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EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is a locally-and-employee-owned publication covering public issues, the arts and entertainment. In our pages appear views from across the political and social spectrum. They do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.
Creative Loafing Tampa is proudly published by Events & Media, LLC, 633 N Franklin St., Suite 735. Tampa, Florida, 33602. The physical edition is available free of charge at locations throughout Tampa Bay and online at cltampabay.com. Copyright 2026, Events and Media, LLC.
The newspaper is produced and printed on Indigenous land belonging to Tampa Bay’s Tocobaga and Seminole tribes.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s new experiment in bringing feedback from the mailbag, inbox, and even social media continues. Scan the QR code to drop us a line.—Ray Roa
Facebook responses to ‘Some candidates for Hillsborough School Board agree superintendent should not be an elected position’ (WMNF News)
There should be strict nomination requirements involved. A certain number of years teaching in a Florida PUBLIC school (10+), a rating of at least “effective” via the state VAM score calculations, in combination with either a post-secondary degree in education/educational leadership, with optional years after teaching as admin perhaps adding further qualifications, and a full tax audit to prove no monetary ties to special interests, seem reasonable to me.—Caitlin Pearse
It is a public office, it absolutely should be an elected position... but... it should have strict requirements for experienced educators to qualify to be placed on the ballot. —Brian Snapp
Could there be middle ground? Elected official but require a minimum amount of time within the local school system to run for the office?—Rebecca Hollifield
Facebook response to ‘Paramore cover concert and drag show in Ybor City benefits LGBTQ youth’
I love all the comments here about grooming and how horrible this would be for childrenfrom the same freaking idiots who are voting for / protecting an entire group of pedophiles!!! The cognitive dissonance is astounding. Make it make sense.—J Hanayo Hattie
Instagram response to ‘St. Pete’s Chattaway restaurant will close this summer: ‘It’s definitely bittersweet’’ It’s sad to hear this. They used to let me play there for tips and food when I was broke and just starting out. I wish them well. —@mountainholler
Instagram response to ‘Grady Judd is woke now’ (read story on p. 23)
CL Tampa is MAGA now.—@new_vision_film
Maybe stop hitting the pipe before posting an article is something you want to try. —@still.the.right.lane
His county is an agricultural hub. Farming and harvesting is major. These immigration policies are likely affecting his local economy directly. Not trying to sound funny but all them strawberries ain’t gonna pick themselves.—@iamscorpio300
The one, not done
Photos by Dave Decker
The opening track on Gabriel Jacoby’s earth-shaking debut is titled “Hello,” but the 27-year-old Tampa-raised songwriter and multi-instrumentalist boldly introduced himself to a sold-out Jannus Live crowd last Thursday. “I’m that n—,” he said. “If you don’t know, you will.” His 10-song, 30-minute set opening for Khamari was one hell of a supporting argument, and a fitting homecoming for a talent that will be at the forefront of pop music soon. Read more, and see all the pictures, via cltampa.com/music.—Ray Roa .
Tampa Bay's best things to do from March 26-April 01. See more on pp. 31, 43, 45, 47 & 49
No kings for a day
Thanks to a multi-billion-dollar war on Iran, there’s an Epstein-sized hole in the discourse around Donald Trump lately, but that’s sure to be addressed this weekend. Nearly a year after the first “No Kings” protest against the authoritarian instincts of the president, libs, concerned Republicans, and clout-hungry content creators on both sides of the aisle have regularly flooded busy intersections across the Bay area to wave signs, get honked at and be together in solidarity. Organizers of the actions—which are nonviolent at their core—ask participants to de-escalate any confrontations and act within the law. There are multiple events happening in Tampa, Temple Terrace, Brandon, Sun City Center, and in Pinellas, too, from Clearwater to St. Petersburg where members of multiple groups will gather at the Tyrone intersections to be heard. According to nokings.com, close to two dozen actions are planned from Lakeland to Largo, Spring Hill, South Hillsborough and everywhere in between. Based on past turnout, thousands are expected to attend.
No Kings #Resistance Day of Action: Saturday, March 28 . See a more comprehensive, and clickable list of protests at cltampa. com/news and via nokings.org—Ray Roa
Log off
Being online is soul-sucking. Southern Brewing has an antidote this weekend, and that’s more than just the beer talking. For its biggest installment ever, Tampa Zine Fest welcomes more than 50 DIY publishers, authors, makers, and artists—plus a half-dozen bands—for a full day of analog good times. There’ll be a smashburger truck (fitting since the fastfoodlegend crew will be on site), and to stand with immigrants and undocumented community members, festival organizers will have a “Zines Against ICE” section where literature about knowing your rights and support resources will be available.
Tampa Zine Fest: Saturday, March 28 . 6 p.m.-10 p.m. No cover. Southern Brewing & Winery, 4500 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa. @TampaZineFest on Facebook —Ray Roa
Girl on fire
A new Broadway musical inspired by the life and music of Alicia Keys lands in Tampa this week. Hell’s Kitchen musical pulls from Keys’ own upbringing in Manhattan, telling a loosely autobiographical story set in the 1990s. The musical follows Ali (Maya Drake, pictured), a 17-year-old navigating a complicated relationship with her mother while trying to figure out what independence and creativity actually look like. The show leans into that ’90s New York backdrop, pairing it with a score made up of both new songs and familiar hits from Keys’ catalog, including “Fallin’,” “No One” and “Girl on Fire.” Directed by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, with choreography by Camille A. Brown and a book by Kristoffer Diaz, the production has earned a New York Times Critic’s Pick.
