellum This people-stacking comedy offers free tumbling sessions between shows. Saturday, June 15, 12:20 p.m. and Sunday, June 16, 12:50 p.m. Fringe Central. Free

Cabaret

Factory Girl Tampa DJ HouseOfNae performs new work. ThursDay, June 6, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 6:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 1:45 p.m.; Saturday June 15, 9:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 5:15 p.m. Screen Door. $9

Vulva-Va-Voom Tampa local and Best of the Bay Award-winning Fringe performer premieres a new and likely inappropriate cabaret act for an 18 and up audience. Thursday, June 6, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 9 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 6:15 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 2 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 5:30 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $15

Late Night Cabaret The popular fringe variety show returns with new bits. Saturday, June 15, 11 p.m. West Annex. $10

Music

Blowing Wind: The Original Noisemakers Oboe and Trumpet come together. Sunday, June 9, 12:15 p.m.; Wednesday, June 12, 8:15 p.m.; Friday June 14, 8:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 12 p.m. Screen Door. $10

Storytelling

Alby Queer and the Gay Awakening Alby Queer shares their coming out story in a comedic seminar. Friday June 7, 7:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 2:45 p.m.; Friday June 14, 7:50 p.m. The Cage. $12

JudaH Lion Tampa’s Keegan “JudaH” Galt brings a piece of the Caribbean to the Fringe with a musical adventure with tropical storytelling. Saturday, June 8, 7:15 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 4:30 p.m.; Monday, June 10, 8:15 p.m.; Tuesday June 11, 7 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 3 p.m. West Annex. $15

continued on page 31

Psychedelics for Dummies Canada’s Ginger Nation combines music with psychedelic laughs. Thursday, June 13, 7: 15 p.m.; Friday June 14, 10 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 6:30 p.m. Screen Door. $12

Sandwich Artist Jordan “The Sack” Bertke returns to Tampa Fringe Thursday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 6:45 p.m. The Cage. $15

Last Sibling Standing Southern storyteller Tony Solo premieres a story about family. Thursday, June 13, 9 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 8:15 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 7 p.m. Screen Door. $10

Big Top Tales Former Ringling Bros. clown Matthew Belopavlovich shares his stories and teaches circus skills in his interactive show. Saturday, June 15, 11:45 a.m.; Sunday, June 16, 12:15 p.m.; West Annex. $10

Drama

Tagged Jim Moss’s award-winning drama. Thursday, June 6, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 12:15 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 7 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 4 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $12

The Toy Box Adversaria explores loss through the story of an abandoned toy. Thursday, June 6, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 5:15 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 3:30 p.m.; Tuesday June 11, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 1:45 p.m. Screen Door. $10

“#NotOneMore” Tampa’s Bostock-Kelley Productions tackles gun violence in a twopart drama. Saturday, June 8, 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday June 11, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 1:15 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 6:30 p.m. West Annex. $15 Horror

The Dropping Well Tampa’s Bridget Bean brings a new play based on the life of English soothsayer Mother Shipton. Thursday, June 6, 8:15 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 8:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 2:45 p.m.; Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 3 p.m. West Annex. $12

Farce

Florida Fever Dream Sketch comedy meets absurdist cabaret in Nicole Crowther’s. Friday June 7, 8:15 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 5:45 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 6 p.m.; Monday, June 10, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 8:15 p.m. West Annex. $15

Captain Havoc & the Big-Titty Bog Witches Hop off the Jizz Jet and head to Cockroach Bay as a greedy developer tries to tear down a town a bog to build “a kinkier version of The Villages” in a new, and sexy, farce by the Tampa-based Hoof Arted company. Friday June 7, 8:45 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 10 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 2:30 p.m.

Parody

One-woman Titanic Parody Titanic historian Katie Thayer uses puppets and actual history in this 59-minute show. Friday June 7, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 8, 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 5 p.m. Screen Door. $15

A One Man Batman Parody Starring Canada’s Rod Peter Jr. Monday, June 10, 7:15 p.m.; Wednesday, June 12, 8 p.m.; Thursday, June 13, 8:45 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $15

Improv

Prop-Up Stories Prop’s become a source of comedy in the hands of Matthew Belopavlovich. Saturday, June 15, 12:45 p.m. Screen Door. $10

Stand-Up

Super Big Comedy Show Starring awardwinning Orlando-based comedian DK Reinemer. Friday June 7, 7 p.m.; Friday June 14, 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 12:15 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $15

Fistful of Cereal Lucas McDermott delivers stand-up and sketch comedy with audience participation. Saturday, June 8, 1:30 p.m.; Sunday, June 9, 3:15 p.m.; Tuesday June 11, 7 p.m.; Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 5:15 p.m. The Fringe Theatre. $12

5-Step Guide to Being German German comedian Paco Erhard’s award-winning show. Thursday, June 13, 8:45 p.m.; Friday June 14, 8:45 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 6:30 p.m. West Annex. $15

America UR Weird Aussie Steve explores American absurdity. Friday June 14, 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 15, 3:15 p.m.; Sunday, June 16, 1:45 p.m. Screen Door. $15

HOLY SHIP: Katie Thayer stages a one-woman Titanic Parody.

Extraordinary

‘Next to Normal’ soars musically, and gut-punches, too.

By Jon Palmer Claridge

If your idea of a musical is “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,” then TampaRep’s electrifying “Next to Normal” is not for you. However, if you or anyone in your life has been touched by the multi-faceted and much misunderstood world of mental illness, you’ll find yourself on an exhilarating ride splashing into an emotional puddle—and that’s just midway through the first act.

To say that the Pulitzer-Prize winning show is the most impactful and thrilling musical of this century is not an exaggeration—and that includes the much-lauded and deservingly beloved, “Hamilton.” However, even though it begins as “just another day,” it’s not an easy journey.

We follow the “perfect, loving” Goodman family’s attempts to survive. The sexy and sharp mother Diana (Alexis CarraGirbés) is a delusional bipolar depressive. Her two talented teen children, Gabe (Ben Sutherland) and Natalie (Mariela Zeno) are just hanging on. Gabe is a dashing, playful but complicated presence. The younger Natalie strives for perfection trying to emerge from her brother’s shadow— and it’s not going well. Their father, Dan (Jim Sorensen), is constant and genuine but increasingly tired as Diana’s doctors (both played by Nicholas Perez-Hoop) throw every possible therapy against the wall hoping something will stick. The pressure of it all drives daughter Natalie to take a fork in the road diverging from the rigid “crystalline clear” world of Mozart to slackerphilosopher boyfriend Henry’s (Max Dalton) escape into the improvisation of jazz and drugs.

