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Skin was on full display last weekend when Tampa’s two-day, adults-only “Skin!” art show returned to showcase a host of photographers, sketch artists, spoken word, fashion designers, musicians, and more. See all the photos out of South University via cltampa.com/ slideshows.—Ray Roa
Do you see it?
It’s the last week to get uncomfortable at St. Pete’s Morean Center For Clay. Your guide is folk ceramist and teacher Dakota Parkinson (pictured) whose hands, heart and other body parts are the center of “Uncomfortable As I Am” (stylized in all-lowercase). The show—featuring ceramic sculpture along with installation and performance—explores the idea of empathy as the Missouri-reared artist “confronts the ideas of discomfort and transness with a challengingly intimate lens.”
Uncomfortable As I Am: Solo Exhibition by Dakota Parkinson: Wednesday-Saturday through July 31. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. No cover. Morean Center for Clay, 420 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg. moreanartscenter.
org—Ray Roa
Tampa Bay's best things to do from July 25 - August 01
727th heaven
In honor of the area code that encompasses the entire county, a bunch of Pinellas county organizations, restaurants, venues, and even municipalities offer “727” specials this weekend. From the Tampa Bay Rowdies, who’re dishing $7.27 beers (16 oz.), tequila seltzers and burgers for the team’s Saturday match against Charleston, to hotels like the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach offering specials and discounts on rooms, to museums like Imagine doing discounted admission ($7.27, duh), there are dozens of celebrations listed on Visit St. Pete-Clearwater’s website. The City of St. Petersburg is even getting started a day early by giving away free city flags on a first-come, first-served basis on Friday, July 26 at 10:30 a.m. See a bigger listing of 727 Day events via cltampa.com.
727 Day: Saturday, July 27. Various venues in Pinellas County.—Ray Roa
Eat it
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in training camp right now, and there’s definitely a chance that they’ll add another trophy to the “Champa Bay” mantle. Before that, however, is a different kind of achievement. Organizers of Tampa’s Cuban Sandwich Festival pop up outside One Buc Place this weekend where they’ll attempt to break what they say is the world record for longest Cuban Sandwich (330 feet), set last year in Kissimmee. This year’s goal is 360 feet (the length of an American football field), and the hope is that the sandwich ends up at a local homeless shelter. A VIP option includes samples, and a special area, but admission is free with registration and includes live music from Revalacion Salsera and Aramis y Sol Caribe.
Ford Taste of the Cuban Sandwich: Longest Cuban Sandwich: Sunday, July 28. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. No cover with registration. Buccaneers training facility, 1 Buccaneer Pl., Tampa. cubansandwichfestival.com—Ray Roa
CREATIVE
Beat it
It’s hard not to be seduced by the rhythm of a poem delivered by Dennis Amadeus. The nationally-traveled spoken word artist, poetry slam champion, writer, teacher, artist, and youth advocate is the founder of Tampa’s GrowHouse collective, and this weekend he links up with the spirit of a different beat—Jack Kerouac—when he reads poetry at the last known residence of the famed literary icon. Hosted by Larry Jaffe, the house’s poet-in-residence, the reading is a celebration of the empty page and will also feature an open mic.
Coffee & Poetry at Jack’s House feat. Dennis Amadeus: Sunday, July 28. 3 p.m.-6 p.m. $10. Jack Kerouac House, 5169 10th Ave. N, St. Petersburg. @jackscoffeepoetry on Facebook—Ray Roa
Party Tâm
One of Miami’s hottest restaurants is heading north to give Tampa a taste of its eclectic Vietnamese eats when Tâm Tâm owner and Executive Chef Tam Pham will take over Tampa Edition’s Arts Club, dishing out his beloved small plates inspired by Vietnamese drinking culture. No tickets or RSVPs are required to attend this dining event, and Pham’s dishes will be available on an a la carte basis. Earlier this year, the Miami hotspot earned a Bib Gourmand in the 2024 Michelin Guide, while its owner/chef Tam Pham took home the coveted Young Chef Award. Tâm Tâm is a modern interpretation of the classic Vietnamese quán nhậ u, which loosely translates into “pubs” or “drinking places,” with the Michelin guide praising the new restaurant for being “bold, funky, and fun.” While the offerings for next month’s pop-up haven’t been released yet, prized dishes on the Tâm Tâm menu that may make their Tampa debut include the restaurant’s prized dragon shrimp crudo, fish sauce caramel chicken wings, tamarind-glazed ribs and jungle steak tartare with wagyu, shallot oil, rau rum, sesame cracker and fire ant salt.
Tâm Tâm Takeover: Next Thursday, Aug. 1. 6 p.m.-11 p.m.. No cover. Arts Club at Tampa Edition, 500 Channelside Dr., Tampa. @tam.tam.mia on Instagram—Kyla Fields
Five yuhs old
Half-a-decade feels like a lifetime in pandemic years, and the folks at King State have definitely been through it since opening in the summer of 2019. This weekend, Nate Young and Tim McTague—founders of the popular Tampa Heights cafe and bar—bring their team together for three days of celebrations including a straight up kegger, specials, tattoo pop-ups, karaoke and cake. It all culminates with Sunday’s oat latte art throwdown featuring a $1,000 pot.
King State’s Cinco Anniversary Party: Friday-Sunday, July 26-28. No cover. King State, 520 E Floribraska Ave., Tampa. king-state.com—Ray Roa
“They are not really paying $50 million in community benefits, we are.”
Strike zone
Despite opposition, St. Pete City Council OKs Rays-Hines redevelopment deal.
By Arielle Stevenson
Last week, City Council approved the historic Gas Plant District Redevelopment and RaysHines stadium proposal, confirming that baseball is “here to stay,” in St. Petersburg.
“This is a day that has been more than 40 years in the making,” St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, who was raised in the Gas Plant, said at last week’s meeting. “History matters.”
In the 5-3 vote, Council members Richie Floyd, Lisset Hanewicz, and Brother John Muhammad opposed. All three voiced concerns about a lack of contractual obligations for Rays-Hines, as the city enters into the largest deal in its history.
“The deal is not what people hope, intend, or believe will happen,” Hanewicz said before her vote. “It is not what is said at a meeting or what someone tells you, but what is in writing.”
Hanewicz, an attorney, noted that the city is forecast to borrow upwards of $684 million for the project. The land, last appraised in 2023 for over $200 million, will be sold for just $105 million. Hanewicz says Rays-Hines is only obligated to pay $50 million of that amount, in the first 12 years. She also stated that the deal shows Rays-Hines giving $50 million in community benefits over 30 years, but is receiving another $50 million discount on the land in return.
“They [Rays-Hines] are not really paying $50 million in community benefits, we are,” Hanewicz said. “If you’re saying you’re giving $50 million in community benefits, don’t take a discount [$50 million] on the land, just pay the community benefits up front.”
For some descendants of the historic Gas Plant District, a Black community demolished and paved over for the Interstate, Thursday’s stadium deal is a kind of closure. Gwendolyn Reese, historian and president of the African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg, grew up in the Gas Plant, near Sugar Hill. “We don’t know any other way to solve the issues heard in the room today without some economic opportunity like this one,” Reese said at the meeting.
“A promise was made in the ‘80s under urban renewal that this community will enjoy greater economic prosperity,” Trenia Cox, with the St. Petersburg NAACP, said at the meeting. “That has not occurred. It’s time to deliver on the promise. This deal will provide opportunities for that promise to be delivered.”
Councilmember Floyd, who’s been critical of the deal’s lack of affordable housing requirements among other things, voiced his concerns before voting against the project.
“We cannot rely on just promises,” Floyd said. “That’s what happened last time, and they were empty.”
One of those promises is $10 million towards construction of a new Woodson African American Museum of Florida. The museum signed a letter of intent with Rays-Hines on May 30. Woodson’s executive director, Terri Lipsey Scott, spoke in favor of the project last week and recalled the groundbreaking of the first stadium project 38 years ago.
“In 1986, I was among thousands of people digging with a small shovel that said, ‘I dig the stadium,” Scott said. “Thirty-eight years later, I still dig the stadium.”
coming past the museum itself,” Scott said at the task force meeting.
Last December, Republican State Rep. Berny Jacques asked Scott how she planned to ease accusations of a conflict of interest.
“This is a specific pitch of a specific organization that Task Force Member Scott runs,”Jacques said. “That is the concern that arises with me and maybe some others.”
Scott resigned shortly after.
Council chair Deborah Figgs-Sanders, who’s up for re-election next year, supported the deal and likened it to a mortgage.
LOCAL NEWS
WTSP reported in February that Scott resigned from the Florida Museum of Black
“How many of you really agreed with everything that was in your mortgage?” Figgs-Sanders said.
Last week, Lakewood Estate resident Bradley McCoy filed an ethics complaint against Figgs-Sanders, alleging she took $3,000 in campaign donations from the Sugar Hill Group, the developers that Council chose for the Tangerine Plaza project.
History task force after concerns over a conflict of interest were raised at a meeting on Dec. 15,2023. Scott, who has a stake in the Woodson Museum, reportedly made a presentation using images of the Woodson from the Rays-Hines renderings, suggesting that the task force make the Woodson the site of the proposed museum. Lipsey Scott even touted the Rays-Hines deal in the meeting. “You will not be able to come to Tropicana Field without
The Rays’ political contributions have also come under scrutiny throughout the stadium debate. According to public campaign finance records, the team was one of Mayor Ken Welch’s largest campaign donors to his Pelican PAC during his mayoral campaign in 2021, giving $50,000 on Sept. 21, 2021. By June of 2022, Welch had scrapped Kriseman’s redevelopment deal for a new RPF process.
“The right people are in the right seats,” Copley Gerdes, who’s father Charlie Gerdes, served on
City Council and who’s uncle, Rob Gerdes, works for the Welch administration, said Thursday before casting his “yes,” vote on the Rays-Hines deal. “It took 17 years to have the right people in the right seats, but damn if we don’t have them now.”
In April, Florida TaxWatch released a comprehensive report on the Rays-Hines proposal, projecting $11.9 billion in total output over 30 years. The result would be an estimated total of 17,782 jobs and $185 million in incremental county revenue. The report also stated, “Nearly all the empirical studies find “little to no tangible impacts,” of sports teams and facilities on local economic activities, and the level of stadium subsidies typically provided far exceeds any observed economic activity.”
Last month, Berbeth Foster of Miami’s Community Justice Project and Kiersten Anderson, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, sent a 28-page letter to St. Petersburg’s attorney, Jackie Kovilaritch. The letter outlines federal civil rights obligations required for the Gas Plant sale, and illustrates what Foster and Anderson believe are possible legal violations. Muhammed asked the city’s legal department if the letter posed a risk to the city legally, should Council approve the deal.
“By and large it was a letter expressing policy opinions and statements,” Michael Dema, assistant city attorney, said at the meeting. “We looked at it with an eye toward risk and see no legally recognizable issue at this time.”