‘Hells Kitchen’: Through Thursday, April 4 . $65 & up. Carol Morsani Hall at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N Macinnes Pl., Tampa. strazcenter.org—Laura Troyer
DAVE DECKER
Got soul
Bring a chair, Tampeños, and let your taste buds take another trip around the world with a visit to Carrollwood. The third annual Food from the Soul Festival is back to spotlight global eats from local food trucks, restaurants and startups owned by people of color. Expect cooking from all corners of the world including, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and here in the U.S. where the food scene is a melting pot of cultures. Chefs at the Carrollwood Cultural Center will also tie their aprons at 1:45 p.m. to compete in the “Soul Judging” food competition for best in multiple categories. See a list of vendors (including Mr. B’s, pictured) and more via cltampa.com/food.
Food From the Soul Festival: Saturday, March 28 . 0 a.m.-4 p.m. $25 & up. Carrollwood Cultural Center, 4537 Lowell Rd., Tampa. foodfromthesoulfestival.com—Jasmin Parrado
Stage is set
American Stage is bringing its long-running, outdoor theatre series back to Demens Landing Park with their spring production of Into the Woods. And it is already drawing buzz—opening night is sold-out. Running through April 26, the production brings Stephen Sondheim’s twisted fairy tale mashup to the waterfront, where audiences can watch from blankets or lawn chairs as characters like Cinderella, Jack and Little Red Riding Hood chase their wishes and deal with the fallout. Like many of the company’s recent “Beyond the Stage” efforts, the woods will become part of the storytelling, blending live music, movement and the natural surroundings into an immersive experience. Read more at cltampa.com/arts.
American Stage ‘Into the Woods’: Select dates through April 26 . $40 & up. Demens Landing Park, 525-549 2nd Ave. SE, St. Petersburg. americanstage.org —Laura Troyer
Call and response
Tempus Projects at the Kress Collective in Ybor City presents "Awkward Transactions," a collaborative exhibition by photographer Wallace Wilson and painter Lisa McCarthy, where artistic dialogue turns into something resembling a visual volley. Wilson starts the conversation with large-scale photographs taken in everyday places, then McCarthy steps in with the “response,” painting directly onto the prints. Rather than neatly finishing the images, McCarthy traces, interrupts and layers over Wilson’s photos, letting each piece evolve through the push and pull of mediums. The opening reception is next Thursday, and the show runs through May 28, giving visitors the option to stop by during gallery hours or make a night of it during the opening.
‘Awkward Transactions’: Opens next Thursday, April 2 . 6 p.m.-9 p.m. No cover. Tempus Projects, 1624 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. tempus-projects.com—Laura Troyer
LIVE COMEDY SHOWS THIS WEEK
THURSDAY, MARCH 26 TH
7:00 PM: DISCO BABES PRESENT: BINGO AT THE COMMODORE
It's bingo after dark with your favorite hosts, the Disco Babes!
9:00 PM: LAST THURSDAYS OPEN MIC
Gina M. hosts this monthly open mic, perfect for stand-up comedians, improvisers, and alternative comedians alike. Come try out your material at this free mic!
FRIDAY, MARCH 27 TH
9:00 PM: TAMPA UnHINGEd
Tampa UnHINGEd is raw, real, and ridiculous—an improvised comedy show tackling dating disasters, Tampa life, and the weirdness of just being human.
SATURDAY, MARCH 28 TH
8:00 PM: ELECTRIC SHEEP: AI VS. IMPROV
AI may be here to take our jobs and slowly replace us all, but there's still at least one thing it can't do better than humans: Improv comedy.
9:30 PM: THE DARK SHOW in this monthly showcase, Tampa Bay's top standup comedians perform the material they can't do anywhere else.
drinkshop eat
“Pride is resilient, LGBTQ people are resilient…”
POLITICS ISSUES OPINION
Back in the closet
DeSantis to sign bill banning DEI in government.
By Selene San Felice
Last fall, when Gov. Ron DeSantis’ transportation department erased all street murals—specifically targeting rainbow crosswalks and political pieces— local government officials like St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch vowed to fight back.
DeSantis is about to stop that fight too, with a bill on his desk that will silence local government on virtually all matters related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Under SB 1134, the governor can remove public officials who fund, promote, or take official action related to DEI—and private citizens can sue local governments for damages.
“It essentially activates every Moms for Liberty and Proud Boys member in the state to go after local government,” Joe Saunders, Senior Political Director at Equality Florida told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
DeSantis has already expressed support for the law that, if signed, would take effect Jan. 1.
That makes this the last LGBTQ+ Pride season where public officials can freely participate in celebrations, issue proclamations and empower soon-to-be-gone LGBTQ+ liaisons.
could still quietly attend DEI-designated events like Pride.
State representative and Orlando mayoral candidate Anna Eskamani said last week on WMNF’s The Skinny that in her interpretation of the “absurd and obscene” legislation, elected officials can attend events deemed DEI, like Pride, but cannot identify themselves as elected officials.
“I mean, it’s just so silly and impossible, right?” she said in a conversation with The Skinny co-host and CL Editor-in-Chief Ray Roa.
“It’s as if, you know, I walk into Pride, and if someone calls me mayor, I have to duck and hide.”
While the stakes for government officials are clearly high, the law’s vague terms are intentional, Saunders told CL.
“Where we’re moving into is an era where local governments will feel bullied and intimidated while they have to navigate in the courts what this predatory bumper sticker of a law is trying to achieve,” Saunders said.