Musical director, Juan Rodriguez, has whipped his crackerjack musicians into a fine-tuned ensemble. Michael Starobin’s Tonywinning orchestrations sound wonderful, alternating electric guitar riffs with soulful support on violin and cello. The score reflects each character’s individual musicality, perfectly expressing their emotional state. For me, the sound reinforcement that modern audiences seem to demand, muddies more lyrics than I’d like in the intimate black box; I would’ve loved to hear this full-voiced cast with less amplification.

THEATER

Next to Normal Select nights through June 16. $12-$60 Tampa Repertory Theatre. 3837 USF Holly Dr., Tampa (TAR 120). TampaRep.org

The designers’ splendid work contributes to creating a cohesive whole. Chis Pyfrom’s twotiered set uses the University of South Florida’s black box fully—complete with a spiral stair. This enables director Emilia Sargent to keep the action moving, shaping focus, while also giving characters the ability to observe and sing from multiple perspectives on high. The modern costumes by last year’s Theatre Tampa Bay Award-winner, Meli Mossey, are spot on and reflect the characters’ different emotional states. And Keith Eisenstadt’s multi-textured lighting also uses intense saturated colors worthy of the psychic chaos that swirls around the action.

“It’s an important show that demands to be seen.”

The story urgently rushes forward, driven by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s sophisticated Tonywinning, rock-inflected score that’s deceptively infectious. The melodies sweep you away and Mr. Yorkey’s pithy and insightful lyrics drive home the conundrum that mental illness poses within a family:

Who’s crazy—the one who can’t cope, Or maybe the one who’ll still hope?

The one who sees doctors

Or the one who just waits in the car?

We as the audience are sucked immediately into a swirling, emotional vortex that’s really akin to a bullfight worthy of Ernest Hemingway. Our emotions are like a charging bull that can’t escape the thrusts of the picador. Every forward movement brings the sting of pain.

The six-member company is uniformly strong; each is at the top of their game both vocally and dramatically. Ms. Carra-Girbés (who is also the choreographer) has her Broadway pedigree on full display. In one of the great women’s roles in recent memory, her vocal and emotional range is immense and always perfectly calibrated.One of the great joys of the intimate space is that the close proximity to the audience allows for great nuance that would be lost on most other stages. A prime example is the two sides of Diana’s “rock star” doctor; Perez-Hoop brings his devilish charm back to town and shines in the role. The petite Ms. Zeno is a ball of fire displaying vocal prowess and dramatic heft and contrasts nicely with the sweetness Mr. Dalton brings to the stoner, Henry. Ben Sutherland’s Gabe surpasses even his noteworthy turn in last year’s Trailer Park musical. Anchoring the ensemble as Diana’s “boring” husband, Jim Sorensen brings some of his finest acting to the smaller, subtle moments at the denouement when the pain in his eyes will break your heart.

Kudos to artistic director/producer Sargent for finally bringing this show to the stage. Her

expressed love for the material shows in every aspect of the production. It’s an important show that demands to be seen—unflinching is its depictions and eliciting tears on multiple occasions. I saw the original in D.C and two different Broadway casts as well as local productions in Orlando and twice in Sarasota. Still, when it honestly and musically soars, as it does here, the gut punches still land with force and dry eyes are simply just not possible.

In a recent interview, Maria Friedman, the beloved British stage actress and director (who will inevitably lead her breathtaking Broadway

revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” to a slew of Tony awards on June 16) confesses that all she’s interested in is “Detailed storytelling and examining why LOVE is so hard and so essential.” Ideed, love is at the heart of what makes all our lives meaningful. And even though Diana’s Dr. Madden counsels that “the price of love is loss,” we’re left teary-eyed but buoyed by the power of the human spirit to survive. It’s not betraying the drama to reveal that a glorious, inspiring chorus ultimately fills the theater and our hearts with elation. If we just “find the will to find our way . . . there will be light.”

THERE WILL BE LIGHT: Tampa Rep’s ‘Next To Normal’ company is uniformly strong.

Character study

New experiences await CL’s longtime food and theater critic.

By Jon Palmer Claridge

In Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning 1973 Broadway musical, “A Little Night Music,” an aging courtesan bemoans the younger generation’s lack of discretion and forethought as she recounts her many aristocratic liaisons. Her irritation builds as the lyrics pose many questions, ultimately ending with: “Where’s craft?”

Little did I know as I sat in the last row for my first Broadway visit, that that very question would dominate my own professional life for the next five decades and would drive my critical observations for Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, which I’m retiring from after a review of “Next to Normal” at Tampa Repertory Theatre.

I have been exceedingly fortunate during the last 12 years as a critic for CL. As far as I have been able to research, I am the only (lucky person) to have served as both a food/wine and theater critic across the entire U.S. of A. I never thought of myself as a journalist, but rather as a devotee of craft. I’m blessed with natural curiosity and what (in my younger years) might have been described as an oppressive enthusiasm. In a field of ever increasing specialization, I studied acting—embracing my then hero Laurence Olivier’s passion for stage makeup. But I also was a theatrical omnivore taking every set and lighting design class I could manage. I had a knack for drafting and perspective drawing, but flopped at the piano. A good ear didn’t transfer to

my hands. When I decided that grad school was good prep for a steady job given that I now had a child, I opted for an MFA in directing while still learning all I could about design. I learned to sew (a good life skill), but stayed focused on sets and lights while directing. These broad experiences gave me keen insight into all the specific choices that need to be made by each collaborative artist to make a play.

COLUMN

The purpose of a theater critic, in the wise words of Arena Stage’s long time artistic director, Molly Smith, is “to provide context.” It’s not to create hyperbolic quotes for artists to add to their clip book or even to quote for PR purposes, although sometimes quotable prose emerges as I fiddle with my iPad. Rather, my goal is always to serve you, the readers. So, for me, it’s storytelling. Even in the decade when I was just doing restaurant reviews, my aim was always to describe the experience of what it was like to spend an evening at the establishment at hand and give details about pros and cons of the particular meal.

As I explained in my introductory “Calling All Hedonists” column in June 2012,, I find it useful, even essential, to use Goethe’s three questions for evaluating art as an approach for any useful criticism. Even in your own daily lives when you’re not charged to write about your observations, using Goethe as a filter enables us to focus the experience. 1. What was the chef (or

artist) trying to do? The answer provides focus whether you’re sampling an inexpensive snack from a food truck or indulging in modernist cuisine wizardry from a Michelin aspiring kitchen. Only then can you look at the craft and decide: 2. How well did they do it? And, finally, come to the conclusion: 3. Was it worth doing?

The answer, of course, is just one person’s opinion. But whether it’s food or theater, making that leap requires context and continuous education. That’s why I’ve spent my life studying craft and pursuing these two obsessions at the highest levels. I’ve been privileged to have the ability regularly to access Broadway, London’s West End, Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Company and to taste at great vineyards and luxuriate in Michelinstarred dining.