According to the city’s legal department, if the County makes any “substantive change,” to the agreement, those changes would come back to the City Council for approval. Administrator Rob Gerdes noted that any changes to the agreement would also require Major League Baseball’s approval. In May, Hines halted a similar $4 billion project in San Diego, after the city pledged millions in public funds.
“We’re not opposed to development of the site in a way that’s responsible,” Council member Brother John Muhammad said before casting a “no,” vote. “We know documentation beats conversation.”
The deal now heads to the Pinellas County Commission, where Welch served for 20 years as County Commissioner before being elected Mayor. The County Commission vote is scheduled for July 30 and is expected to be a rubber stamp.
Primary fight
Tensions emerge between democrats in Hillsborough’s State Attorney race.
By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix
One of the most anticipated local elections in Florida this year is the Hillsborough County state attorney race between twice-elected but currently suspended Democrat Andrew Warren and the woman Ron DeSantis appointed to replace him, Republican Suzy Lopez.
But Warren must first get through his primary next month against fellow Democrat Elizabeth Martinez Strauss, who entered the race to oppose Lopez earlier this year when Warren was still battling in court to be reinstated and was not actively running.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Suzy Lopez (Office of the State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit)
Tensions have emerged between the two since Warren got back into the race in April and Martinez Strauss declined to drop out. She recently criticized him about what she says are “misstatements” he has made about what the courts have actually said about his case.
She’s now filed a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission, claiming that Warren had referred to a letter she sent to him last month as “dishonest,” which she says is a violation of a Florida statute that makes it unlawful for a candidate to make a false statement about another candidate.
(A spokesperson for the commission says it’s unlikely the claim will be reviewed before the Aug. 20 primary.)
“I don’t agree with what the governor did to him,” Martinez Strauss told the Phoenix. “But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with him misrepresenting the status of his case. … What I have a problem is him winning [in November] and then if he gets removed [again by DeSantis] a voter saying, ‘I wouldn’t have voted for him if I knew that could happen.’”
Martinez Strauss wrote a critical letter to Warren last month, alleging that he had been “misrepresenting the facts about your legal case to the voters, which can really harm Democrats in this election.”
Intraparty dispute
The facts that Martinez Strauss alleges that Warren has misrepresented include what U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said about Warren’s situation in his original ruling on his case and what a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said in January when it ruled that Judge Hinkle should reconsider his decision that he lacked authority to reinstate Warren.
“I’m not sure I know what she’s talking about,” Warren told the Phoenix on Tuesday after the three state attorney candidates concluded a debate in the Northwest Hillsborough enclave of Town ‘n’
Country. “People can read the opinion. They can read the newspaper about it. The opinions speak for themselves, in terms of the illegality of the suspension and the fact that the appellate court now sent it back for my possible reinstatement.”
Warren’s case remains stuck in the Eleventh Circuit after attorneys for Gov. DeSantis asked for a rehearing by the full court. That was in January, yet the appeals court still has not ruled, leading Warren’s legal team to write and ask the court last week to speed up the process.
In her complaint with the Elections Commission,
my focus is on the November election and getting back to the state attorney’s office to reverse the alarming trend of increased crime over the past two years.”
Verbal shots
During their debate on Tuesday night, Warren and Lopez took repeated verbal shots at each other, with each claiming that crime rates were lower in Hillsborough County when they ran the state attorney’s office.
If they face each other in the fall, the race will be watched throughout Florida, as DeSantis has made it clear that he’ll do whatever he can to ensure that Lopez remains in charge.
ELECTIONS
Tuesday, Aug. 20 (Early voting Aug. 5-18) votehillsborough.gov
Martinez Strauss argues that Warren’s comments to Politico Florida earlier this month that he was “not concerned with dishonest, negative attacks,” was referring to her.
For his part, Warren insists he’s paying little attention to what Martinez Strauss has been saying.
“I’m not even aware of it,” he said of the complaint with the Elections Commission. “Look,
“Criminals are held accountable in a much more significant way since Suzy Lopez has been the state attorney there in Hillsborough County,” the governor said in Redington Shores after Warren announced that he was back in the race.
“That’s just a fact. Talk to any of the sheriff’s deputies. Talk to the sheriff himself about the change that’s happened. Recycling criminals and letting them out going easy, that doesn’t work. And so, our actions were appropriate. People can do whatever.”
DeSantis suspended Warren two years ago for alleged “neglect of duty” and “incompetence” after he signed a pledge not to prosecute alleged crimes arising from abortion or transgender care.
He followed up last August by suspending another elected Democrat, Monique Worrell of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit (Orange and Osceola counties) for actions that he maintained constituted “neglect of duty and incompetence.” Worrell recently lost her legal challenge in the Florida Supreme Court but is running and, according to her campaign, is leading in her race for re-election in November.
When the Phoenix asked DeSantis last month how he would use money raised from his recently formed political committee, he mentioned the state attorney races in Hillsborough and Orange and Osceola counties. “I think those two races are significant.”
Party hero
Warren became a hero to Hillsborough Democrats after he narrowly defeated 16-year GOP incumbent Mark Ober in the 2016 election. His popularity only increased during his first term in office, when he exercised prosecutorial discretion in opting to charge protesters involved in demonstrations following the death continued on page 21
“The opinions speak for themselves.”
Primary Election Day
JUST US: Andrew Warren and Elizabeth Martinez Strauss want to unseat Suzy Lopez in the 13th district. DAVE DECKER
Pineapple fajita
of George Floyd in the summer of 2000, but not all of them.
He won reelection by more than 6 percentage points that fall. And since he reentered the 2024 race, he’s been endorsed by dozens of sitting and formerly elected officials in Tampa and Hillsborough County and has raised more than $290,000 in his regular and political committee campaign accounts.
Martinez Strauss began her career in the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s office in Tampa. She moved to Louisiana to work as a prosecutor in New Orleans before returning to Tampa last year to run her own criminal defense practice. She has raised slightly more than $30,000 in the contest.
She says a lot of top Democrats in the county aren’t happy with her for challenging a figure whose reputation, among liberals anyway, has only been enhanced by the perceived unfair treatment by DeSantis.
said she’s always glad to see candidates step up to run.
“Do I wish we didn’t have a contested primary? Yeah,” Townsend acknowledged, adding that both candidates have the right to run.
“As the chair and as the party, we don’t step on the scale during a primary election,” she added.
“We’re not weighing in on that race. We’ll let the voters decide.”
Hillsborough County Democratic strategist
Victor DiMaio said he was happy when Martinez Strauss entered the race in February and became the first Democrat to challenge Lopez, but considered her a “placeholder” candidate until Warren entered the contest.
ELECTIONS
“If she stayed in, she should have run a totally 100% positive campaign, and she would establish herself for a future race,” he said — adding that he’s filed his own share of ethics and elections complaints over the years that never went anywhere.
“But I’m disappointed to hear about this.”
“Oh yeah, I’m the black sheep,” she said of her reputation with some Hillsborough Democrats on Tuesday night for not backing out of the primary.
“They’re like, ‘Get out of this man’s way. He was the incumbent and … so no, I don’t get any support from the Democratic leaders. But the people on the ground, like [sheriff’s] deputies and officers and just everyday people — they’re ready for a change. They’re not interested in all the drama. He’s not universally ‘The Golden Child.’ He is to Democratic leaders, and that’s fine.”
What will DeSantis do?
Ione Townsend, chair of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee,
During his appearance in Pinellas County in April after Warren announced he was running again, a television reporter asked the governor whether he would re-suspend Warren if the former prosecutor wins in November.
DeSantis did not directly respond but said,
“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, everyday would be Christmas. I think it’s all going to work out and I think it’s going to be good.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.
MUM’S THE WORD: Hillsborough’s Democratic Committee is not weighing in on the primary.
continued from page 19
Gloves o
Hillsborough schools boss seeks legal action in millage vote fight.
By Ray Roa
The leader of Hillsborough County’s public school systems is already fighting back after the county board of commissioners made a surprise vote today to push a millage referendum off the November ballot and into 2026.
Speaking last Wednesday afternoon in front of members of the teachers union, four school board members and supporters, a heated Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Van Ayres told reporters that he’s called a special school board meeting for Tuesday, July 23 where he will ask for authority “to seek all appropriate legal action to ensure the millage referendum is on the ballot, November 5th, of this year.” (The meeting was scheduled for 2 p.m., after this issue went to press. See the update at cltampa.com/ news.)
The millage calls for $1 of every $1,000 of assessed property value to go to Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS)—an estimated $177 million could come into the school system. Ayres said HCPS would have used the money as a supplement to its budget to make wages for workers like bus drivers, support staff, and teachers more competitive.
Asked by a reporter if he felt Wostal’s motion and subsequent votes was an attack on public schools, Ayres replied, “Without a doubt.” The superintendent, who took office last November, later added that this was the no. 1 most offensive attack on the public school system he’s experienced in his tenure.
“The word I came back with earlier today was this was unprecedented,” he added, “that they would step in the middle of this and take this away from our students.”
LOCAL NEWS
Public Education Power Hour
w/Sean Shaw/Damaris Allen/Cindy Stuart/ Jessica Vaughn. Friday, July 26. 5:30 p.m. No cover. Compton Park. 16101 Compton Dr., Tampa
Hillsborough’s Board of Commissioners was supposed to approve the placement of the millage referendum as a formality this morning, according to Ayres, who added that he was shocked when Commissioner Joshua Wostal made a motion to delay the vote to 2026. Wostal’s motion passed 4-3 along party lines.
Commissioners Wostal, Ken Hagan, Christine Miller, Donna Cameron Cepeda voted yes on the motion to delay the millage vote. Commissioners Pat Kemp, Gwen Myers and Harry Cohen voted no.
Citing Florida Statute 1011.73 on district millage elections, Ayres said it is the board of commissioners’ administrative to to pass the referendum through. “Our school board voted in April to have this on the ballot in November. Our stand is that they have no right to postpone that at all. They are superseding. They’re trying to take away the power of the school board by postponing that vote, and they have no right to do so,” Ayres said.
He added that millage referendums already exist in Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota and Manatee counties.
“I don’t take this lightly at all,” Ayres said about asking voters to tax themselves to help public schools. “I understand what’s going on in the economy, but this is about leveling the playing field and letting our voters make that decision on if that one mill passes or not.”
School board member Vaughn, along with Sean Shaw (candidate for Hillsborough County Commission District 6), county Clerk of Court Cindy Stuart and past school board candidate Damaris Allen will host a Public Education Power Hour this Friday, July 26 in Tampa Palms.
Want to be More Flexible in Movement and Reduce Pain?
Reasons We Lack Flexibility
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• Stretching helps to enhance mobility and range of motion, speed up recovery, and improve posture and circulation.
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GET IN THE VAN: Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Van Ayers addressed reporters.
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Yes we beer can
A new, very Tampeño beer, and a bunch of local food news.