LOCAL NEWS
Pride of Tampa starts the celebrations in Ybor City this weekend, with a festival in and around the Cuban Club replacing the yearly parade previously run by Tampa Pride. (See p. 35 for details). St. Pete Pride, one of the biggest parades in the southeast, caps off the official LGBTQ+ Pride month in June.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor will issue a proclamation on Saturday for “Pride of Tampa Day.” City spokesperson Adam Smith said Castor plans to attend the festival—there are no other plans for her to publicly announce the proclamation. He declined to comment on the bill on her behalf “until we have a better handle on the legislation.”
Castor, the city’s first out gay mayor, has long been a fixture at past Tampa Pride parades, along with local and state elected officials. Sheriff Chad Chronister and Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw joined uniformed officers and deputies in past parades.
Under the new law, it’s unclear if elected officials and anyone representing a local government
Equality Florida led LGBTQ and minority advocates in fighting the bill, resulting in more than a dozen exceptions. The organization also helped defeat four other anti-LGBTQ bills this session.
Local governments will still be able to grant event permits and provide public safety services for parades, like Pride. And they can still celebrate federal and state holidays, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
The bill eliminates programs that incentivize the development of local minority-owned businesses, including those owned by women and veterans. But governments are allowed to support gender-based nonprofits for helping homeless people and at-risk youth, as well as domestic violence shelters and public health services.
While DEI-deemed liaison positions will cease to exist, city and county advisory boards and their staff are protected.
And federal protections for employment and sports discrimination based on sex are still in effect.
Local governments can still maintain and recognize state or federal monuments,
memorials, and museums, as well as the events and individuals forming their basis. Examples include African American and Holocaust museums.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Clay Yarborough, specifically exempted sponsorship of a Hispanic chamber of commerce or a Jewish community center. Equality Florida and others opposed to the bill fought for—and won—the specific exemption of the City of Orlando’s upcoming Pulse Nightclub memorial.
But other holidays and events outside those specifically listed in the bill are seemingly up for interpretation by local officials, who could risk losing their jobs or preemptively take action in court.
Abdelilah Skhir, ACLU Florida senior campaign strategist, told CL that even with so many exemptions, the legislation is still deeply flawed.
“Essentially, any time the sponsors were confronted with a hypothetical or an example of how something could be considered DEI, they realized it would be a really bad look to have that banned and it was carved out of that legislation,” Skhir told CL.
“You can make as many carve-outs as you want, but you can’t carve yourself into good legislation. This was just bad policy from the jump.”
He warned that Republican lawmakers are likely not done trying to restrict DEI, but advocates like the ACLU and Equality Florida aren’t giving up either.
“You can never simply assume that attacks on free expression will end. It’s an ongoing fight,” Skhir said. “Throughout history, we have seen ordinary people get together and work with one another to create a society that better reflects everyone. I still believe that’s possible in Florida.”
Saunders told CL that Equality Florida is in talks with “community partners” who could attempt to take the legislation down in court in the same fashion as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay,” Stop Woke and laws limiting drag performances.
Skhir did not comment on future legal action, but said he believes “there are plenty of organizations, whether in Florida or otherwise, that can make the necessary arguments to overturn blatantly unconstitutional pieces of legislation.”
Saunders hasn’t lost hope either.
“Pride is resilient, LGBTQ people are resilient, and we will be here long after Ron DeSantis to make sure our communities can have joyous celebrations,” Saunders said.
“They can’t take that away from us. We will navigate this together.”
SUNNIER DAYS: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (L) and partner, Ana Cruz, at Tampa Pride 2024.
Swamp thing
EDNA could be used to track species invasive to Tampa Bay.
By Vicki Parsons/Bay Soundings
Environmental DNA, or eDNA, which allows early detection of invasive species by monitoring cellular material (like skin or feces) that organisms shed, is now being deployed in the Everglades to track two species that have also been documented in the Tampa Bay region.
The Asian swamp eel and the bullseye snakehead are invasive, air-breathing predators that live in the Everglades, where they pose significant risks to native wildlife. Although both are cold-sensitive and found primarily in the southern portion of the state, the swamp eel has spread across the northern Gulf Coast, east into central Florida and south along the Lake Wales Ridge and was confirmed last summer at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County. The bullseye snakehead was documented near downtown Tampa and in the Manatee River in 2020.
At the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center (FLREC), the Croc Docs Wildlife Research Lab team worked closely with the Bahder Vector Ecology Lab to create a novel environmental DNA-based test that can find
these invaders without ever seeing them.
“In this study, we were able to take this new approach and apply it to real-world situations that gave positive results on both species,” said Brian Bahder, associate professor of vector entomology at the UF/IFAS FLREC and the senior author who developed the methodology.
The test can detect the presence of both species with one sample, whether they remain hidden in the murkiest of waterways or have left the area.
capable of breathing air and surviving in lowoxygen waters. Like the swamp eel, it can survive in canals, marshes and swamps and may move short distances over land to a new habitat.
Detecting and removing these fish has long posed a challenge for wildlife managers. Asian swamp eels are primarily nocturnal and spend much of the day burrowed into muddy canal bottoms and shallow wetlands.
in canals where the species had been observed confirmed that the test accurately identified the species targeted while avoiding cross-detection of other common fish and wildlife.
ENVIRONMENT
The Asian swamp eel, native to East and Southeast Asia, was documented in the United States in the 1990s. First observed in the southern Everglades in 2007, they have since spread across South Florida. In parts of the Everglades, the species has caused declines in crustacean and amphibian populations through predation and competition for food.
The bullseye snakehead, first documented in Florida in 2000, is a large, carnivorous fish
“Daytime electrofishing, a technique that uses a mild electric current to temporarily stun fish so they can be collected, is the most common method used to detect and remove them, but its effectiveness can be limited because the fish are often hidden during daylight hours,” said Melissa Miller, a research assistant scientist of invasion ecology who co-leads the Croc Docs.