I must say, as I step away that I share the observation of Peter Marks, the long time theater critic of The Washington Post as he recently left his position: “I feel like a character in an existential play by Tom Stoppard: relinquishing an endangered job in a struggling business that covers a gasping industry.” On the culinary front, even as restaurant reviews waned, CL’s Kyla Fields brings you oodles of food news each week, while the scene shows diversity and growth plus the advent of Michelin stars.

“Enhance your life every chance you get.”

Surprisingly, my first review for CL was a one-off theater review in April 2012. But that led (long story) to a lunch with CL’s long-time editor, David Warner, and my ascension to the role of food critic where I served for a decade. That included a monthly wine column and periodic “postcards” from my culinary travels, largely thanks to my British ex-pat girlfriend’s ability to win “Star Performers” trips from PRP Wine International. These historical columns are still available on the CL website. Or, if you prefer, as collected (with additions & recipes) in an a book, “Drink. More.Wine.” My sincere hope is to encourage you to embrace my mantra of “peak experiences now.” It’s sort of unfathomable to me that there are over 600 entries searching my name on the CL database, but writing on a regular basis for 12 years adds up.

I’d love our artistic leaders to see more of each other’s work and for everyone to understand that the Theatre Tampa Bay (and all) Awards are subjective. Running a restaurant or a theater company is a high wire act; despite best efforts, success is not guaranteed. So we must appreciate those committed souls willing to fight against the odds.

Serving you has been the privilege of my life, and only made possible by CL’s string of supportive and insightful food editors (Arielle Stevenson, Meaghan Habuda, Jenna Rimensnyder Troyli) and the aforementioned Mr. Warner and current wizard, Ray Roa, who with publisher James Howard, magically kept CL afloat through the pandemic when so many other publications, restaurants and theaters crashed and burned.

My closing message to you all—as I leave with profound thanks for your attention—is simply to enhance your life every chance you get. Prioritize experiences over stuff. Without art and great food, life is barren. Please step outside your comfort zone NOW . . . new peak experiences are waiting.

PEAK EXPERIENCE: ‘Serving you has been the privilege of my life.’

By Josh Bradley C CL Recommends

THU 06

C Frankie and the Witch Fingers w/ Kairos Creature Club/Mak Los Angelesrock group Frankie and the Witch Fingers is no stranger to Tampa Bay, with a few sweaty gigs in the market under its belt. The band, best known for its small-room energy and explosive psych-rock, garage rock-adjacent songs, will play to a bigger crowd at Ybor City’s Crowbar alongside Lena Simon of La Luz and Glenn Van Dyke of Boytoy in their new project dubbed Kairos Creature Club. Tampa-based indie rockers Mak, which released a few easylistening singles last year, opens. (Crowbar, Ybor City)—Kyla Fields

Hunxho If the 24-year-old rapper’s opening set for Lil Baby at Tampa’s Amalie Arena wowed you last fall, be ready to go looking for love all over again, just on the other side of the Bay. On his latest album For Her, the Greensboro-based emcee—born Ibrahim Muhammed Dodo—melodically goes through the ups and downs of how he sees his relationship, from begging his partner to come back home after an argument to complaining about how morning communication can be hard between the two of them. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

FRI 07

Foghat w/Cactus/Pat Travers Band It’s hard to say no to the band behind “Slow Ride” taking on some blues covers, but perhaps the main kicker behind Foghat’s latest album Sonic Mojo is the presence of the final compositions from Savoy Brown founder—and longtime friend of the band— Kim Simmonds, who died in 2022. Two of the three tracks co-penned by the late blues legend have been present on the band’s current slate of shows (which ran through Anna Maria Island back in January), and if that’s not enough for you, Cactus—featuring Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice—and guitar hero Pat Travers both share this multinational bill. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Gdsob w/Thee Butcher Cabal/Spanish Needles/Fear The Spider When Rath and the Wise Guys’ Steve Cutter isn’t inviting fans to a recording session for a punk cover, he’s on bass in Fear The Spider, a five-piece punk outfit that formed in St. Petersburg seven years ago. The group, which cites ‘70s glamrock and vintage punk rock as its influence, brings its latest, five-track album Hear Us Now and more across the Sunshine Skyway to open this gig. (Oscura, Bradenton)

Rich Sheldon Quartet Roger McGuinn calls Orlando home, and even though he very seldom performs with a band

anymore, it makes sense that his longtime guitarist Steve Connelly is at arm’s length in Tampa (should the Byrd decide to go electric again). Connelly’s current gig is with soulful singer-songwriter Rich Sheldon, whose colorful, beachy material has been brought to the attention of the likes of Ziggy Marley and performed in the presence of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Los Lobos. Also included in the fold is local instrumentalist Matt Frick on keyboards, who just hosted his own music festival last weekend. (The Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg)

SAT 08

Austin Powers Rave Gen-Z got its 4/20 “Shrek” rave earlier this year, so who says that Mike Myers shouldn’t have a presence in a rave for slightly older kids-at-heart?

Attendees are encouraged to break out their stereotypical hippie regalia, and the event is free with RSVP. Although, if we’re going to start centering raves around films featuring the “SNL” legend, a “Wayne’s World” night (or, God forbid, a live-action “Cat in the Hat” night) would go crazy on a Saturday night in Ybor City. Yay, capitalism! (The Ritz, Ybor City)

C Megan Thee Stallion w/Glorilla The cognac queen is giving Tampa Bay another hot girl summer. Ms. Stallion, thot matriarch of raunchy, empowering rap, is in the midst of a 31-date world tour, and has plans to come to our neck of the woods, with the only other Florida stop on the Hot Girl Summer tour is at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. The 29-year-old, three-time Grammy winner last played Tampa in 2019 and is riding high on a new single, “Hiss,” which hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Memphis rapper Glo Rilla opens the show. (Amalie Arena, Tampa)—Ray Roa

Woe Is Me w/Not Enough Space/Stoned Mary/Fiends It may be a hot minute until fans of Woe is Me get to hear another studio album from their heroes, semi-fresh off of a nineyear break. But the band’s latest single, the screamo-esque “Hard To Live” does confirm the Atlanta-based metal outfit’s status as a pro-take-care-of-your-mental-health band, with a little help from Renesans frontman David Benites. This stop in Tampa (the band’s first in only a year) was supposed to be the penultimate gig of a limited run of shows, but due to construction delays inside the Greenville, South Carolina room it was supposed to rock on Sunday, Woe, Is Me now closes the tour up in the Bay area. (Orpheum, Tampa)

SUN 09

The Kid Laroi w/glaive/Chase Shakur The 20-year-old rapper, born Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, hasn’t had an entirely easy road. He faced homelessness, provided for his mother, and watched two of the closest people outside of his blood family (his friend Saik and mentor Juice Wrld, whose drug overdose he bore witness to in 2019) die, all before he turned 18. But Howard, aka The Kid Laroi who makes his Tampa Bay debut this weekend, presses on anyway, as seen in his new documentary “Kids Are Growing Up,” which depicts his current mental health, well-being, and even a few extra tidbits of his upbringing in Australia. (Yuengling Center, Tampa)