By Ray Roa and Colin Wolf
Thirty-six years after it popped out of the ground, Tampa’s “Beer Can Building” is finally getting the respect it deserves.
On July 15, a five-person team topped off and packaged about 100 cases of “Beer Can Building Beer,” a new guava wheat ale from JDub’s Brewing Company and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Brewed by Michael Beard and his team at Channelside Brewing, the easy-drinking beer features a hint of the funky fruit that gave the Big Guava its name.
Clocking in at 4.2% ABV, the beer, obviously, comes in onepint tall boys. It’s wrapped in a design by St. Petersburg-based artist Todd Bates who stayed as true to architect Harry Wolf’s Fibonacci sequence measurements as he could.
Beard lauded Beer Can Building Beer’s balance and described the fruit-forward flavor as perfect for hot Florida summer days.
“Channelside Brewing Co. is grateful and excited to collaborate with Creative Loafing and JDub’s Brewing Co. on this unique and interesting beer,” he added.
FOOD NEWS
Founded in Sarasota, JDub’s shut down shortly after the onset of the pandemic, but was revived last year by Tampa lawyer Rich McIntyre, who also owns Ybor City’s 1920 cafe and music venue.
“It’s an underdog, comeback beer in my eyes,” McIntyre recently told CL about his acquisition of the brand. “This has been in the works for years.”
“As someone who grew up in Tampa, it’s such an iconic building for me,” Bates said about the downtown’s 31-story, limestone-faced skyscraper also known as Rivergate Tower. Bates’ label includes an homage to the Exploding Chicken sculpture, which used to live outside but has since found a home in Channelside.
Brewed to commemorate the 2024 Best of the Bay awards happening this fall, Bay area residents can get their first taste of Beer Can Building Beer at Bolts Brew Fest happening inside Amalie Arena on Friday, Aug. 9.
“Being in the Big Guava, it was exciting to learn that JDub’s was already planning a guava wheat,” CL Publisher James Howard said about the partnership with the resurgent Bay area beer brand now based in Ybor City. “This represents a flavor and fun package as unique as Tampa Bay itself. I’m excited for everyone to try it.”
Now headquartered in the historic district, JDub’s works with Channelside Brewing Co.— located at 802 N12th St. right next to Four Green Fields—to produce the Poolside Florida Ale, Bell Cow Chocolate Porter, Passion Wheat Ale, and Up Top IPA.
We can’t wait to drink Beer Can Building Beer with everyone at Bolts Brew Fest and again at the Best of the Bay awards.
Stormrunners Tavern to open out of former Caddy’s Gulfport location
A new concept in a familiar building is getting ready to open its doors in downtown Gulfport.
“It’s such an iconic building for me.”
The waterfront Stormrunners Tavern, located at 3128 Beach Blvd. S, took to social media this week to announce its August 2024 debut— although there’s no specific soft opening date just yet.
Gulfport’s Caddy’s abruptly closed last summer, alongside its St. Pete Beach location.
Stormrunners Tavern owners announced the opening of their new, two-story bar and restaurant in the fall of 2023, with a projected opening of spring 2024.
The new concept is currently hiring for all positions—folks can email jobs@stormrunnerstavern.com for more information.—Kyla Fields
South Tampa’s Wright’s Gourmet House has o cially been sold to Caspers Company
“The big Best of the Bay party is one of the most fulfilling things we do at CL,” Ray Roa, Editor-In-Chief at CL, added about the ceremony set for the Hard Rock Event Center on Sept. 25. “The awards give our readers a chance to celebrate all that is special about their communities, and I’m really grateful to the JDub’s and Channelside brew teams who were on board to create a beer as unique as the people we serve.”
While Stormrunners Tavern occupies the ground floor as a casual bar and restaurant, its second floor will be dubbed the “Crow’s Nest,” an open-air bar and patio that features prized views of Boca Ciega Bay. An outdoor dog bar called Bark Gulfport will also be located on the premises, complete with a tiki-style thatched roof and a turfed area for pups to play on.
ILovetheBurg says that this new Gulfport concept will host live music several nights a week, in addition to dishing out a food menu of “affordable and familiar favorites” alongside a variety of beer, wine and craft cocktails.
The upcoming bar and restaurant is owned and operated by a few folks with learned hospitality experience in the Tampa Bay area. Stormrunners’ ownership includes Dave Burton of Tampa’s Soho Sushi and GenX Tavern, plus Dog Bar owner Fred Metzler and Ian Taylor and Joey Frasco of downtown St. Pete’s The Galley.
Design renderings from Tampa-based architecture firm api(+) depict Stormrunners Tavern as a pirate-themed bar and restaurant with black and red accents, an open-air patio on the second floor, and lots of shaded, outdoor seating on its dog-friendly turf.
Head to @stormrunnerstavern on Facebook or Instagram for the latest news on the new bar and restaurant’s soft opening in August.
After weeks of rumors, South Tampa’s Wright’s Gourmet House has officially been sold.
The buyer is Caspers Company, a longtime Tampa-based company led by Blake Casper and Allison Casper Adams. Blake recently ran for Tampa City Council District 4, losing to incumbent Bill Carlson; the siblings, however, are known as former owners of dozens of McDonald’s franchises, which they offloaded for an undisclosed amount in 2022.
A press release says that the Tampa food scene icon at 1200 S Dale Mabry Hwy. will continue to operate with the same, “commitment to quality, service and community values.” The menu, catering commitments, quality, and standard of excellence will remain “unchanged,” the release added. continued on page 33
CHAIN REACTION: Creative Loafing, JDub’s and Channelside Brewing have a new beer.
Wright’s was founded by Marjorie and Pete Wright in 1963 and was most recently run by their grandson Jeff Mount who will finally retire.
“It’s been my pleasure and honor to have built upon my grandparents’ legacy, and I am thrilled to now entrust that legacy to Blake and his team at Caspers Company,” Jeff wrote in the release.
Caspers Company, which operates Tampa’s Oxford Exchange, Casa Cami and The Stovall House under its Oxfords Commons brand, said it will preserve the Wright’s heritage.
“Wright’s has been a foundation of the community for decades and we are excited to continue serving its loyal customers with the same passion and dedication they have come to expect,” wrote Adams.
Tampa sushi restaurant Rice & Spice named among Yelp’s ‘Top 100 Sushi Spots’ in 2024
Is Tampa officially a sushi town? Earlier this year, two Tampa sushi spots were gilded with prestigious Michelin Stars, and now another
local establishment is getting some shine—this time from Yelp.
Last week, the popular food review website debuted its” Top 100 Sushi Spots” of 2024, and Rice & Spice near Citrus Park, came in at No. 55.
Located in the ‘burbs at 11625 Sheldon Rd., the asian fusion spot serves up everything from sushi, Thai and Chinese cuisine.
According to Yelpers, Rice & Spice is “truly outstanding,” and the off-menu Tokio Showdown roll, seems to be a big standout.
This actually isn’t the first time the local gem was praised by Yelp.
Juno & The Peacock and cocktail lounge Pluma will open downtown St. Pete next month
Two new concepts will soon debut from the former 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House location in downtown St. Petersburg.
On Aug. 23, the space will welcome a new cocktail lounge called Pluma, and a new full service restaurant called Juno & The Peacock, featuring “new American coastal cuisine” for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
FOOD NEWS
Last year, Rice & Spice ranked No. 20 among Yelp’s “Top 100 Places to Eat in Florida 2023’ list.
Unfortunately, the timing of this list couldn’t be worse for Rice & Spice, since the restaurant will be closed through July 8 in observance of Independence Day, according to their social media.
No other Tampa Bay sushi spots made the cut, however Kadence and Edoboy Standing Sushi Bar in Orlando landed in the top 25. You can see the full list via yelp.com.
According to a press release, the menu at Juno & the Peacock will span everything from dry-aged steaks, to seafood towers, seared grouper, crab cakes and more. Over at Pluma, the lounge’s focus is on light bites and cocktails, as well as a “curated wine selection highlighting over 1,400 choices primarily sourced from New World regions.”
Collectively, the two spaces will accommodate up to 268 guests with both indoor and outdoor seating.
Last summer, co-owners Shawn and Jeanna Damkoehler—who are also behind the nearby
Mediterranean-Aegean restaurant Allelo—closed 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House for “renovations.” Then, in April, the owners announced plans to convert the space into Juno and Pluma.
“Having lived here all my life, I am incredibly proud to contribute to the growth of St. Pete and bring new dining experiences to my hometown,” said co-owner Jeanna Damkoehler in a statement. “It has been a labor of love, bringing together experts in every field, from the design firm to the culinary and beverage teams, to create an entirely new culinary destination in the Tampa Bay area. We can’t wait to unveil the concepts in a few short months and are confident our vision and attention to detail will impress.”
More details on the grand-opening will be announced in the coming weeks.
Downtown
Tampa nightclub Eden is now closed
A staple in Tampa’s nightlife scene abruptly closed its doors last month, and it’s still unsure why.
on page 35
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: St. Pete’s Seafood and Tap House will become Juno & The Peacock.
Eden, located at 912 N Franklin St. in the former Franklin Manor space, was known for its stacked entertainment lineups, stiff drinks and late-night hours.
The nightclub abruptly closed on Thursday, June 13 according to social media posts from its employees—like former General Manager Niko Alvertos, who posted that “we all had the feeling something was going to happen, we just didn’t know when.”
Eden’s Facebook and Instagram pages were recently deleted, showing no trace of the oncepopular nightclub and event space. It is also listed as “permanently closed” on Google.
There was no official closing announcement issued by ownership, so it’s still unclear why the once-popular nightlife hotspot abruptly closed its doors a few weeks ago.
The two-story club was garden-themed, hence its name, and featured specialty cocktails inspired by the seven deadly sins, a ton of VIP booths, a late-night menu, themed parties and a steady rotation of DJs and other entertainers.
The downtown Tampa bar and club made its debut in 2021, after $4.5 million dollar renovations rendered the former Franklin Manor space unrecognizable.
Franklin Manor closed in 2020 following controversy from Nocturnal Restaurant Group’s former co-owner Lanfranco Pescante’s racist and violent comments.
In early 2021, Eden’s owners Asad Yusupov and Kevin Stowe also opened Asian fusion restaurant Haiku at 808 N Franklin St., which is still open just a block away from their nowclosed club.
Stowe now operates under Haiku Hospitality Group instead of Phoenix Hospitality Group, the LLC he and Yusupov used to open Eden in 2021. Sunbiz.com shows only Stowe’s information affiliated with Haiku Hospitality Group, so it can be assumed that Yusupov is no longer associated with Haiku.—KF
After just three months, Ybor’s Ten Rooms abruptly closes
Ten Rooms, a new dining and retail hub that opened in Ybor’s historic El Centro Español de Tampa last April, is now permanently closed.
Majority investor Third Lake Capital informed the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the last day of operation was Sunday, July 7, and employees were notified of the closure the following day.