To address this gap, researchers joined forces to design and validate a digital PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) approach. This laboratory technique copies and counts small amounts of DNA with high precision to detect extremely minute traces of genetic material shed into the water.
In controlled experiments, scientists detected bullseye snakehead DNA within five minutes of placing a fish in water. Field tests
“eDNA analysis by digital PCR is an incredibly powerful approach to invasive species monitoring due to the efficient workflow and high level of sensitivity that allows detection of a single cell in a water sample,” said Bahder.
Because the new test can screen for both Asian swamp eel and bullseye snakehead simultaneously, it offers a cost-effective complement for detection to traditional surveys that require crews, boats and specialized equipment. It can also help wildlife managers evaluate whether removal efforts are working by tracking changes in genetic signals over time.
“Given the strong validation results, we plan to deploy an eDNA sampling network throughout the Everglades ecosystem to evaluate the presence of other invasive species of interest,” said Sergio Balaguera-Reina, a research assistant and member of the Croc Docs. “However, scientists cannot always sample everywhere, and public involvement in reporting sightings of invasive wildlife and fish remains critical.” This post first appeared at Bay Soundings.
“eDNA analysis by digital PCR is an incredibly powerful approach to invasive species monitoring.”
DARK FIGURE: Asian swamp eels are primarily nocturnal.
“We are witnessing the end of Judd’s career.”
Grady county
Does Florida’s favorite sheriff have Woke Mind Virus?
By Colin Wolf
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd knows his county. After all, he’s been elected six times, and loves to get in front of a camera and say colloquial phrases like, “They don’t know beans from buttermilk about what’s happening in this community.”
But Judd recently defended non-violent illegal migrants, which is a cardinal sin in MAGA world, and to prove he’s not a “grits for brains” lib, the longtime registered Republican and Trump committee appointee, held a press conference last Tuesday to calm everyone down.
Speaking in front of reporters at Winter Haven’s Sheriff’s Operations Center, the notoriously tough on crime sheriff kicked things off by attacking local media for highlighting a recent controversial stance made by himself and six other law enforcement officers on the Florida Immigration Enforcement Council. Earlier this week the council mulled sending a letter criticizing the Trump administration’s sweeping mass deportation, and essentially argued that illegal immigrants who aren’t criminals should have a “path forward” to stay in the country, under certain conditions.
“Those people who are adding to the American dream, enjoying the American dream, that came here illegally but they’re doing good and they’re not a drag on society—in fact they’re helping society—we need to find a path for them,” Judd said last Tuesday.
Judd would like to see the U.S. House Speaker, and the Senate majority leader work together to urge reserving deportation to just violent criminals. “Quite frankly, Congress gets an F-minus, if you can get worse than an F, in dealing with this issue,” added Judd.
put down their Grady Judd bobbleheads to flood his department’s Facebook livestream with comments like: “We are witnessing the end of Judd’s career” and “Bruh… not you grady… he must have a latina baddy he’s in love with lol.”
“This is not some epiphany from above all of a sudden, this is common sense of what’s happening here,” said Judd at the press conference. “You can’t have a rule that fits all.”
COLUMN
Clearly some were worried that Judd was infected by the “Woke Mind Virus.” So at yesterday’s press conference Judd reiterated that he still loves ICE agents, and said it was “offensive” to suggest otherwise.
“Don’t believe the hype … don’t buy that recent media hyperbole implying we are breaking away from or not working with ICE. We wholeheartedly support their mission. Always have, always will,” wrote his department on Facebook.
Of course, Judd’s sympathy for illegal migrants didn’t sit well the Judd Heads, who
Unfortunately, the “common sense” that Judd longs for doesn’t exist. Cruelty, fear and humiliation are what make this whole racist recipe work. Afterall, Homeland Security Advisor and white nationalism-enjoyer Stephen Miller helped author much of the Trump administration’s objectively irrational policies, like family separation at the border, and, more recently, the use of the Alien Enemies Act, which helps quickly deport migrants without any pesky court hearings.
That same day, Florida Attorney General General Jammes Uthmeier also chimed in and disagreed with Judd at a press conference in Orlando. “What I’ll say is in Florida, we’re going to keep enforcing the law. That is our job, as law enforcement, to enforce the law that’s on the books. If people are here illegally, then they are breaking the law, and we are going to enforce it,” said Uthmeier.
It’s worth noting that former Hillsborough County District Attorney Andrew Warren was
canned by Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a piece of paper saying he doesn’t think some laws, like violations of state abortion bans or genderaffirming healthcare, are worth prosecuting. But he was a Democrat so it’s different, I guess. But what’s remarkable about the 72-yearold’s newly-announced stance on illegal migrants is that it shows a hint of empathy, especially from a guy who once said he would arrest anyone who had an active warrant seeking shelter from Hurricane Irma. It also shows that maybe he saw a recent Politico poll showing 49% of Americans think Trump’s mass deportations are “too aggressive,” or that maybe he noticed his “economically politically active” Republican friends rely heavily on Polk County immigrant labor through seasonal agricultural visas. Or maybe he just needs something to distract folks from his appearance in the Epstein files.
Either way, anyone whose brain hasn’t been red-pilled into a fine mush and then squeezed through an Ivermectin tube can see that Trump’s current immigration policy of sending masked goons into courthouses, Home Depot parking lots and daycares, while sweeping up anyone you looks brown has been an epic disaster.
But unfortunately for Judd, pointing this out and simply asking for some nuance and “common sense” surrounding immigration policy, is considered woke now.