Kurt Reifler and The Watchdogs Kurt Reifler—whose double EP Year Of/The Bear landed him on NPR’s Live Lunch in 2019—once toured across 48 out of 50 U.S. states in a Chevy Prizm. While usually, we would hope that the New York-raised rock singer-songwriter could pull something

Frankie & the Witch Fingers

like that off again, the 41-year-old is spending the last weekend of his “New Sheriff” tour in Florida, and closes things up at Independent. Don’t be surprised if Reifler hops behind the drum kit, either. (Independent Bar & Cafe, Tampa)

C Steve Earle It should go without saying that the 69-year-old country legend misses the hell out of his son Justin Townes Earle (who died in 2020 of an accidental overdose) every waking hour of the day, but since his last visit to downtown Clearwater three years ago, he has been letting his boy’s songs rest while he shifts back towards a full career retrospective. On the other hand, Earle’s little sister Stacey is set to open this solo set that will surely feature a few tales relating to his friends-slashmentors Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)

WED 12

Adam Ezra Group The Boston-based quartet, described as one that fuses “folk intimacy and rock energy with soul power and pop charm,” spent its first few years opening for the likes of Train and The Wallflowers, and on the heels of the 25th anniversary of Ezra’s debut album, the group promises to release at least 19 singles before the decade is out. Its free Riverwalk gig takes place just outside of where “Les Misérables” will be staged for five, back-to-back days, so maybe bring some cold water bottles and cash tips for Adam and friends for making you temporarily forget about the inevitable violent sobs you’re bound to let out inside Morsani Hall, yeah? (Riverwalk Stage at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa)

C Doechii After coming home to play two shows over the holidays, Tampa’s hip-hop swamp princess already has plans to circle back. This show is a welcome return to the historic district where Doechii has played memorable shows at The Bricks and The Ritz. Read more on p. 41. (1509 Live, Ybor City)—RR

THU 13

Blackwater Jack The Best of the Baynominated country four-piece brings its bedroom rodeos and more to the spot that was once the prime source of live music at the Hard Rock. That is, if you don’t want to try and win enough money to buy tickets to “My Big Gay Italian Wedding” in the Event Center, which happens the same night. (Hard Rock Cafe at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)

Also playing

22N Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Derek Lersch Band Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover. Hard Rock Cafe at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

DJ Casper Friday, June 7. 9 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Alter Ego, Tampa

Donna Hopkins Band Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin

Jaded Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover. 3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg

The Jazz Directions Friday, June 7. 7:30 p.m. $13 & up. Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa

New Dawn Fades w/Ordinary Boys Friday, June 7. 7 p.m. $10 & up. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

Rock The Country: Kid Rock w/Jason Aldean/Lynyrd Skynyrd/Brantley

Gilbert/Travis Tritt/Warren Zeiders/more Friday & Saturday, June 7 & 8. Times TBA. $199 & up. Majestic Oaks, Ocala

Speak Easy w/Soulpax/Treis and Friends Friday, June 7. 7 p.m. $12. Shuffle, Tampa

St. Pete Opera: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor Friday (8 p.m.), Sunday (2 p.m.), and Tuesday (7:30 p.m.), June 7, 9, & 11. $10 & up. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg

Uncle John’s Band Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. $10. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Viper Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover. Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg

Classic Albums Live: AC/DC ‘Highway To Hell’ Saturday, June 8. 8 p.m. $35 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Collie Buddz w/Kash’d Out/CLoud9 Vibes Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. $30. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Dead Set Florida Saturday, June 8. 8 p.m. No cover. Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg

DJ Cub Saturday, June 8. 8 p.m. No cover. Independent Bar & Cafe, Tampa

DJ Cutty Jones Saturday, June 8. 12 p.m. No cover. Hard Rock Event Center Pool at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

DJ Jake Dela Cruz Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. No cover. Hard Rock Cafe at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

DJ Wonder Saturday, June 8. 9 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Alter Ego, Tampa

Gozadera Latin Dance Saturday, June 8. 8:30 p.m. $15. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

In Transit w/Earthgirl/Idle Moves Saturday, June 8. 8 p.m. $11.11. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

John Dorney w/Cat Ridgeway/Hannah Stokes Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. $10. Shuffle, Tampa

Kaleigh Baker w/Patrick Hagerman/ Eddie Wright Saturday, June 8. 4:30 p.m. For venue ticketholders only. The Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg

Kristopher James Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. $25. Music4Life Living Arts Center, Clearwater

The Music of Santana feat. Hot Tonic Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. $5. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

Summer & Soul Flea and Music Fest: Lémon Royale Saturday, June 8. 5 p.m. No cover. Oscura, Bradenton

Silent Frisco 3: Indie House Records Takeover feat. DJ Mesh w/DJ Bath/TBA Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin

Stormbringer Saturday, June 8. 8 p.m. No cover. 3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg

Vivek Jayaraman Saturday, June 8. 7 p.m. $15 & up. Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa

Acoustic Sunday Brunch: Rev. Billy C. Wirtz w/Marvelous Marvin Saturday, June 9. 1 p.m. No cover. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Bryan Smith Sunday, June 9. 7 p.m. No cover. 3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg

DJ Romi Lux Sunday, June 9. 11 a.m. No cover. The Rez Grill at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

Free Range Strange Sunday, June 9. 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. No cover. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Gabby Rose Sunday, June 9. 7 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Alter Ego, Tampa

Jerryland: Celebrating Jerry Garcia Band Sunday, June 9. 3 p.m. No cover. Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg

Joey Calderaio w/Tidal Theory/Lost Tropics Friday, June 7. 8 p.m. $15.50 & up. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Knocked Loose w/Loathe/Show Me The Body/Speed Sunday, June 9. 6 p.m. Sold out. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Lefty Lucy Sunday, June 9. 8 p.m. No cover. Hard Rock Cafe at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

Ol’ Dirty Sundays: DJ Casper w/DJ Fader/Indy Sunday, June 9. 10 p.m. $5. Crowbar, Ybor City

Pantastic Trio Sunday, June 9. 1 p.m. No cover. Hard Rock Event Center Pool at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

Schaff-Wall Collective Sunday, June 9. 3 p.m. No cover. Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, Tampa

Sunday Blues Session: Josh Nelms Sunday, June 9. 5 p.m. No cover. The Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg

Sunday Jazz in the Lounge: Boho Sideshow Sunday, June 9. 2 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

Sunday Jazz with The Crew Sunday, June 9. 6 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

Tribal Style Sunday, June 9. 2 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin

Miguel Angeles w/Heffy/F3lix Wednesday, June 12. 7 p.m. $25. Orpheum, Tampa

Witchgrass Wednesday: Fil Pate Wednesday, June 12. 7 p.m. No cover. The Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg

Outline In Color w/Nightlife/Foxcult/ Spirit Leaves Tuesday, June 11. 7 p.m. $16. Orpheum, Tampa

The Remix: Nic Hoffer Duo Tuesday, June 11. 8 p.m. No cover. Shuffle, Tampa

Messer Chups w/Little Sheeba/more TBA Thursday, June 13. 7 p.m. $20. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Pride: Emerald Rabbit Cabaret Thursday, June 13. 7 p.m. $20 & up. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

Steve Earle

DANNY CLINCH

After coming home to play two shows over the holidays, Tampa’s hip-hop swamp princess already has plans to circle back. Doechii, an expat Bay area rapper now working on the west coast, just announced a Pride month Swamp Ball tour, with stops in seven major American cities including Tampa.