“While it’s disappointing that Ten Rooms is closing, we (as owners of Centro Ybor) remain committed to the vitality and vibrancy of Ybor City, its residents and the business community,” said Third Lake said in a statement to TBBJ. “The restaurant industry is a tough business, and many concepts ultimately don’t succeed notwithstanding thoughtful planning, good intentions, creativity, and
curated offerings. We wish the proprietor of Ten Rooms well and hope he finds success in future endeavors.”
Ten Rooms, located at 1536 E 7th Ave., was helmed by two longtime entrepreneurs in the industry: Ro Patel of Ciro’s Speakeasy and Anise Global Gastro Bar and San Franciscobased restaurateur Zach Pace, who operated Michelin-starred concepts Lazy Bear and Aphotic.
Ten Rooms consisted of a 50-seat restaurant called Bar Martinez, craft cocktail called Genevieve the Cat, rotating vendor and art space
FOOD NEWS
The Shop at Ten Rooms and The Cafe, a daytime coffee shop and French-inspired bakery.
Last summer, Ten Room filed a lawsuit against Chef Ebbe Vollmer of Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant “Ebbe” for breach of con-
Luv Child recently took to social media to announce the closure, and to thank diners for their support. “After careful consideration, we have decided to permanently close our doors at Luv Child, with our last day of service being Sunday, July 28th,” read a statement from the restaurant. “We have cherished every moment spent serving you and are incredibly grateful for your unwavering LUV and support. Thank you so much for being a part of our journey!”
Luv Child is owned by the Ciccio Restaurant Group (CRG), which also operates other local restaurants including Green Lemon, Daily Eats, Fresh Kitchen, Water & Flour, Taco Dirty, Cali and others.
Luv Child was known for a posh (and very pink) atmosphere, offering up elevated Cuban and Latin
tract; Vollmer was originally set to helm its dining concepts in Ybor City.
Back in February, a representative for the concept told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that “a settlement has been reached.”
South Tampa restaurant Luv Child will permanently close this month
Nearly five years after its debut, South Tampa modern Cuban concept Luv Child is saying goodbye.
fare like loaded quesadillas, chicharrones, and tostones, as well as a well-appointed cocktail menu.
No exact reason was given for the closure, though the post stated that a second location of Italian fast-casual concept Jay & Luigi will open in the same space at 516 S Howard Ave.
The first Jay & Luigi, which is a product from both CRG and Forbici’s co-founder Jason Brunetti, opened in St. Petersburg at 3201 4th St. North in 2021.
“Stay tuned for more updates on the grand opening, and we can’t wait to welcome you to Jay Luigi soon!,” said the post.
Seminole Heights’ Jug & Bottle is for sale
After nearly a decade in the neighborhood, Jug & Bottle is looking for a new owner.
A Loopnet listing doesn’t include an address, but describes an opportunity “in a popular Tampa neighborhood.” Interested parties are also required to complete a nondisclosure agreement before any specifics are released. The description, however, is a dead giveaway.
The listing depicts a nine-year-old specialty beer and wine store with a beer and wine consumption license, which sits on a corner lot. There’s ample indoor and outdoor seating, too. It touts the local and national exposure the business has received.
“The separate vegan food concept that has been operating out of the establishment complements the store with added sales. Bring your own food concept and the entire premises sales will be yours!,” business broker Main Street & Main adds.
“We love it, but the lease is up at the end of the year. That’ll be 10 years, and it’s just time for us to move on,” co-founder Veronica Danko told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, adding that it was a painstaking decision to sell. “It’s a great shop. I feel like somebody local would want to take it over and put their heart into it.”
The asking price for the business at 6203 N Florida Ave. is $375,000, and the lease would have to be negotiated with the landlord, which is Frank Kane’s TPA Affordable Real Estate, according to property records.
Jug & Bottle opened in 2015 to much fanfare and has been a staple of Old Seminole Heights since, bringing the neighborhood not just great beer, wine and snacks, but also friendly service, underground cinema and the neighborhood’s famous Krampus holiday event.
The beloved 3 Dot Dash vegan kitchen also calls Jug & Bottle home, but a co-founder of the concept told CL there's no news to report yet and that they'll reach out when they know more.
• Triple Threat Food Truck —with a menu that includes a pan sobao hoagie roll and tostones burger—is now open at Pinellas Ale Works’ food truck park. More information via @TripleThreatTruck on Instagram.
• Polk County (that’s Lakeland, Winter Haven, Auburndale, and more) wraps its inaugural burger week on July 28. The menu includes more than 50 of the county’s restaurants offering specials from as low as $8.95 (Andy’s Igloo) to fancy, brioche-bunned options that’ll cost you $24 (Nineteen61). polkcountyburgerweek.com
ICYMI
BOTTOMS UP: After a decade open, Jug & Bottle founders are moving on.
JUGANDBOTTLEDEPT/FACEBOOK
A&E GUIDE
MOVIES THEATER ART CULTURE
Take a dip
Ten stunning rooftop pools o ering day passes for locals.
By CL sta
It’s that time of year where it’s certainly too hot for the beach, but it’s never too hot for a pool, especially one with a rooftop breeze. Here are a few of Tampa Bay’s best pools that sit a little higher than the rest, no room key required. Information on these passes is available at resortpass.com.
Aloft Tampa Midtown ($30) Aloft’s rooftop pool offers gorgeous views of the city (and I-275). Guests must be 21 or older and poolside food and drinks are available for purchase at Sal y Mar Rooftop Pool Bar, as well as access to the hotel’s fitness center and Wi-Fi. Aloft offers valet parking for $35. 3650 Midtown Dr., Tampa. 813-353-0555
Art Ovation Hotel, Autograph Collection ($35) Worth the quick day trip, Sarasota’s Art Ovation Hotel offers some supreme views on our neighbor to the south’s skyline. A day pass here comes with pool-side food and drink service, complimentary wifi and valet service, lounge chair access, and more. 1255 N Palm Ave., Sarasota. 941-316-0808
Cambria Hotel St. Petersburg-Madeira Beach Marina ($25-$149) Starting at $25 you can relax by Cambria’s rooftop pool and hot tub with a cocktail in hand from the rooftop poolside bar. At $149 up to six people can enjoy a shaded poolside cabana from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. with complimentary fruit and bottled water plus dedicated service. Both packages come with parking and Wi-Fi. 15015 Madeira Wy., Madeira Beach. 727-483-5997
Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center ($12) In the heart of downtown Tampa you can enjoy views of the city while relaxing in the hotel’s outdoor heated pool. Taste Restaurant provides guests with food and beverages and day pass holders receive 10% off their orders. Wi-Fi is complementary and valet parking costs $30 for the day. 513 S Florida Ave., Tampa. 813-769-8300. Hilton Tampa Downtown ($20) For $20, guests have access to Hilton Tampa Downtown’s rooftop pool, fitness center and whirlpool hot tub, with amenities like poolside food and drink
service and free Wi-Fi. Entry is free for infants. Park at the hotel using valet for $37, or use hourly self-parking at the nearby Fort Brooke parking garage. 211 N Tampa St., Tampa. 813-204-3000
Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa ($20-$350) Whether you’re team pool or team beach, Hyatt Regency on Clearwater beach has all of the bases covered without needing to book a room. Day passes start at $20 and include access to gulf views plus amenities like a heated pool, Wi-Fi, drink service and discounts. Cabanas and poolside suites cost more, but come with more perks like a TV with streaming capabilities and a private server. 301 S Gulfview Blvd., Clearwater Beach. 727-373-1234
JW Marriott Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa ($75-$250) The JW Marriott on Clearwater Beach’s Day Pass offers pool, hot tub and beach access, plus poolside service with food and drinks is available for purchase. Lounge in a reserved daybed for two by the pool with the Daybed Pass at $250. Both passes offer complimentary Wi-Fi and discounted valet parking. 691 S Gulfview Blvd., Clearwater Beach. 727-677-6000
Tampa Airport Marriott ($35) One of the more underrated local rooftop bars, the Tampa Airport Marriott allows guests to sip on a cocktail from the heated pool as they watch 737s come
and go. A day pass here comes with access to the fitness center, towel service, lounge chairs, free wi-fi and more. 4200 George J Bean Pkwy., Tampa. 813-879-5151
Tampa Edition ($75-$250) The Tampa Edition (stylized “EDITION”) day pass starts at $75. Lounge by the rooftop pool and enjoy complimentary sunscreen, water and Wi-Fi. Food and beverages can be bought at the pool bar or at the Edition’s Azure restaurant. If you care to lounge in style, cabanas for up to four people cost $250 and offer dedicated service and a complimentary fruit plate and bottled water. Valet parking is $35 but there are also street parking spaces available. 500 Channelside Dr., Tampa. 813-221-4600
Tampa Marriott Water Street ($20$1,000) Spend your “daycation” wisely at Tampa Street’s Marriott rooftop pool, complete with food and drinks, cornhole, paddle board and kayak rentals (for the nearby Hillsborough River). Plus, there’s free Wi-Fi and discounted valet. Day passes for adults start at $20 and $10 for kids, but other options include luxury daybeds ($75), daytime luxury cabanas ($150) and $1,000 to keep the cabana into the night with $300 food and drink credits as well as a reservation at the hotel’s waterfront restaurant, Anchor & Brine. 505 Water St., Tampa. 813- 221-4900.
NICE ADDITION:
The Tampa Edition pool opened in 2022.
MARRIOTT
HAPPY HOUR AT AMSO
Monday - Friday, 4pm-7pm Saturday 3pm-6pm
$4, $5 & $6 Liquor, Beer & Wine
$8 Hand-Cra ed Cocktails
A CONTEMPORARY COLLABORATION ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 3 Emily Martinez, 27 DIC. 1974 (Mother’s Embrace) (detail), 2024, Acrylic on canvas and wood
RESTORING A JAIN SHRINE ON VIEW THROUGH NOVEMBER 10
Unknown Artist, active Patan, Gujarat State, India, Jain Shrine c. 1600, Carved and painted wood, Gift of Louis E. Seley and sons Hervey and Elliott, Jr.
LOCAL MUSIC
REVIEWS PROFILES MUSIC WEEK
Cu ng season
Soft Cu tops list of Bay area instrumental bands you should listen to right now.
By Ray Roa
There’s some music that people just need.
Christina Sanchez unwittingly found it when she got a call to join Soft Cuff. The new St. Petersburg band was borne around 2021 during sessions between bassist Brian Schanck and multi-instrumentalist Michael Bostinto who were working on another project, Soda Die. Bostinto started to put break beats on top of riffs from Schanck. One song snowballed into another, and soon the duo had a full EP recorded. They never intended to do anything with it, but Bostinto—who played in St. Pete rock export Trés Bien and currently gigs solo as Mike Tony—felt an urge to get the music into the real world.