ONE MAN’S TRASH: Judd Heads are a little confused by recent comments.
RESTAURANTS RECIPES DINING GUIDES
Spot check
New owner of The Bricks shares plans for the restaurant and venue.
By Ray Roa
After buying the property in January, the new owner of The Bricks has shared plans to keep the Ybor City staple open and invest in updating the concept. As previously reported by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, records from the Hillsborough County Tax Collector show that the deed for the property at 1327 E 7th Ave. was transferred on Jan. 9 to Joshua Pardue’s Ybor City Mixed Use LLC, which paid $3.14 million in the deal.
The Tampa investor’s JPRE Development is handling the next chapter of a restaurant and venue founded by owners of the Skatepark of Tampa 16 years ago. A statement shared with CL says Pardue’s real estate investment, development, and advisory firm bought the property without outside investors. It was also immediately approached with requests to lease the space, “which would have been the easy decision.”
“ … [But I] wanted to do my part in protecting this Ybor institution, so we are taking pride in the process, investing in the business, and building on what people already love about it,” the statement added.
Pardue expanded on plans when reached by phone last Friday. “Some folks are gonna look and say, ‘Yeah, developer.’ Part of why I’m being a little more vocal about this now is I want The Bricks crowd to know that I lived in Ybor for 20 years,” the 43-year-old told CL.
same,” he added. “It’s a little bit elevated, but still going to be your neighborhood bar. We want to keep the current customer, and we want to bring crowds back to Ybor City, especially the western end of the district.”
Pardue also said that he and Brian Schaefer—owner of the Skatepark of Tampa (SPoT) and co-founder of The Bricks—have been in discussions throughout the sale about his involvement in what happens next. Afterparties for SPoT’s Tampa Am and Tampa Pro will still happen at The Bricks, preserving the venue’s connection to skateboarding.
“That keeps that culture and vibe and location,” Pardue said. “So we’re going to continue to partner with him. I’ll talk to him about design and different things like that, trying to make sure we keep the culture aligned. We put some of the original art back up and are doing those things to keep the heritage.” Find this post at cltampa.com/food to see Schaefer’s comments.
FOOD NEWS
Pardue said he also started in hospitality 20 years ago, explaining that his past life involved working concierge VIP, bartending and serving tables at places like 1509, Club Skye, Prana, Twilight, and Lotus while he studied finance at the University of South Florida and renovated some properties. “I’m a local developer. I built my business from nothing, with rental properties in Tampa and Ybor City where we started. And we’re still a small business,” he said, adding that JPRE’s name does pop up a lot because it is trying to make an impact in the area.
Immediate changes at The Bricks include a new website, enhancing the food quality, expanding hours and doing a little more online marketing, Pardue said. Expanded lunch service has already been added.
“But besides that we’re not going to jack up the prices. The customer should remain the
To drive the next phase of The Bricks’ history, Pardue has tapped Tampa hospitality veteran David Bromberg (Fly Bar on Franklin Street, Barcelona Wine Bar) to “lead strategy focused around refining the food program, expanding hours, and enhancing the overall guest experience.” In the statement, Bromberg said The Bricks is special because it represents what makes Ybor City unique, adding that he’ll work on food, beverage and programming built around hospitality and music, reiterating a desire to “be Ybor’s elevated neighborhood bar.”
Under Bromberg most of the staff has stayed, Pardue added, with a few new hires to help with expanded service.
The Bricks in Ybor City is now open noonmidnight Wednesday-Thursday noon-1 a.m., Friday 11 a.m-1 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-1 a.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. It is closed Monday-Tuesday.
When news of The Bricks sale broke, many in the community lamented the continued change in the district and expressed hope that the venue would keep hosting music.
The event calendar has remained active, and just hosted a hip-hop showcase headlined by Tampa rapper Nico Sweet. Virtuoustic guitarist George Pennington was also on the schedule of
“We want to keep the current customer, and we want to bring crowds back to especially the western end of the district.”
a calendar that’s recently seen sets from indie songwriter Zack Keim, and other acts across multiple genres.
Others shared concerns that developers like former Blue Pearl Veterinary CEO Darryl Shaw were making Ybor City unrecognizable. Many longtime residents can no longer build businesses in Ybor City, some pointed out, because prices are out of reach (The Bricks property last sold in 2009 for $825,000, according to property records).
Shaw, 59, used to live above the old Greco Hardware store on the corner of 15th Street and 8th Avenue. The building is also the former home of Rock Brothers Brewing and MC Film, and is now Disco Pony, where a Paramore-themed concert and drag show happened last weekend.
Ybor City’s ongoing Gasworx development is led by Shaw who has also planned an approximately 30-acre, mostly-residential development in East Ybor.
Pardue—who is part of the team working on three concepts at the old Hall on Franklin just over a mile away from The Bricks—added that JPRE’s team is proud that its brought other businesses to Ybor City. Those businesses include Tico’s Bakery and Social Status retail shop, and a forthcoming rooftop lounge called Tokyo Swim Club.
Tom DeGeorge—whose Ybor City music venue Crowbar will close this summer due, in part, to rising rents—commented that, “The streets that I walked for 25 years have only become more unrecognizable…” The 52-year-old who used to
run the Masquerade on the corner of 15th Street and 7th Avenue has been an outspoken critic of the gentrification in the historic district.
Pardue told CL that he hears those concerns from locals who wonder if there is a future in Ybor City for dives like Reservoir Bar on the west end of 7th Avenue and The Dirty Shame just a few blocks east.