The six other stops on the coast–to-coast run include Miami, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta, San Francisco, and New York’s Governors Ball.

The return to the historic district is welcome and comes less than four years after Doechii played an intimate Halloween show at The Bricks just a few blocks away, and a couple years after tearing up Mischief Monday at The Ritz.

The 25-year-old’s been busy repping hard for the South ever since, racking up nominations galore at the MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, MTV Europe Awards, and more. She’s even won the Rising Star Award at last year’s Billboard Women in Music awards, and a UK Music Video Award in 2022 (“Crazy,” Best Choreography in a Video).

A new video for her “Alter Ego,” a collaboration with JT was just named a must-see clip by Vibe, and a recent set at Hangout

Parker Barrow w/The Ben Rogers Band/ TBA Saturday, June 22. 7 p.m. $10. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Johnny Champagne and Tha Banned w/Katara/The Black Ace/Zanzibean/T. Couture Friday, June 28. 8 p.m. $15. Crowbar, Ybor City

American Dreaming: Will Quinlan w/ Max Norton/Matt Burke Friday, July 5. 8 p.m. No cover. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

Reverend Billy C. Wirtz Saturday, July 6. 7:30 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa

Juno Dunes w/The George/TBA Sunday, July 14. 5:30 p.m. $12. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

Sexblood w/Livernois/Human Factors

Lab/DJ Christina Zombie Monday, July 15. 7 p.m. $15. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Jeezy Saturday, Aug. 3. 7 p.m. $43.50. The Ritz, Ybor City

Dad Bod/Oruã w/TBA Thursday, Aug. 8. 7 p.m. $10. Hooch and Hive, Tampa

Cyclops w/Gunpoint Friday, Aug. 16. 10 p.m. No cover with RSVP before 11 p.m. The Ritz, Ybor City

Festival jumped between rap, pop and even house music.

Tickets to see Doechii play 1509 Live (aka Club Skye) in Ybor City this Wednesday, June 12 are on sale now and start at $20.

See Josh Bradley’s weekly roundup of new concert coming to Tampa Bay below.—Ray Roa

The March Violets w/Rosegarden Funeral Party/TBA Friday, Aug. 23. 7 p.m. $20. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Sam Williams Friday, Aug. 23. 7:30 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa

San Holo Saturday, Aug. 24. 10 p.m. $25 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City

Buckethead Friday, Aug. 30. 8 p.m. $36.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Jamie Thomas Saturday, Sept. 14. 7:30 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa

Nothing More w/Set It Off Sunday, Sept. 15. 5 p.m. $37.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Violent Femmes Saturday, Sept. 28. 8 p.m. Sold-out. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Kirk Franklin w/Yolanda Adams/Marvin Sapp/Clark Sisters/moreThursday, Oct. 10. 7 p.m. $61.25 & up. Amalie Arena, Tampa

Brandon Lake Sunday, Oct. 20. 7 p.m.

$19.95 & up. Amalie Arena, Tampa

Willy Chirino Sunday, Oct. 20. 8 p.m.

$47.99. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

FRIDAY 6/7

Mommy issues

By Dan Savage

I’m an intelligent, open-minded mom of a 13-year-old boy. Recently, I’ve found out that my son entered into an online Dom/sub relationship where he asked his “Mistress” to give him degrading tasks like drinking his own semen. Of course, his “Mistress” asked him to “prove his loyalty” by providing her with money in the form of gift cards. This is how I found out about this relationship. My Amazon account was suddenly filled with gift card purchases for this person signed from “Your Slave.” I immediately contacted this “Mistress” and advised her that she was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an eighth grader. This kid hasn’t even had his first kiss, Dan, let alone a physical relationship with anyone. I don’t want to shame his kinks, but I’m also very concerned that this is far too advanced for a kid his age to even understand. Over the years, he’s had a fixation with women’s feet and giant women stomping on small figures (all of this in anime/manga). Again, I really want him to grow up with healthy attitudes towards sex— but this is parenting at a whole new level. Is it possible for me to dial back this very adult behavior? I’m overwhelmed already and puberty has just begun! —Mostly Understanding Mom Oh, momma. You are in for an exhausting five years.

go near him until he’s an adult. So, for now he’ll just have to content himself with fantasizing about his kinks and masturbating to your part’s content.

the answer to that. I guess what I’m asking is for advice on how I can deal with the sadness I’m feeling about this. —Often Life Disappoints

SAVAGE LOVE

And if you can get him safely through high school… Your son can be a kinky adult and have a healthy attitude toward sex. The chief concern expressed to me when parents learn that their kid is kinky—when parents find the latex gloves or the diapers or the handcuffs—is their kid will never find love. Pre-internet, being kinky definitely complicated a person’s search for love; the kinky person had to meet people the normal way, e.g., at work, in bars, through friends, etc., and eventually disclose their kink. This often resulted in the kinky person getting dumped and having to start over. Nowadays, kinky adults have the option of getting on kink dating and hookup sites and searching for partners who share their kinks.

P.S. I’m sure MUM would love to hear from some readers who once kinky at-risk youth and who are now healthy and functional kinky adults. What did your parents—if they found out you were kinky—say or do? What was helpful? What was harmful? Jump into the comments and share some advice with MUM.

Seeing as you’re mourning a fantasy that will never be fulfilled—you’re never gonna be a young stud seduced and/or seduced by a mature older woman—the answer to your first question (“Is it possible to be in mourning for a fantasy that will never be fulfilled?”) is obviously yes, OLD, as demonstrated by own feelings of grief. As for what to do about the sadness you’re feeling, well, you did something very useful with your sadness today by writing to me. While it may be too late for you to do something about your fantasy, your letter will hopefully inspire others—young and old alike—to act on their fantasies before it’s too late, e.g., before they’re too married and/or too monogamous and/or too old. And here’s a fantasy-fulfillment pro tip for them: creating opportunities >>> seizing opportunities.

pass. But if your wife doesn’t expect all of your sexual fantasies to revolve around her… if your wife doesn’t have a problem with you looking at porn… if she doesn’t get angry when she notices you noticing the host barista… getting a little tipsy and/or high together and having a conversation about your sexual fantasies and hers—AND HERS AND HERS AND HERS— might you that hall pass.