“Brian’s like, ‘Well, let me reach out to a couple legends in the game, and we can see if they’d be interested,” Bostinto told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
Sanchez—who played in revered rock outfits like Veiny Hands and Fake Nudes—had other plans. “I was never gonna play live music again, ever in my life,” she told CL. But she heard the early demos, and as someone who almost exclusively listens to instrumental music and hip-hop, was drawn to a sound driven by bass lines reminiscent of Menahan Street Band and the soul racket of the Dap-Kings, plus crunchy, punchy, pronounced drums that could go on a rap record. Still, she had about 1,000 other things that needed her attention.
“Then they were like, ‘It’s gonna be super chill. We’re actually just gonna play these two shows, and we’re just gonna party,’” Sanchez added. Finding out that Shane Schuch—a guitarist and songwriter who rose to prominence with Lujo Records signee Mouse Fire and then with his production under the Pajamas moniker—was on board was icing on the cake.
“Shane is a legend that I always wanted to be friends with. I don’t know how you say ‘no’ to that, so I couldn’t, and I just didn’t,” Sanchez said.
Soft Cuff made its live debut at The Bends in St. Petersburg last January then opened for psych-rock band Levitation Room in Ybor City five months later; next month, the band plays an EP release show at the VFW Post 39 just a short drive away from the garage studio where Soft Cuff was born.
Maybe it’s because they’re all adults now, but inside the video squares of a virtual meeting, Schanck, Schuch, Sanchez and Bostinto look like four of the happiest people ever, complementing Shane’s new vacation hat, and just generally being content to be in the same room—even chat room—together. The chemistry translates to Soft Cuff’s weekly practice, too.
He learned the psychedelic and wahwah-ed guitar riffs, and Sanchez leaned into the keyboard tones, which come from a 1967 Farfisa Combo Deluxe Compact Organ heard on songs like “96 Tears” by Midwestern MexicanAmerican garage rock band Question Mark & The Mysterians. “We can get cinematic. We can get direct. We can get loud and get big. We can
“This is next level. The way we write, the way we play together, and what Mikey and Brian came up with in the beginning is such a great foundation for us,” Schuch said. The earliest iterations of Mouse Fire were vocal-less, and the pressure of not having to think about lyrics— and just work off seeds of ideas—means Schuch is on a pure expedition to compose.
get soft. We can do anything we want,” Schuch added. “Instrumental music has been around forever. There’s so much of it that we forget that pop music has made vocals so normal that you kind of forget, ‘Oh, you can listen to music without lyrics.’”
While members’ influences range from soul voyagers Surprise Chef to Adrian Younge,
Badbadnotgood, or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, inspiration for tones and texture also comes from Booker T. & the M.G.’s and even harpist Dorothy Ashby. In a video for “TuPay” recorded at Bananas Records, Soft Cuff feels like a band that could fill up clubs across the U.S.
Still, the local release show, a New York City debut set for September at Brooklyn’s Sultan Room, the possibility of collaborating with rappers, and picking up TV and movie placements are what’s on the immediate horizon for the gang. If it wanted to, Bostinto said, the band could release another EP next month. “And that’s not to mention the 20-something other ideas that we have to just iron out and flesh out at this point.”
All Soft Cuff really needs for now, however, is each other.
“Times are really hard right now for different people and for different reasons. And going into this, the priorities have been to just have fun,” Schanck said. “I’ve loved all bands I’ve been in for different reasons, but I can definitely say that this is my favorite thing I’ve ever done, hands down.”
See even more homegrown instrumental bands you should check out below.
Fil Pate
Pate is a pro on electric and acoustic guitar, and even mandolin, and he can play around the genres with each of them. While his music centers around Americana—including the blues and bluegrass—his trio dips into jazz that swings or is straight ahead, and even fusion or soul. He considers himself lucky to play alongside some of the best pianists, drummers and cellists in the Bay area and relishes the freedom to travel further into Zydeco, Celtic, Caribbean and reggae. “My hope is that I can continue to connect with hundreds of listeners each week in Tampa Bay with traditional, classical, original and progressive instrumental music,” he added. filpate.com
Katara When the dust settles on 2024, Katara’s full-length debut, These Days, will stand as one of the year’s best releases. The harp-and-drum duo plays support on Soft Cuff’s local album release, and the pairing is fitting. Drummer Natalie Depergola and harpist Seth Adam Lynn represent the best of the next generation of Tampa musicians and their record is
continued on page 42
CUFF LUCK: Soft Cuff members all say it’s the best band they’ve probably been in.
a culmination of six-year collaboration where the friends never step on each others toes in using a trove of instruments (bongos, shakers, vibra slap, chimes, tambourines, plus harp, bass, keys and more) to push the boundaries of what instrumental music can communicate. wearekatara.com
La Lucha This Bay area jazz trio regularly collaborates with vocalists as it stretches the boundaries of jazz and pop (read more on p. 44), but its 2020 album Everybody Wants To Rule The World is a must listen for anyone who believes in the power of instrumental music’s visceral grip on a listener’s mind. The record showcases the chemistry pianist John O’Leary III, drummer Mark Feinman and bassist Alejandro Arenas have cultivated over two decades of bandom and also presents wonderful pairings (percussionist Chuck Redd and trumpet player Houston Person come together at one point). Arenas told CL that the album also let La Lucha put their personal perspectives on tape. “Our way of communicating is through our instruments and when we play a jazz standard or other compositions that are not ours, we are in a way processing somebody else’s personal expression through our own filter,” he added. “Compositions on the album like ‘The Sundering ‘(O’Leary) and ‘Lilis’ (Arenas) have very deep connections to our family lives, while ‘Otra Vez’ (Feinman) and ‘Por La Tarde’ (Arenas) are expressions of our multicultural backgrounds.” laluchamusic.com
notion of adhering to any typical song structures. “We started breaking the rules and things really clicked,” she added. Coss adds that his tastes for everything from jazz to classic-rock and postpunk make it into the arrangements—including new music the band is prepping ahead of a run of shows this fall. prescribedfire.bandcamp.com
LOCAL MUSIC
Rugawd Ruben Davila’s new album Little Treats is a big deal. The composer better known as Rugawd has played bass since he was 10 years old and was raised on classical music, but only dove into production and composition after a life studying math, physics, plus classical tuba and jazz bass. The 12-track outing finds Rugawd with his heart on his sleeve, putting on tape love letters to bass, electronic music, hiphop and jazz (his sound lives in the same nest as artists that call Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder imprint home). He’s pulled off dream collaborations as of late and recently had Hannibal Buress in his downtown Tampa studio to kick around. “I really love what he’s done with some of my beats and I can only hope that the music sees the light of day,” Rugawd said of his time with the comedian-rapper. “I’ve been a fan of his comedy since college so it’s a bit surreal.” Rugawd plays Tampa’s Boba House on Saturday, July 27. @ rugawdmusik on Instagram
people playing one part. But when you went and watched the individual, the artist is just one guy or one girl doing it,” Hopper told CL. “The first thing that drew me to it was just how majestic it was.” Hopper’s offerings took years and years of discipline to sharpen and his output is just as awe-inspiring. He gets lost, and lets listeners become awash in the groove of bass lines, rhythm, percussive beats and melodies all at the same time as he effortlessly cycles through styles like straight up prog, jazz, blues, ballads and more. A relentless gigger who’s shared stages with Bret Michaels and Dave Koz, and played in front of thousands, Hopper mostly performs in Pinellas County. shaunhopper.com
Michael Ross Bassist Michael Ross, a stalwart on the Tampa Bay jazz scene since the late 1970s, released Giraffe, his fifth album as a leader, last summer. The nine-track offering falls within the mainstream jazz idiom, with some welcome updates. For one, several tracks feature young Gibbs High alum Anthony Aldissi playing splendid Fender Rhodes, which gives tunes like “Chick’s Pick,” “Buddha” and the title track a more contemporary resonance. Giraffe includes four Ross originals, showcasing melodies that are at once catchy and intricate, and also includes astutely chosen jazz standards by Wayne Shorter (“Oriental Folk Song”) and McCoy Tyner (“Inception”). The bassist’s fleet fingers and elastic tone are on display throughout. Danny Jordan handles the tricky melodic lines and offers up swaggering solos on tenor saxophone and flute. michaelrossbass.com—Eric Snider
Prescribed Fire Drummer Shawn Watkins hates to admit it, but some of his playing for instru-metal polyrhythmic power trio Prescribed Fire is influenced by math-rock. It also takes cues from ‘70s stoner-rock, but also disco and swing. In front of him onstage and in the mix are guitarist Christa McHugh and bassist Kevin Coss who plays in punk band Down By Law. For Prescribed Fire, McHugh told CL they ditched the idea of auditioning a singer and threw out the
| JULY 25-31, 2024 | cltampabay.com
Same Day Delivery Orchestra Formed in late-2017 Melissa Grady’s “cover band” is actually a six-piece string ensemble that retools songs from Bay area bands and songwriters. The group—two violins, one viola, one cello, one bass and a drummer—often backs those musicians up for rare live gigs. Grady, a music educator for Hillsborough County schools is working on three new originals plus work from a handful of local artists (including Prescribed Fire) over the next year. sddorchestra.com
Sauce Pocket Split between Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, members of fusion outfit Sauce Pocket have a new album out ( Noodle Brain), but it’s best to get wet with a 2024 live album, Electric Boogaloo. The offering is a true representation of of how the sextet seamlessly blends its love for bands like Parliament, Lettuce, Hiatus Kaiyote, Chick Corea and even Tito Puente into songs that have a thematic home, but beg to be busted open for minutes of improvisation. Drummer Riley O’Brien told CL that Sauce Pocket is adding vocals from renowned Colorado soul singer Jessica Jones on its fulllength debut, so shows like the band’s headlining gig on Aug. 17 at Tampa’s New World Brewery are probably the last chance to see this iteration of the sauciers. @saucepocketfunk on Instagram
Shaun Hopper Hopper is the kind of artist you have to see with your own two eyes before you can believe he’s real. Catching another fingerstyle guitarist—Canadian great Don Ross—is how the Clearwater guitarist’s world first got blown open. “It sounded like so many
audio since it was his series and because I’m originally from London, he used clips from ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,’ ‘Snatch,’ and a few other classic British films on this volume,” Slop told CL. When he listens to other instrumental bands, the drums absolutely must slap, and from the opening track (“3rd Blap!”) to the closer (“Attention”), that’s what listeners get on DCV3. slopfunkdust.bandcamp.com Use & Care For those who need their instrumental music to absolutely shred, there is Use & Care. The trio includes monsters of the Bay area rock scene—drummer Vinnie Cosentino (Palantine), guitarist Alastair St. Hill (Gentlemen, Please) and bassist Jerrad McLeod. Together on a self-titled 2003 album, the trio pummels listeners with seven tracks of sludge-metal that could go on tour with Mastodon, Queens of the Stone Age and even Chicago’s sincedisbanded Hum. Kudos to Danny Piechocki—a beastly instrumentalist in his own right—for mixing this record as if it were an audition for France’s Hellfest. useandcare.bandcamp.com
Wahh World Fusion Band Entering a trance-like state with Wahh World Fusion Band in front of you is a rite of passage. Technically fronted by tabla maestro and vocalist Shankh Lahiri, Wahh (stylized in all-caps) is a veritable megatron of Bay area super musicians. Sitar player Kanad Hari, guitarists Peter mongaya and Thomas Griggs, Elias Tona and Seth Lynn on bass, Guianna and Ona Kirei on vocals, plus Michael Washington and Patrick Hernly on percussion help Lahiri bring to life world music that features life giving drones, a potent mix of eastern and western melodies, plus the occasional reworking of familiar pop megahits. The next best chance to see Wahh in action is at the Tampa Bay Indian and World Music Festival happening on Sept. 2. wahhmusic.com
SlopFunkDust and Spontonola Tampa’s beat scene is alive and well and rife with young talent, but they all bow down to OGs like SlopFunkDust and Spontonola who’ve made more than 200 beats over the last three years. The Bay area producers have worked with a who’s who of homegrown talent, and continue to drop gems like Illsboro Records’ Drum Cinema Vol. 3, a collection of samples that are the fruit of three decades of crate digging. “Spon came up with all the dialogue
Zero Context “Zero Context is music that depends on the situation,” Michael Bryant told CL about the collective of instrumentalists he regularly brings together at Dunedin Brewery. One gig last March included James Adkinds and Jamie Newitt on drums, bassists Brad Miller and Vinny Svoboda, plus Austin Llewelyn on keys. The end of the performance was built around a drum and bass idea, colored with texture inspired by U.K. musician Squarepusher, then topped off with hip-hop and punk moments for a genre-fluid performance that embodied the spirit of experimental music. The band’s 2024 EP, Out Of Nowhere, has vocals, but bottles all of that energy into a compact statement of what Zero Context tries to do every time it hits the stage. The band plays Dunedin Brewery’s “Musical Riot” show in support of the city’s nightlife next Thursday, Aug. 1. @zerocontextmusic on Instagram
See more of the Bay area’s best instrumental bands—including a few with just a hint of vocals—by finding the extended version of this story on cltampa.com/music.