He said that Reservoir Bar and The Dirty Shame are well-run operations that have their niche and their customers. Ybor City, Pardue noted, is transitioning into a village with more residents, similar to the makeup of the neighborhood at its inception.
“If you look at larger markets like Miami or New York, they still have dive bars, but they’re well operated dive bars,” Pardue added. He said Ybor City needs a handful of dive bars, not 15-20 and reiterated comments from a new episode of the Tampa Bay Developer podcast about how institutions like Rez and the Shame have a path forward as he estimates that Ybor City will add more than 7,500 residents.
He also thinks that 7th Avenue, specifically between 15th and 22nd Streets, will continue to have entertainment and bars while the western end will be “a little bit more quaint, elevated experience, quieter, with more of a dinner crowd” while the east side will be more residential
“Those institutions… that’ve been around, that have a loyal customer, that do a good job, that have a fair price point, that have a great experience. They’re going to stay,” he said. “And they’re going to thrive more than ever.”
ANOTHER LAYER: The Bricks in Ybor City, Florida.
The menu: Food and drink events happening in Tampa Bay
There are a ton of food and drink experiences happening around Tampa Bay this week. Have a look at what’s going down the week of March 26-April 1 and beyond, like Sake & Sake at Ro. All events are at community. cltampa.com unless noted otherwise. Head there for more and list your own.
—Selene San Felice
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Food, Wine & Garden Festival Fridays-Sundays through May 10. 12 p.m. No cover with admission. Busch Gardens, Tampa Tots 4 Teachers: The Tater Tot Union Thursdays. 3 p.m. No cover. New World Brewery, Tampa
WhistlePig Whiskey Mixer at Steelbach Thursday, March 26. 6:30 p.m. $125. Steelbach at Armature Works, Tampa 12th Annual Spring Beer Jam ThursdaySunday, March 26-29. 7 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin
3rd Annual Food From The Soul Festival Saturday, March 28. 10 a.m. $20 & up. Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa Free Indoor Sip & Shop Saturday, March 28. 11 a.m. No cover. Aspirations Winery, Clearwater Garden to Table Dinner Saturday, March 28. 5:30 p.m. $60. Tampa Heights Community Garden, Tampa
of Tampa keeps LGBTQ+ party alive in Ybor City this weekend.
Story by Selene San Felice, listings by Josh Bradley
LGBTQ+ Pride looks a little different this weekend in Ybor City. It’s the first year in over a decade without the big parade from nonprofit Tampa Pride. But a new group has stepped up to keep the district colorful.
Pride of Tampa hosts its first festival this Saturday at the Cuban Club, along with seven other events this weekend (listed below).
Daniel Johnson leads the nonprofit with a board of nine others. He and Treasurer Dustin Johnson already had their hands full with jobs and seven kids before starting the organization.
The inaugural Pride of Tampa festival spans the whole Cuban Club and its parking lot, with vendors, drag performers and entertainment.
When the party wraps at 6 p.m., Pride of Tampa organizers will lead a march from the club to Bradley’s on 7th. Dustin Johnson knows a three-block march isn’t the same as a full parade or an all out protest, but he wanted a nod to the parades that evolved from the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
“Pride started as a revolt,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “So, even though the festival is a fun time of the day and we still want people to come out and enjoy themselves, we wanted to find a replacement for the parade where we were still taking pride to the streets—especially in this political environment.”
Meanwhile, he’s already starting to plan next year’s celebrations.
“Like any pride organization, we’re taking the left hook, and the right hook, and the uppercut here with all of these laws being passed in our lovely state, but it doesn’t stop us from doing what we’re doing,” Johnson said. “There will be a Pride every year going forward with our organization, come hell or high water, come laws, restrictions or bans.”
Look below for a bunch of upcoming Pride events and queer happenings across Tampa Bay. For more, head to community.cltampa.com.
Pride of Tampa: Official Opening Party feat. Amy Demilo w/Jade Embers/ Esme Russell Thursday, March 26. 10 p.m.
$15 & up. Bradley’s on 7th, Ybor City
Tampa Bay Lightning Pride Night Thursday, March 26. 7 p.m. $30 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
A&E EVENTS
This political environment, where queer and trans people are being targeted by the Trump and DeSantis administrations, will likely soon include severing local governments from Pride (see p. 17).
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Congress member Rep. Cathy Castor (no relation) make perhaps their last official Pride appearances in Tampa at this weekend’s festival.
Former Tampa Pride president Carrie West told CL that his organization—which faced a few years of trouble in the headlines before going on hiatus—is on its way to making a comeback with two potential candidates for his replacement.
Johnson said this year’s festival builds off the hard work of other Pride organizations, including Tampa Pride. “It’s a lot of work to organize pride and put these events on, and it truly takes a village. Anyone who is willing to take that on and put in that work deserves all the accolades in the world.”
Baewatch All-Girl Island Party Sunday, March 29. 2 p.m. $50 & up. Shell Key Island, St. Petersburg
Pride of Tampa: Official Closing Party Sunday, March 29. 3 p.m. $35 & up. 1920, Ybor Cit y
Trans Day of Visibility Picnic Sunday, March 29. 12 p.m. No cover, but registration required. Address provided upon registration. Movies & Martinis: Priscilla Queen of the Desert March 30. 8 p.m. The Wet Spot Pride Connect Wednesday, April 1. 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Park & Rec DTSP, St. Petersburg Queer Expressions St. Pete: Spring Clothing & Trinket Swap Saturday, April 4. 5 p.m. No cover. Lassing Park, St. Petersburg
Pride @ 5663 Saturday, April 4. 7 p.m.