P.P.S. Go into that conversation prepared not just to ask for a hall pass, OLD, but to offer one.

P.S. And if your wife’s been fantasizing about fucking some young stud… Yahtzee!

You’re gonna need to remain vigilant— monitoring your son’s online activities—while running interference. You can’t reprogram your son’s erotic imagination, MUM, nor should you waste your time trying. You can’t prevent him from getting online, but you can put filters on his devices, regularly check his browser history, and regularly remind him you’re checking his browser history—not to shame him, but to keep him safe from predators, scammers, and the kind of malicious sextortionists who’ve driven young people—particularly young boys—to suicide. The fact that your son likes following orders makes him particularly vulnerable to people tricking boys into sending them intimate pics and then blackmailing them with threats of sending their pics and videos to classmates and family members.

In addition to telling your son you’re monitoring his online activities to keep him safe, you should tell him that you understand that he thinks he’s ready. But anyone who would give him the time of day right now—much less dominate him—is by definition a terrible person who can’t be trusted with what he wants to share with someone. (And anyone who demands money and/or gift cards is highly suspect.) Let him know there are good people out there who enjoy all the same things he does but the good ones—the people he’ll be able to trust—won’t

Is it possible to be in mourning for a fantasy that will never be fulfilled? I’m a 44-year-old cis het man, and since hitting puberty I’ve fantasized about sleeping with an older woman—like, a much older woman. The fantasy was always about the mature older woman and, well, that younger and more virile version of me at eighteen. But it never happened. I got married right out of college, got divorced young, and quickly married again. Now that I am solidly middle aged and in a monogamous (and very happy) relationship, not only has the prospect of realizing this kink most likely ended, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to even fantasize about it anymore. I’m just too old to have this sort of situation be a realistic scenario. I’m not finding an older woman to sleep with anytime soon, and I’m not magically turning back into a twenty-something anytime soon. Knowing that I’ve aged out of my ultimate fantasy without ever acting on it makes it almost sad to think about. I’m not asking you that dumb and obvious question (“Is this normal?”), as I’ve reading you long enough to know

And you’re not actually too old to realize this fantasy, OLD! While you can’t play the young and virile stud for a 50-year-old woman—youneed that age gap to gape— you can play the younger and still virile stud for a woman in her mid-60s. To do it the right way, i.e., to do it without being a cheating piece of shit, OLD, you’re gonna need your wife’s permission. If your wife is one of those people—one of those insecure, irrational people—who expects all of her partner’s sexual thoughts and fantasies to revolve around her, then she’s unlikely to react positively to your request for a hall

Here are the background details: My son was once a 16-year-old junior in high school and a very introverted kid. He never expressed any interest in girls or boys, but one day he comes home with a dress he bought at Goodwill. I asked him then if it had anything to do with his sexuality and he said it didn’t, although he would later come out to us as bisexual. It’s now 10 years later, and my now 26-yearold son sometimes wears a skirt to his job as a legal assistant. I am not against him wearing a skirt if that’s what he wants, but I worry about his safety. He lives in Chicago and takes public transportation. Do I need to be concerned, or should I just let him do as he wants? He’s an adult now, and he’s a smart and wonderful person. I want him to do what is right for him, but I worry about the rest of the world. —Loving Parent In Chicagoland

I wanna live in a world where people can wear whatever they want without having to worry what other people might say or do. We don’t live in that world, LPIC, but your son—by being himself and wearing whatever he wants—is helping to create that world. There’s a risk, of course, that your son might attract some negative attention when he leaves his apartment in a skirt. But your son is a grown-ass man, LPIC, and I’m confident he’s calculated—and can control for—whatever risk he’s running. P.S. Chicago, my hometown, is one of those big and diverse and consequently tolerant cities where the sight of a dude in a skirt on the Brown Line is unlikely to cause a riot. And I rode public transportation in Chicago when I was in my teens and twenties in crazy fucking outfits and lived to tell the tale. Your son should be fine.

Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love

WHAT MAKES LOCAL CULTURE CREATIVE

Merl Reagle

Kooky friend of Ollie

Rake in

Boy to whom “This Is My Box” is sung

Thing we don’t do

In a stack

Onomatopoetic: abbr.

Mrs. Helmsley is going as

Ex-Justice Stewart

With 46 Down, a construc-tion kit from A.C. Gilbert

Etes, to Ed

Valentino’s co-star in Blood and Sand (1922)

Shadings

Mr. Crosby is going as ___

weave your unique local flavor into every social media campaign. We don’t just navigate the social media landscape; we own it! Your success is our success, and we believe in the power of community. Ready to embark on a social media journey that celebrates your local culture and propels your brand to the forefront? Let’s create, connect, and conquer together.

37 A bird and a Perlman

40 Contains 43 Type of hygiene

44 “___ missing something?”

45 Mr. Jung is going as ___

48 With Ridge, a Tennessee city

49 Mr. Lugosi is going as ___

52 Some OR staff

53 Dies

54 Capitol interview spot

56 Skunk defense

Literary estate 59 Calculus teacher Escalante

Revealing, as a dress

51 Ogive, for one 55 Chest muscle, briefly 58 Builds a new wing, e.g. 59 Stevenson’s doctor

61 The teeth team: abbr.

63 Gal of song 65 Jetliner types 68 Gav

69 Certain decal 70 Automatic: prefix

New wing 72 Ham-and-___ (well-to-do splurger)

73 French seaport

74 Mr. Turner is going as ___ 78 Ms. Sumac is going as ___ 79 The end of ___

Ear lender?

Burning leftovers? 84 Slippery

Rodriguez, Joshua; 0458 - Ramirez, Jecenia; 0460Osuji, Ndidi; 0506 - domicolo, Bianca; 0545Mcclinton, Tiana PUBLIC STORAGE # 25818, 8003 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33614, (813) 302-7129

Legal, Public Notices Employment

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE Pursuant to Section 715.109, notice is hereby given that the following property will be offered for public sale and will sell at public outcry to the highest and best bidder for cash: a 1985 PINE mobile home, VIN WHGA0987 and the contents therein, if any on Friday, June 21, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. at 1116 Fountainview South, Lakeland, FL 33809. ICARD, MERRILL, CULLIS, TIMM, FUREN & GINSBURG, P.A. Alyssa M. Nohren FL Bar No. 352410 2033 Main Street Suite 600 Sarasota, Florida 34237 Telephone: (941) 366-8100 Facsimile: (941) 366-6384 anohren@ icardmerrill.com smenasco@icardmerrill.com Attorney for Fountainview Estates, LLC