GAWD IS GOOD: Rugawd’s ‘Little Treats’ is brain food for the musically curious.
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C Donny Osmond The shelf life of a teen pop idol is extremely slim. When thinking of all the pin-up poster boys who’ve graced the bedroom walls and the turntables of teenagers over the last several decades in pop culture, only a handful can truly claim to have transcended the typical staying power an actor or pop singer marketed as a teen heartthrob is normally allowed to have. At the head of that class is Donny Osmond. Growing up in the spotlight, as part of a singing group with his brood of older brothers, Osmond has been in the showbiz game since the tender age of five. As the 1970s were kicking off, Donny and his brothers were riding high on pop music charts, thanks to the hit singles and the concert tours they’d embarked on. Read our full Q&A at cltampa.com/music. (Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)—Gabe Echazabal
C Third Eye Blind w/Yellowcard Stephan Jenkins and friends are no strangers to Tampa Bay. In 2018, the San Francisco-based band played a free opening day concert at Tampa’s Julian B. Lane Waterfront Park, and last year, it ran through a hit-filled main stage set at the second— and final—Tampa installment of Innings Fest. And while there is supposedly new music coming, Jenkins says that it isn’t quite ready to see the light of day. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
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C Beartoe w/John Lee/Patrick Hagerman/Derek Engstrom It’s been far too long since the Bay area got a proper visit from Roberto Aguilar, and this might be the first time the Indigenous songwriter’s band, Beartoe, has played what’s one of St. Petersburg’s best listening spaces. With roots in DeLand, Aguilar & co. play rock and roll that is undeniably from Florida in the way it navigates the blues with a certain swampy swagger. But buried in the melodic brand of Americana is a whole lot of soul-searching and room for listeners to think about their own journeys (Beartoe’s bio says the band is “Always searching for duende,” a folkloric figure in Spanish and Latin folklore). (Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg)
Emo Social St. Petersburg: Chris Kamrada If you missed Dashboard Confessional’s set opening for Counting Crows last summer at the old Gary amphitheater, drummer Chris Kamrada—an Orlando-based freelancer who joined the Boca Raton band in 2017—plays DJ at this emo party which made its Bay area debut in Ybor City last year. Special guests have yet
to be announced, but during the tour’s stop in Raleigh earlier this month, Rookie of the Year—a Warped Tour band local to North Carolina’s capital city—showed up. In short, don’t wait. (Floridian Social, St. Petersburg)
C La Lucha Considering how there’s no shortage of ‘80s cover bands in Tampa Bay— for better or worse—it’s only natural that one of our most respected local jazz outfits would dip its toes into that territory. The aptly-titled La Lucha Plays the ‘80s turns Madonna’s voice on “Like A Virgin” into an ultra-smooth James Suggs trumpet arrangement, and still features two original, mostly-piano-driven instrumental pieces, “E.T” and “She’s Like The Wind.” On hand to help rip out selections from the record and more will be the vocals of Guianna Brantley (colloquially known by her first name only), which appear on the recordings, too. (freeFall Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Mave’s Arcade w/Samuel Wolter/ Amateur Taxidermy Record shops have, and always will be, fantastic venues for live music to be a placemaker, and the Banana’s retail location on 22nd Street continues doing its part with this show featuring Yousef Danak and Anthony Record’s indie-rock band Mave’s Arcade. (Bananas Music, St. Petersburg)
Music For Joe: Suburban Wasteland w/ The Losing Game/Colours Last February, Joe Bucci—drummer for Bradenton-based “post-emo grunge rock” outfit The Losing Game—died of cardiac arrest. His band members have played a gig or two under their own names since, but the first post-Bucci gig under the Losing Game moniker is this tribute. Joining in are punk cover band Suburban Wasteland (featuring drummer Ryan Massey, who’ll share the duty of filling Bucci’s shoes during The Losing Game’s set with old friend John Tarpey), and respective reunions of The Prospect and Colour, neither of which have been onstage since before COVID-19 was a thing. All profits from the gig go to Bucci’s family, which raised over $25,000 for memorial and medical costs through GoFundMe. (Oscura, Bradenton)
C Dr. Zachary Bartholomew (album release) Dr. Bartholomew’s high-energy style has made him a sought after jazz pianist, and he takes center stage for this Balancing Act album release show. The program features all original music from the music professor at Florida Memorial University, and finds him flying in friends from across the country including trumpeter Benny Benack III (an alum of Postmodern Jukebox and the 8-Bit Big Band), Latin Grammy award-winning saxophonist David Fernandez, plus University of Miami professor Marty Quinn on bass, and Fullerton Rodolfo Zuniga, a Costa Rican master drummer and Director of Jazz Studies at California State University, on percussion. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
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C Barely Pink w/Tremolords/Pretty Voices There are going to be a lot of hungover Tampa music scene lifers on Sunday morning. They’ll all have Barely Pink to blame. The recently-reunited power-pop outfit celebrated the 20th anniversary of its anthem-filled album Last Days of Summer in St. Pete last winter and is bringing the heat for a no-cover show at this beloved downtown Tampa dive where Orlando ‘60s-pop band The Tremolords and Bay area garagerock band Pretty Voices play support. (The Hub, Tampa)
C Enox w/Thirst/Fiends/Fatal Frame/No Please The resurgence of nu-metal is real, and a bill stacked with up-and-comers of the genre comes to Seminole Heights when Jersey’s Enox arrives with a 2022 album, Euphoria , in its clutched fist. The 12-track outing would 100% be part of any hard-rock fan’s Columbia House 12-CDs-for-a-penny haul alongside past heavyweights of the genre including Korn, Deftones and Slipknot. A handful of familiar Florida metal bands play support at the Legion. (American Legion Seminole Post 111, Tampa)
C Gaza Rising: Lilith Black w/Mister E/ Black Clash/Mwiza/Of Men & Manatees/ Maude (Jackettes)/Black Incorporated
As the world dances around the G-word when it comes to the conflict between the Israeli government and Hamas (reports settle on “genocidal acts” committed under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), local bands continue playing concerts benefiting those under siege in Gaza. This Pinellas ‘Gaza Rising’ gig features rock, pop and Americana bands raising money for Palestinians and also protesters arrested at the Tampa campus of
the University of South Florida. (Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg)
Johnstock: Abortion Twins w/Big Sad/ The Brainiacs/Crash Mitchell/Send All/ more You can often tell what kind of an impact someone has in their community when shit hits the fan. Friends of Tampeño scene supporter John Ames—who completely fucked up his right ankle and left heel after falling off a ladder in April—combine their powers for this gig. Ames continues to work from a wheelchair but faces hardships to keep the lights on. Local rock bands and Ames’ kids put together this benefit gig to help ease the burden. There’ll be an art auction on site as well as grub from the deeply satisfying This Little Pig food truck. (Deviant Libation, Tampa)
C The Killakee House w/Spanish Needles/Shae Krispinsky/Adam Turkel Cathartic rock and roll can be a balm for the stress and worry *looks around* this world brings to our lives, and Courtney Kiker’s band dishes it out generously. Hailing from Atlanta, The Killakee House’s 2023 album Little Gallows ditches ego (“there’s no high horse in my stable,” Kiker sings on the opening track, “Wasted Youth”) and instead turns in 25 minutes of big riffs and sing-along hooks that can bring a room together in the live setting. (The Nest at St. Pete Brewing Company, St. Petersburg)
C O Som Do Jazz La Lucha’s wordless and lyrically-driven offerings are already mentioned in this issue, but the trio’s rhythm section is putting in even more work for this unique jazz gig at the museum where Rio de Janeiro singer Andrea Moraes Manson fronts O Som Do Jazz. (Museum of American Arts and Crafts Movement, St. Petersburg)
continued on page 46
By Ray Roa & Josh Bradley
C CL Recommends
Beartoe
C Sad Summer Fest: Mayday Parade w/The Maine/The Wonder Years/We the Kings/Real Friends/Knuckle Puck/ more When Warped Tour logged off in 2019, Alex Garcia felt a void. So his band, Mayday Parade, started its own summer festival. “Our main purpose was just to keep that alive and not lose that for the scene,” Garcia, guitarist for Mayday Parade, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. The outing, now in its fifth year, gives the band a chance to simply stay alive, and gives members—and those who support the band on the road—a chance at a living. Like Warped Tour, his band joins the festival every other year, and in 2024 will be in the lineup this weekend. Read our full Q&A wit Garcia at cltampa.com/music. (The BayCare Sound, Clearwater)—Suzanne Townsend
C Tampa Bay Rays Concert Series: Jimmy Eat World Are you listening? Jimmy Eat World is one of those bands that always seems to play headlining shows everywhere else in Florida not called Tampa Bay, but that sort-of changes thanks to the local baseball team which just got one hell of a deal from St. Pete taxpayers (more on p. 17). The hero emo band kicks off the Rays’ summer concert series which includes shows from country dude Riley Green (Aug. 10), and fucking-awesome-rap-and-R&B-guy who can actually do really good country shit, T-Pain (Aug. 16). The postgame concerts are included with game tickets, but you’ll have to purchase an additional postgame wristband ($30-$40) to get on the Trop playing field for the concerts. (Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg)
C Technics DMC: Da Odd Couple On Sunday, Ol’ Dirty Sundays continues its final run of shows with Miami’s own DJ Immortal, who provided sounds for last year’s Riptide
Music Festival, and has been endorsed by DAS Audio. The day before, however, the venue and haven for the art of turntablism welcomes legends of the craft including Immortal plus X-ecutioners Rob Swift and Mista Sinista who’ll judge this round of the international Technics DMC DJ competition. Swift and Mista Sinista will not only help decide who moves on, but rock the stage for a special set of music under Da Odd Couple banner. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