Studios @ 5663, Pinellas Park
Pride of Tampa: Mixed
Signals Friday, March 27. 10 p.m. $20 & up. The Social Bar & Lounge, Tampa
My Big Gay Italian Wedding Select times and dates from Friday, March 2-Sunday, April 12. $20 & up. Carrollwood Players Theatre, Tampa
Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival (TBTFF) Friday-Sunday, March 27-29. Times and prices vary. Green Light Cinema, St. Petersburg; Sun-Ray Cinema, Tampa
TBTFF: Night of 1000 Oscars (Trans pride dance party) Friday, March 27. 7 p.m.
$25 & up. 1920, Ybor City
Eden Tampa Saturday, March 28. 9 p.m.
$24.30 & up. Zodiac Nightclub, Ybor City
Girl Pride Tampa: Ivy Les Vixens w/ Erin Boone Trio/Shevonne/Dirty Dolls
Saturday, March 28. 12 p.m. $25 & up. Crowbar, Ybor City
Pride of Tampa: Festival Afterparty Saturday, March 28. 6 p.m. $5 (no cover before 9 p.m). Bradley’s on 7th, Ybor City
Pride of Tampa: Girls Just Wanna
Have Fun Saturday, March 28. 3 p.m. $25 & up. District 8 Nightclub, Ybor City
Tampa Pride: Golden Hour w/DJ Chemical Lex Saturday, March 28. 6 p.m. No cover. The Bricks, Ybor City
Hunky Jesus & Foxy Mary Pool Party Sunday, April 5. 1 p.m. No cover. The Wet Spot at Cocktail, St. Petersburg
Lesbian Lick & Flick: Pariah Monday, April 6. 8 p.m. No cover. The Wet Spot at Cocktail, St. Petersburg Drag Queen Bingo Second Wednesdays.
7 p.m.-10 p.m. $10. Emerald Coast Brewing Company, New Port Richey RuPaul’s Drag Race Finale Viewing Friday, April 17. 5 p.m. No cover, donations encouraged. The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime, Sarasota
Sunday Soul Third Sundays. 4 p.m.-8 p.m.
$10. The Garage on Central, St. Petersburg Glamour Puss Thursday, April 23. 7 p.m.
$25 & up. Disco Pony, Ybor City St. Pete Pride Kickoff Weekend FridaySunday, May 29-31. Details TBA.
Dunedin Jays Pride Game Friday, June 5. 7:15 p.m.-10 p.m. $8-$11. TD Ball Park, Dunedin. Family Day On The Pier Sunday, June 7. 10 a.m. No cover. St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg Stonewall Reception Thursday, June 11. 6 p.m. Prices TBA. Urban Stillhouse, St. Petersburg
Community Kickstarter Pride Weekend Friday-Sunday, June 12-14. Call or text (352) 204-3234 for scheduling. Ichetucknee Yoga Club & Outdoor Meditation Center, Branford
Lipstick Masquerade Saturday, June 13. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Prices TBA. The Floridian Social, St. Petersburg
Polk Pride: Kick-Off Party Saturday, June 13. 11 a.m. Prices TBA. Union Hall, Lakeland
Polk Pride: Pride For Youth Wednesday, June 17. 6:30 p.m. No cover. United Women’s Club, Lakeland
Polk Pride: Pride In Faith Thursday, June 18. 7 p.m. No cover. Beacon Hill Fellowship, Lakeland
Shades of Pride: Juneteenth Friday, June 19. Time and prices TBA. Morean Center for Clay, St. Petersburg
Polk Pride: Friday Night Pride Friday, June 19. 9 p.m. Prices TBA. The Parrot, Lakeland
Bear Pride at the Lake Saturday, June 20. 11 a.m. No cover. Ichetucknee Yoga Club & Nature Retreat, Branford
Polk Pride: Pride After Dark Saturday, June 20. 9 p.m. Prices and location TBA. Polk Pride: Pride In The Park Saturday, June 20. 9 a.m. No cover. Munn Park, Lakeland Transtastic Thursday, June 25. 6 p.m.9 p.m. $26.90 & up. James Museum, St. Petersburg
St. Pete Pride: Friday Night Concert & Market on the Waterfront Friday, June 26. Details TBA.
TransMarch and Festival Saturday, June 27. 2 p.m.-10 p.m. No cover. Marching from Vinoy Park to Albert Whitted Field, St. Petersburg
St. Pete Pride: Parade and Festival Saturday, June 27. Details TBA.
St. Pete Pride: Sunday Street Fair Sunday, June 28. Details TBA.
Bears at the Lake: Stars, Stripes & Splash Fourth of July Weekend Nature Retreat Friday-Sunday, July 3-5. 2 p.m. No cover. Ichetucknee Yoga Club and Nature Retreat, Branford
Sapphic St. Pete First week of November. Details TBA
See more Pride listings—or submit your own—via community.cltampa.com.
MOVIES THEATER ART CULTURE
PARTY ON: Tampa Pride 2025 parade-goers.
On the take
Film about New College takeover comes to Florida.
By Chris Young/WMNF News
Afilm tracking the conservative takeover of New College of Florida, titled “First They Came For Our College”, has hit the big screens. It just finished a run at the South By Southwest festival in Texas.
WMNF’s Chris Young spoke with the film’s producer, New College alumnus Harry William Hanbury, and director Patrick Bresnan about why the story of the Sarasota school is relevant to audiences nationwide.