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE To satisfy the owner's storage lien, PS Retail Sales, LLC will sell at public lien sale on June 22, 2024, the personal property in the below listed units, which may include but are not limited to: household and personal items, office and other equipment. The public sale of these items will begin at 09:30 AM and continue until all units are sold. The lien sale is to be held at the online auction website, www.storagetreasures.com, where indicated. For online lien sales, bids will be accepted until 2 hours after the time of the sale specified. PUBLIC STORAGE # 08747, 1302 W Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606, (813) 435-9424 Time: 09:30 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com. 1016 - Berry, Eliza; 1049Moronta, Jackie; 5065 - morris, saffron; 6008Hudson, Kyle; 6082 - Johnson, Willie; 6085 - Willis, Darrell; 7006 - Rincon, Britney; 7071 - Newman, Theodore; 7092 - Broomall, Alistair; 8065 - Burton, Tatianna; 8093 - Richardson, Asia PUBLIC STORAGE # 08756, 6286 W Waters Ave, Tampa, FL 33634, (813) 658-5627 Time: 09:45 AM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com. 0113Montoney, Andrea D; 0803 - uribe, marie; 0807velez, Ismael; 1131 - Rodriguez Flores, Aura Luz; 1148 - Reid, Jamar; 1266 - Perez, Zona; 1338Woods, Marilyn; 1360 - Concepcion, Patricia; 1368Megius, Sam; 1505 - Cooper Family Inc Cooper, Dailan; 1541 - Rios, Julio; 1560 - Cooper Family Inc Cooper, Dailan; 9010 - Cooper Family Inc Cooper, Dailan PUBLIC STORAGE # 20104, 9210 Lazy Lane, Tampa, FL 33614, (813) 658-5824 Time: 10:00 AM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com B102 - Williams, Roi'tesha; B104 - Ortega, Christine; B114 - Wesley, Talisha; B116 - Gray, Kyler; B121lasseter, sharon; C007 - sheffield, allynson; E021Speed, Valarie; E052 - Rivera, Ailin; E061 - Garcia, Michael; F005 - Spooner, Bernard; F018 - Evans, Kim; F066 - Godwin, Katrisha; G002 - Quesada, Andrew; G030 - Ortiz, Luz; H001 - Longuefosse, Elizabeth; H008 - poutou, yanibel; H032 - valero, luis; H064 - Jimenez, Melissa; J041 - Wilson, LaVonne; K061 - rivera, willie; K071 - Satcher Jr., Benjamin PUBLIC STORAGE # 20135, 8230 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33614, (813) 773-6681 Time: 10:15 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com 1032 - Barnhart, Jason; 1054 - Martinez, Kathy; 1083 - Anna's Eatery and Catering Services LLC Campbell, Darron; 1203Medero Medero, Theresa; 1227 - Paulino, Rafael; 1231 - Paulino, Rafael; 1247 - Paulino, Rafael; 1286Jones, Andre; 1304 - Isbell, Veronica; 1318 - Moore, Taylor; 1330 - feliu, Denny; 2001 - Valentin, Juan; 2044 - Paulino, Rafael; 2045 - Urena, Nathalia; 2066

| JUNE 06-12, 2024 | cltampabay.com

- Currelley, Alexis; 2148 - Devonte, Rushaud; 2313Durant, Joseph; 2374 - Lopez, Ana; 2441 - Ray, Shedrick; 3001 - Perez, William; 3059 - Gordon, Tammy; 3122 - campbell, Sheletha; 3128 - Kelly, Donisha; 3182 - stewart, jaqevin; 3205 - Cole, Myesha; 3283 - Henderson, Letoya; 3316 - Nash, Ronald G; 3372 - Grant, Beverly; 3392 - Lersundy, Carlos; C054 - Culp, Epiphaney; E022 - Jackson, Sandra; E036 - Mcginnis, Terrance; E062 - luz, Lopez; E064 - Watson, Yonika; F071 - Lockett, Latrece; F103 - Melendez pizarro, Jose; F114Smith, Natalie PUBLIC STORAGE # 20152, 11810 N Nebraska Ave, Tampa, FL 33612, (813) 670-3137

Time: 10:30 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com. A005 - Johnson- Streater, Herbrinia; A032 - Martinez, Nilsa N; A042Pressley, Gregneisha; A045 - woods, Shanese; B022 - Philon, Christopher; B029 - Goldsmith, Annie; B040 - Robles, Nelvin; B050 - Severin, Lee A; B053 - Kelly, Mary; C024 - Walton, Bruce; C045Turner, Jerry; C076 - Cone, Nicole; C097 - knighton, Stacey; D009 - Woods, Donald; D011 - Harrison, Carrie; D063D - Betancourt, Adiel; D097 - maxwell, Kaia; D109 - Diaz, Tadashy; D111 - amor, Soufiane Ouled; D131 - Shepherd, Marshanee; D132 - Allen, Ty'Cardi; E044 - bates, scott; E054 - Ham, Disheka; E080 - flint, Breanna PUBLIC STORAGE # 20180, 8421 W Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33615, (813) 720-7985 Time: 10:45 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com. 1014 - Verestin, Carlos; 1015 - andino, Jennifer; 1021 - Weaver, Elise; 1080Davis, Bobby; 1141 - Torres, Gisela; A026 - Gonzalez, Yosdani; B014 - Soriano, Karla; B045 - Holmes, Treasa; C011 - Guzman, Monseta; C016 - Kendrick, Pam; C035 - Tinker, Johnessa; C054 - Kinsey, Charria; C063 - BROZENSKE, CHAD; D008Rodriguez, Caridad; D010 - Gonzalez, Mayra; D065Maurer, Lisabeth; F007 - DG&L Enterprises LLC. Gonzalez, Diego; F030 - Coffer, Andrew; F039 - Carr, Lisa PUBLIC STORAGE # 20609, 5014 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611, (813) 291-2473 Time: 11:00

AM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com. A003 - Mustard, Lewis; B035 - Goward, Mark; C026 - Fisher, Misty; D004 - johnson, javaughn; D046algarin, Idalisss; E058 - Poole, Torneece; E073Tanon, Raquel; G033 - Alvarez, Daniela; G054Durant, Prince; G067 - BROXTON, HERMAN; G117mathews, Jason; G118 - Camacho, Ginaida PUBLIC STORAGE # 23119, 13611 N 15th Street, Tampa, FL 33613, (813) 773-6466 Time: 11:15 AM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com. A010 - Rose, Sabrina M; A015 - Tapia, Yeury; A057 - Nadeem, Sayyed; A061 - Montano, Victoria; A069 - Hunter, Jasmine; A073 - Russell, Keith; B013 - Scott, Katrina; B015 - Lovell, Amber; B017 - Amaro, Joel; B023 - Keith, Eric; B029 - Robinson, Tameka; B058Thomas, Nicole; B073 - Hernandez Jimenez, Fernando; E002 - Williams, Ebony; F028 - Meyer, Lloyd; G025 - Carbonell, Lynn; G044 - Long, Shenita; G053 - pitts, Allen; G056 - Jefferson, Jolisa; H002Samuels, Lashella; H005 - Galindo, Jennifer; H008Green, Markkiya; H012 - Palmer, Timothy; H037Brown, Olivia; H046 - Turner, Stacy; H068 - lebron jr, Jimmy; I018 - Williams, Marlon; I032 - Perales, Maria; I041 - Albert, Orissa; I074 - Banatte, Cariline; J064 - Incline to shine polishing Cline, Johnathan; P035 - Thomas, Nicole PUBLIC STORAGE # 25723, 10402 30th Street, Tampa, FL 33612, (813) 379-9182