C VooDood wrap party: The Sh-Booms She has no idea how Orlando soul outfit The Sh-Booms will cram onto the Hooch and Hive stage this weekend, but Theresa Crout always makes magic for her annual VooDood concert. The show is built around actual voodoo dolls created by the Tampa artist, and this year Crout’s given them a sci-fi theme to honor her father who passed last year. Buying a ticket gets you a raffle ticket, and there’s a prize for naming the VooDoods, too. “Buckle up,” Crout said of this show now in its 11th year. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.” (Hooch and Hive, Tampa)
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C Punk Rock Flea in the AC: Dissentors w/Pet Lizard/Baseline/more While Bananas has its show on Saturday, another Pinellas music scene staple, Daddy Kool Records, co-hosts a big ol’, air-conditioned, punk-rock flea market on Sunday. Close to four dozen vendors from across the greater Bay area on supposed to set up, and bands from as far north as Ocala (grungy, pop-punk outfit Baseline) and south to Miami (ska-punk group Fuakata!) join Tampa punk favorite Pet Lizard, St. Pete
structure—has seemingly come to a close. That package stopped at Tampa’s Amalie Arena last fall, and it seems like Nick, Kevin, and Joe are downsizing not only their song selection, but also their production, down to a Hard Rock Event Center-sized gig. That’s just the way the Gen-Z heartthrobs roll. (Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)
C Lindsey Stirling w/Walk Off The Earth
Lindsey Stirling (whose “Lord of the Rings” medley would have way more than 59 million streams in a perfect world) typicalls rolls in for holiday-related affairs. So if your reasoning for never seeing the 37-year-old violin whiz relates to how you just don’t have it in yourself to pay money for live Christmas music, expect to hear the majority of her new album Duality—on which she tapped fellow startedon-YouTube band Walk Off The Earth, which opens the show, to collaborate on “Survive,” a song that pays tribute to Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 anthem—to open her BayCare Sound debut. (The BayCare Sound, Clearwater)
THU 01
politi-punk group Dissentors and more. (Daddy Kool Records, St. Petersburg)
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Rhythmic Exhibits feat. Elizabeth Glushko Glushko brings her cello and looper pedals to the museum for a gig that should compliment the contemporary glass at Imagine quite nicely. (Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg)
C The Remix: BC Last week Shuffle’s open mic welcomed a legend of the Tampa hiphop scene (Aych) and it’ll do it again for this installment featuring BC, a jiu jitsu-practicing emcee who also engages in lyrical warfare on his Time Piece series which dropped fresh installments over the last couple years (complete with production from Mudd Buddha, too). (Shuffle, Tampa)
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As I Lay Dying w/Chelsea Grin/Entheos All signs point to a new album from As I Lay Dying. The San Diego-based metal outfit’s new lineup—still featuring original frontman Tim Lambesis—just released a duo of new singles, described by a press release as something that “gives fans a brutal taste of what’s to come.” Chelsea Grin and Entheos both open the band’s first gig in town since 2022. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
C The Jonas Brothers The Brothers’ “Five Albums. One Night” tour—which bears an uncanny resemblance to Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour in terms of its setlist
1st Annual Fin Fest: Jimmy Buffett Celebrations w/Bluffett Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band announced a handful of tribute tour dates over the summer, and while the late singer-songwriter rose to fame and fortune in the Sunshine State, there’s not one date in Florida. Enter Bluffett. The eight-piece tribute band features a Jimmy lookalike and headlines the 1st Annual Fin Fest (not to be confused with Jacksonville Beach’s Florida Fin Fest). A full set from Bluffet’s “Son Of A Sailor Band” promises all the favorites, while festival organizers also have plans to screen the 1975 classic “Jaws” in the evening. (The BayCare Sound, Clearwater)
Halestorm w/I Prevail/Hollywood Undead/Fit For a King Unlike the last time Halestorm was in town, there won’t be an afternoon Willie Nelson concert for Lzzy Hale to warm up at. But some less-surprising guest spots just might be lined up for the hard rock outfit’s gig at the ol’ Gary next Thursday. Lzzy and friends, who haven’t played the venue since 2010, the year it first became the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre (know your Tampa lore, damn it!), just released a new single (“Can U See Me In The Dark?”). Featured is this tour’s co-headliner I Prevail, featuring Brian Burkheiser, who recently took time off to recover from surgeries related to his struggle with Eagle Syndrome, a rare disease he strives to raise awareness about. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
C Pusha Preme & Friends Back-ToSchool Book Bag Drive Titus O’Neil isn’t the only local hero doing back-to-school good deeds this month. Pusha Preme has a birthday coming up, and while the Tampa rapper and singer is celebrating another turn around the sun (and a new collab with Tory Lanez), the point of this show is to collect notebooks, pens, pencils, backpacks, and other essential items that’ll be passed along to students in need. (Tempus Projects, Ybor City)
See an extended version of this listing at cltampa.com/music.
Lindsey Stirling
Jason Singer is only 31 years old, but he found inspiration to make music in an unlikely place: his local library. The Tennessean says the songwriter better known as Michigander didn’t have internet back then, so he checked out stacks of CDs, burned them and learned the songs that would shape his tastes. Singer—touring ahead of a debut full-length that’s supposed to come out next year—will connect with a whole lot more people on a three-month fall and winter tour that stretches into 2025 and includes five stops in Florida.
The opening track of a 2023 EP (It Will Never Be The Same ) features Singer’s gift for writing catchy hooks and delivering them with a vocal that recalls the joy and pain of Augstana’s Daniel Layus, while the rest of the effort channels the lessons Singer’s learned in therapy after breaking his leg and canceling a tour in 2022. “I’m working on things I didn’t really know that I had to work on, and it’s been a really, really positive experience,” he told Spin about his approach to self-care.
Tickets to see Michigander play Crowbar in Ybor City on Sunday, Jan. 26 are still available and start at $20. Arizona songwriter Sydney Sprague opens.
See Josh Bradley’s weekly roundup of new concert announcements below.—Ray Roa
Betty Fox Saturday, Aug. 3. 8 p.m. $10. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Impulse Saturday, Aug. 10. 8 p.m. $10 at the door. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Club XCX: Kelly Lynn Thursday, Aug. 15. 9 p.m. $15. Crowbar, Ybor City
Rose Funeral w/Grasping at The Shadow/Spiritual Chaos/Death of a Deity Wednesday, Aug. 21. 7 p.m. $15. Orpheum, Tampa
Royal Sugar w/The Dirty Janes/Eric Jafet/Mortal Sons Saturday, Aug. 24. 7 p.m. $15. Crowbar, Ybor City
JT Curtis and the Florida Scoundrels Friday, Sept. 20. 8 p.m. $10 at the door. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
Clearwater Latin Jazz Fest: Renesito Avich & Friends w/Mauricio Rodriguez & the MJR Latin Project/O Som Do Jazz Friday, Sept. 27. 7 p.m. No cover. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater
Fleshgod Apocalypse w/Shadow of Intent/Ingested/The Zenith Passage/ Disembodied Tyrant Sunday, Sept. 29. 5:30 p.m. $26.50 & up. Orpheum, Tampa
Huron John & DBMK w/TBA Thursday, Oct. 3. 7 p.m. $18.Crowbar, Ybor CIty
Deicide w/Krisiun/Inferi/Cloak Friday, Oct. 11. 6 p.m. $30. Orpheum, Tampa
Exodus w/Havok Saturday, Nov. 2. 6 p.m. $30. Orpheum, Tampa
I have a close friend who decided to have a tiny wedding with just family. I supported her decision and still had fun talking to her about her dress and all the details. But, in the months leading up to the wedding, she posted not one but two bachelorette parties she had, neither one of which I was invited to. She never mentioned these to me, and I was hurt (twice!) when I saw her post them on IG. I don’t even know if I have a right to be hurt or talk to her about it. Do the cards have any advice?—Girl, trippin?
Cards: Full Moon, Death, Four of Cups (reversed), Page of Wands
Dear Girl,
When I told my best friend of 10 years that I couldn’t afford the $1,200 airfare to her bachelorette, she kicked me out of the wedding and literally never spoke to me again, so I have a very dark view of bachelorette parties on the whole.
That being said, I want to give your friend the benefit of the doubt. These parties (multiple?!) might have been organized by other people/ groups of friends, and your exclusion was not a personal snub from the bride. She might not have been aware of the guestlist; she might not have even been aware of parties. And if she was, that was her choice on how she wanted to celebrate her wedding. I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk to her about it.
in line with what your friend can give. She may occasionally be thoughtless with your feelings, but maybe she’s great at talking about bat-shit reality tv or someone who’s great to get drinks with once a month.
I know you said she is a close friend, and I sincerely hope that your friendship can one day return to that. But a readjustment might be best for all parties for the time being.
Do send her a card for her wedding, though. She’s still your friend you love.
Dear Oracle,
I’m feeling stuck in an existential sort of way. I’m wondering if I should move. Thoughts?—
This (might be) the place?
Cards to stay: Two of Cups, Ace of Cups, Six of Cups (all reversed)
Cards to move: The Emperor (reversed), Ten of Swords, Five of Cups
What you really need: Six of Swords, The Moon (reversed), The Sun.
Dear Place,
The old adage “wherever you go, there you are” is true. I don’t think a move is going to solve this existential block. If anything, it’ll make it front and center.
ORACLE OF YBOR
Send your question to oracle@cltampa.com or DM @theyboracle on Instagram
However…I would have given a close friend a heads-up about a party they weren’t invited to before blasting it on the socials. Feeling excluded sucks, no matter your age, and you have every right to feel hurt. Your friend did a disservice there.
The cards seem to address the friendship as a whole, which suggests that this isn’t the first time she’s done something thoughtless. With the Full Moon, feelings that have been under the surface for a while are now coming up, and the reversed Four of Cups suggests feeling disillusioned with this friendship for some time. You don’t mention her being cruel, so perhaps she’s unaware of her behavior. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
As the Page of Wands, you are someone who can do a lot of soul-searching and explore new things, which could mean evaluating how you want this relationship to look in the future.
Because, with Death looming, something has to change with this friendship. A little distance might make your expectations feel more
I understand why you’re feeling stuck. With the three-cup cards, including the childhood Six of Cups, your current town is true love. It’s your hometown (literally or metaphorically.) It’s where you grew up, it’s where you see yourself settling down. It’s a place you love dearly. But that old love and comfort can make a lovely trap, much like a cozy bed on a rainy day.
To move would rip you out of that comfort completely. As The Emperor, you would have to make your own path and deal with the feelings of fear and disillusionment of the Ten of Swords and Five of Cups without a robust social network. With none of the comforts of home to distract you, you’d be in for a very brutal excavation of the soul.
But you need to do that excavation anyway. Stay or go, that existential baggage needs to be dealt with. With the transformative journey of the Six of Swords and the subconscious Moon, I’d say you’re better off finding a good therapist you trust and working with them. It might take a while, but the payoff is The Sun, the shining light of success and victory! I think you’ll emerge from this discomfort with a much stronger sense of self and vision for what you want your life to be. Hell, I even think you might end up happy.
I know therapy isn’t as sexy as picking up and moving to Bali or whatever, but treating your underlying ennui is the first step, and it might be easier to examine your soul while surrounded by the comforts of home. And who knows? Maybe after a year of therapy, you decide to move elsewhere for a career change or #vanlife or take a long vacation abroad. Maybe your love for your hometown will be revitalized.
In the meantime, you might also try taking a class or volunteering or doing something to scratch that “newness” itch. Just because you’re dealing with issues of the spirit doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun. That switch up might help you start to feel a shift. However you go about it, I hope you feel the warmth of the Sun soon. Best of luck my dear. Get more at carolinedebruhl.com.
The outsiders
By Dan Savage
Question about genders and dating apps which I will try to keep brief. I am a 45-year-old married cis male. After more than a decade of dipping in and out of the swinging lifestyle, my wife and I have decided to open up to dating other people. I’m trying to catch up with the language of dating apps. I would like to express that I am open to dating people of various genders and orientations so long as they don’t have a penis. I am attracted to lots of different kinds of people along the masc/femme continuum, but I know from personal experience that I’m not interested in D. “Looking for people AFAB” was suggested by a friend, but that doesn’t seem very nice to me. Any suggestions on how to convey this in a way that doesn’t sound awful? Also, if a “straight” man has sex with or dates a nonbinary-identifying AFAB individual, would he be considered bisexual? Oh, and you don’t need to tell me this is all moot. I am aware that middle-aged and married cis dudes don’t pull a lot of likes from beautiful, non-binary folks anyway.—Concerning Intimate Semantical Meanings And Nuances
Climbing out on a limb here to say… there’s nothing bisexual about a person who was assigned/observed male at birth and currently identifies with his assigned/observed sex and is exclusively attracted to AFAB persons, CISMAN, not even when that guy is balls deep in the vagina of someone with a rad haircut who uses they/them pronouns. If I had to slap a label on the sex you hope to have with AFAB enbies… if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to print out a label… I would slap the “straight sex” label on it. And that’s fine, CISMAN, as consensual straight sex is nothing to be ashamed of and can be quite lovely. It’s also how God makes more queers, so have at it.
Now, an AFAB person who identifies as nonbinary is queer—because, of course, they are—but having sex with a queer person doesn’t automatically make you queer. Like a straight guy with a bisexual girlfriend, CISMAN, fucking or dating a non-binary AFAB individual doesn’t magically make you something other than straight. But since a non-binary AFAB is queer, a straight guy in a relationship with a non-binary AFAB is in a queer relationship, just like a straight guy with a bisexual girlfriend is in a queer relationship. But I would argue—this is a hill my gay ass is prepared to die on—that straight guys who are only interested in AFAB persons, regardless of how they identify or present, so long as those AFAB persons have vaginas and want dick are and always will be straight guys.
Moving the fuck on… “Exclusively attracted to AFAB people, however they identify,” is not only a perfectly respectful way of asking the Internet for what you want, CISMAN, it’s a good way to avoid
wasting the time of people who don’t have what you want. Despite what you may have heard from some loud people online, “genital preferences” are not bigotry. Sexual orientations are real, and primary sex characteristics are something our sexual orientations orient us toward. While some people are attracted to particular kinds of gender expression and genitals are irrelevant or interchangeable— and while many any-junk-will-do types realize this about themselves until giving it some thought (so everyone should give it some thought)—for most people, the combo platter of gender presentation and primary sex characteristics are hardwired dealmakers. People who argue with one breath that sex matters when it comes to their gender identity—and conflict between the two must (quite rightly) be resolved in gender’s favor—can’t turn around and argue with the next breath that sex shouldn’t matter when it comes to other people’s sexual orientations. That cunt won’t hunt.
Finally, CISMAN, don’t sell yourself short! You may not be overwhelmed by the response you get online (most men aren’t), but you’re gonna be someone’s jam. But to optimize your odds of success, you’re not going to wanna rely exclusively on dating and hookup apps.
The increasing “enshitification” of dating apps, as described by the brilliant writer Cory Doctorow, is inspiring people to go actual places and do actual things again in the hopes of meeting actual people who actually wanna fuck them. So, in addition to putting your profile up on apps, head out to bars and clubs where you feel comfortable, go to or throw parties and invite your friends to bring friends, join a few clubs, and volunteer for an organization whose mission you support. Because you never know: a hot AFAB person—binary or non—who would’ve swiped left on your photo might actually wanna fuck you after meeting your straight cis married ass in person.
SAVAGE LOVE
I’m one of those basic heteroromantic bisexual dudes—attracted to women sexually and romantically, but only attracted to men sexually but I did the right thing and came out to my wife very early in our relationship. (I credit years of reading you for coming out about being bisexual.) She broke up with me at first, then we got back together, and after two years, she gave me permission to have sex with other men so long as all outside sex was as safe as I could make it. (Condoms, PrEPon-demand, doxypep.) Her only other rule: just men, no other women. (You could say she has a strict “one-pussy” policy.) Everything is out in the open except one thing: My wife thinks I’m a top. Years after giving me the OK, she confessed—during sex—that she thinks about me penetrating other men when she masturbates. She thinks me
topping other men is hot because it makes me an even bigger stud. (Her word, not mine.) Thing is, I’m almost always the bottom with men. On the rare occasion when I do top someone, it’s a dominant bottom twink and I am his sub top. My wife has gone from not wanting me to have sex with other men to wanting to hear about my experiences to tentatively suggesting she might want to watch me penetrate one of my “skinny twink bottom boys” at some point. I don’t know where she got that—I’m into twinks (except the rare dominant one) and I never used that word around her—but the guys I’m typically into are bigger, stronger, older, and very into dominating me. I’ve played along with my wife’s assumption that I’m a top for years, Dan. What do I do here?—Basic Bisexual Bottom P.S. She doesn’t read your column. I tried to get her into your column and podcast, but she felt you were crude and used more profanity than you needed to in order to get your point across. If your wife is erotically invested in this mental image of you as a dominant top—if she’s aroused in hole or in part by the idea of her husband being a hole-punishing stud—knowing you bottom for other men could be a libido killer for her. But seeing as your wife went from not wanting to hear about you fucking other men to wanting to watch you fuck another man in front of her, BBB, it’s possible your wife’s erotic imagination is expansive enough to incorporate the bottom you actually are into her erotic mental image of you. So, I think being honest with her is the best way to go here. But you should test the waters by bringing up vers guys you’ve played with and talking about how studly they were. And since she’s curious about watching two men have sex, you could show her some gay porn featuring a dominant power bottom being served by a sub top and then talk about a few of the studly bottoms you’ve encountered. It is hot to think about keeping the lie going by recruiting a dominant vers bottom to play the sub in front of the wife in exchange for him getting to destroy your ass later—full disclosure: I spent a little time thinking about it—but involving someone else takes this from easily forgiven passive deceit to harder to forgive active deceit. So, as hot as that suggestion might be, maybe don’t do it.
P.S. Is that what she said? Well, fuck her then.
I’m a 44-year-old cis woman in a long-term relationship. Ten years together, the last five have been sexless. There’s the occasional hug or cuddle, but no kissing, no oral, no intercourse. I’m feeling frustrated, needless to say, and completely defeated on top of that. My partner will not talk about this or deal with it at all. Leaving him is not an option. My question is: I’m looking to take a lover—LOL (are they still calling it that?) and I have someone in mind: a guy I’ve been buddies with for several
years. I like him, I trust him, and I find him incredibly sexy. I think the feelings are mutual. How do I go about asking this guy to be my lover? As I mentioned, I feel so defeated and out of the loop sexually that I have absolutely no confidence in my sexuality. The fear of rejection from this potential lover is keeping me paralyzed. What do I do?—Leaving Isn’t A Realistic Solution
You’ll never get what you want—you’ll never get who you want—if you can’t bring yourself to ask for it.
Well, that’s not entirely true, because sometimes we get lucky and the person we want asks us before we work up the courage to ask them. But in a case like yours, LIARS, in a case where the person you want knows you’re married and 1.) doesn’t know if your marriage is open or 2.) doesn’t want to be a party to cheating or 3.) doesn’t give a shit about cheating but doesn’t trust their reading of your interactions because you’re married and theoretically unavailable and they assume you’re not flirting with intent so they never make a move… yeah, in a case like yours, LIARS, you’re gonna have to do the asking.
Now, you might get rejected—that’s always a risk—but the quickest way to overcome a fear of rejection, LIARS, is by desensitizing yourself to the negative effects of rejection through exposure therapy. Meaning, make a respectful pass at this guy, offer a simple and prompt (not abject and profuse) apology if he isn’t interested, acknowledge things will be awkward the next time you run into each other, but you’ll power through and get past it, like the grownups you are. You won’t come to love rejection, but you’ll quickly learn that it’s not fatal, LIARS, and you’ll feel less paralyzed by the fear of it the next time you want to ask someone—and eventually, you’ll get the “yes” you were hoping for and every “no” you got along the way will fade away.
But…Before you ask this guy if he wants to fuck, there’s something you need to say to your current partner: “You know I love you, and you know I’m not going anywhere. But our relationship isn’t sexual anymore, and we need to acknowledge that. I’m not asking you to talk about this—I know you don’t want to talk about it—I’m just asking you to listen. What I need to say is this: If you ever wanted to find sex outside our relationship—just sex, not intimacy—I’m fine with that. I’m going to assume you’re fine with me doing the same. I love you and want you to be happy, and I know you want the same for me.” P.S. I wanna remind everyone else out there reading this that telling someone to do the “right thing” and get a divorce is easy, but actually getting a divorce is hard—and while cheating is always wrong, there times when divorce is the greater wrong.
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Irrational fear of nine-headed serpents?
I’m not sure about the “irrational” part)
The steroid that keeps Ally McBeal so thin?
Most common ailment on the set of Perry Mason
Worst kind of sore throat you can get if you’re running for office?