Time: 11:30 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com. 0108 - Chatman, Donna; 0110 - Lowry, Lorisha; 0230 - Oliver, Rosie; 0240Hiller, Kirston; 0259 - Walker, Emoryiona; 0262Lee, Anastasia; 0329 - Eleam, Candis; 0336 - Rivera, Luz; 0364 - Finley, bertha; 0371 - Higgans, Antonio; 0406 - Knights, Anthony; 0407 - Lewis, Raven; 0419 - Morris, Kwesi; 0424 - Glover, Willie; 0448 -

Time: 11:45 AM Sale to be held at www. storagetreasures.com. 0119 - Hoeksema, Justin; 0164 - cuevas, Katherine; 0209 - Figueroa, Eddie; 0223 - Rojas, Carlos; 0319 - Stephens, Yolanda; 0332 - Roman, Nathalia; 0340 - Yannette, Amrapali; 0403 - Drzik, Lisa; 0441 - Wilkins, Crystal; 0443Brassard, Thomas; 0445 - Williams, Michael; 0519Smith, Natalie; 0569 - Edmond, Thomas; 0637Garcia, Reynal; 0640 - Smith, Natalie; 0668Serrano, Elizabeth; 0677 - Stewart, Daniesha; 0708E - Shaw, Calvin; 0711 - cohan, shannon; 0808Wilson, Henry; 0819 - Mcphaul, Sheila; 0904Smith, Natalie; 1075 - Benjamin, Beth PUBLIC STORAGE # 25859, 3413 W Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33614, (813) 379-9139 Time: 12:00 PM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com A0110 - Jahn, Michael; A0251 - Daniels, Shandrieka; A0256 - Gonzalez Medina, Virgen; A0270 - Miller, Cornell; A0275 - Austin, Mihiiyah; A0303 - Parnell, Joshua; A0309 - Nousiainen, Karl; A0351 - Baptiste, Cecil; A0352 - Hoar, David; A0356 - Baptiste, Cecil; A0411 - BRINEZ, HUGO; A0455 - Long, Amanda; A0478 - Hollis, Johnny; A0535 - Sanchez, Jason; A0552 - hendrix, ariel; A0553 - Broughton, Nyesha; C0628 - Kiley, Timothy; C0633 - Dawkins, Ashton; C0635 - Simpson, Tamera; C0649 - Lara, Melany Mishell; C0660 - Mannella, Michael; C0668Melendez Jr, Michael; C0670 - Bernal, Alan; C0673Brown, Amanda; C0727 - chambers, Brittani; C0736 - KG Southern Lights Gifford, Kelley; C0753johnson, Wayne; C0756 - haynes, Ladaisha; C0758Reyes, Cristian; C0791 - Harris, Christopher PUBLIC STORAGE # 26596, 8354 W Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33615, (813) 393-1832 Time: 12:15 PM

Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com 1033 - Hale, Ryemio; 1038 - PEREZ OTERO, MARIA; 1044 - jones, Julian; 1050 - Lugo, Johanna; 1404Kelley, Regina; 1410 - Smith, Bree; 1529 - crum, A S; 1544 - Wildgoose, Angel; 2056 - Carter, Jennifer; 2079 - Ziedenweber, Sara; 2083 - Gomes, David; 2191 - Romero, Pedro; 2225 - levi, Daniel; 2226Hutcherson, Sadarius; 3004 - Williams, Melanie; 4207 - George, Alston; 5106 - Zavala, Brianna

PUBLIC STORAGE # 27408, 4625 W Gandy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33611, (813) 666-2471 Time: 12:30 PM

Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com 2053 - Johns, Rawnda; 2072 - Cates, Anthony; 2114 - Montgomery, michelle; 2128 - Mills, Jacob; 3007Samba, Liz; 3072 - davis, gregory; 3125 - Perez, Edwin Grullon; 3151 - Wood, Presley; 4022 - Gilley, Latonya; 4037 - Maxim, Melissa; 4050 - Watkins, Lindsey; 4119 - McMahon, Loren; 5032 - Lopez, Angel; 5042 - Diaz, Nadine; 5115 - Halter, Hayli; 5195 - Dannelevitz, Suzy; 5201 - Dannelevitz, Suzy PUBLIC STORAGE # 29149, 7803 W Waters Ave, Tampa, FL 33615, (813) 670-3098 Time: 12:45 PM Sale to be held at www.storagetreasures.com. 1019Lopez, Eli; 1123 - Weaver, Roger; 1150 - Weaver, Roger; 1177 - Santana, Mark; 1204 - Britton, Allen; 1205 - BENDUS, EMILY; 2033 - Saunders, Logan; 2041 - Harris, Lisa; 2070 - eldemire, Craig; 2117 - George, Kelli; 2234 - HUED, LUIS; 2367 - Rodriguez, Ernesto; 2376 - Greene, Kevonna; B013 - Matera, Carolyn

Public sale terms, rules, and regulations will be made available prior to the sale. All sales are subject to cancellation. We reserve the right to refuse any bid. Payment must be in cash or credit card-no checks. Buyers must secure the units with their own personal locks. To claim tax-exempt status, original RESALE certificates for each space purchased is required. By PS Retail Sales, LLC, 701 Western Avenue, Glendale, CA 91201. (818) 244-8080.

MARKETING MANAGER

Modular Molding International Inc. is seeking a Marketing Manager - Full Time. Manage customer accounts and relations, including customer communication regarding job progress; Keep CEO informed on sales activities; Conduct market research, sales forecasting, and strategic planning to assess the sale and profi tability of products; Research competitors; Develop a marketing plan; Assist with quoting new jobs; Assist with new product development including market research and financial aspects; Assist with patents if needed; Travel as needed to visit customers; Create and organize trade show exhibition info for the company; Attend trade shows even if not exhibiting; Prepare expense reimbursement forms for travel; Update website for marketing exposure; Assist in hiring salespeople including advertising and interviewing. Bachelor’s degree in marketing and/or business-related majors preferred. Other majors will also be considered. $83,450/Year. Send resume to Modular Molding International Inc 10521 75th St, Unit B, Largo, Florida, 33777.