Patrick Bresnan: I knew immediately that there was a very important film to make here because emotions were so high when I arrived on campus, I had never seen anything like it. These were not students protesting wars in a foreign country. These were students protesting the firing of the president of their college, who would go and sit in the cafeteria with them on a weekly basis, whose door was always open. Their professors, who had passed all of the requirements to receive tenure, were being denied tenure. Their librarian was fired. And this very peaceful, highly rigorous academic college had just been turned into a battleground. And this story had to be told. It had to be documented.
Especially as a New College alum, how did it feel to go back on campus with the camera, seeing everything that is happening?
Harry William Hanbury: For a long time it reminded me of this great film about the French Resistance. Army of Shadows by JeanPierre Melville in 1969, where you know, all the people who were resisting the Nazis were kind of creeping around, doing these, you know, secret handoffs. There were new surveillance cameras installed all over campus. So I felt very much like an interloper, like I was not welcome in my own home, which was awkward, painful, scary. We finally did reach out to administration and did a lot of filming on campus with their full approval.
SUNNY DAYS: A production still from ‘First They Came For Our College.’
just thrown in the trash, at the end of the summer when no students were around. So I did not film that scene, but watching it was extremely emotional.
And you guys were recently at South by Southwest. Could you tell me a little bit about that?
INTERVIEW
PB: South By is a really big festival. It’s an incredible audience. Our screenings were sold out. People were in tears. Our students, really, when we do Q&A after a film, we had three students with us and Amy Reid. And so we just kind of turned the mic over to them and allowed them to interact with the audience. So it’s a profound experience for people who’ve gone through this, it’s very hard to relive a lot of what they went through, but it’s just so meaningful to see the outpouring of support that audiences have had for people who’ve been through this.
In an email, New College President Richard Corcoran called the film “sensationalized” and “disconnected from the reality of what’s happening on campus.”
Were there any times that the camera captured something that surprised even you guys?
HH: I think the gutting of the Gender and Diversity Center was a real gut punch to me when I first stepped foot on campus. After 30 years I was extremely emotional when I saw the Gender and Diversity Center because there was nothing like that for me when I was a queer kid, you know, just coming to New College. There was a very supportive environment, but students had built that over 30 years. And to see that was just completely emptied – all of the care that students put into accumulating hundreds and hundreds of books, they were
The film will be shown at the Florida Film Festival in Central Florida in April, according to the filmmakers. Support the film at www. newcollegefilm.com.
This story first appeared at WMNF News, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication or donor interested in Tampa Bay Journalism Project, please email rroa@ctampa.com. Support WMNF News by visiting the community radio station’s support page.
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Symbol status
Keya Tama brings canvas and tapestry works to Tampa.
By Annalise Mabe
Some artists go to art school. Keya Tama had a different education. The now 28-year-old was born into paint jams and skate culture, raised in Cape Town, South Africa, by two teenage graffiti writers, Faith XLVII and Tyler B. Murphy. Tama grew up painting alongside his muralist mother and fine-artist-turned-tattooist father, making it almost inevitable that he’d eventually be prolific with a paint brush, too.
“Almost every school holiday, I would go somewhere new and paint murals with my mum,” Tama told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, recalling his origin story at our asking. “And when I was 17, I started painting so much in South Africa that it led to jobs where I was starting to travel on my own more.”
Not long after that, Tama moved to Los Angeles where he assisted Shepard Fairey, and where his own personal style began to change and evolve from complex, black and white
illustrative work to a more deconstructed geometric and impressionist style, playing with muted, desaturated colors.
“Working with Shepard’s team was very informative,” Tama said of his time painting alongside Fairey and friends. “The street art community in L.A. really informed my view on what’s possible, seeing street art as a constantly evolving media that doesn’t necessarily have one substance.”
And in fact, Tama’s work is not one dimensional either. Along with huge murals scaling the heights of tall buildings, Tama works with acrylic on canvas, glazed ceramics, apparel, ink on paper, digital illustration, and designs on wool tapestries.
One moment that inspired him most was visiting Rome’s catacombs with his mother when he was traveling while he was younger.
“In an older part of the catacombs,” Tama said, “there were some people buried that were
illiterate, and so their loved ones, instead of writing their names, would come up with three symbols to represent them.”
Seeing those symbols, imagining the people buried there, and imagining the people in his own life, and what symbols might be associated with them, Tama was struck.
“The symbols and the people behind them start to contextualize themselves together and it really hit me,” he said. “And it made me so emotional, thinking about everyone I’d met or everyone I loved in that way, building a language of symbols. And how there’s no wrong answer.”
Salt Lake City, to an abandoned crayfish factory in St. Helena Bay. Covering walls in Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Madagascar, weaving geometric shapes and symbols to elicit human responses that are evolutionarily ingrained in all of us, no translation needed.
INTERVIEW
Keya Tampa: ‘Tied By Time’ Friday, March 27. 8 p.m. No cover Rooftop at Tampa Edition. 500 Channelside Dr., Tampa @aadmixx on Instagram
It’s the way that symbols and geometry and natural, ancient colors work together to move beyond language barriers or boundaries that influence Tama’s work. And the youth culture, of course.
“The voice of the young kind of speaks through boundaries and breaks down what seems limited to us now,” Tama said.
And, it’s evident. His murals span continents, from the side of a 10-story apartment building in
Tampeños and visitors alike have the chance to see Tama’s work in person later this month when Tied By Time (stylized all-caps) arrives on the rooftop of the The Tampa Edition (stylized “EDITION”). Set against the growing downtown skyline and the hotel’s fuchsia florals, the exhibition on March 27 will feature Tama’s canvas and tapestry works, beginning with a VIP collector’s preview from 7 p.m.–8 p.m. followed by a public viewing from 8 p.m.–11 p.m. and an after party at Arts Club.
For Tama, the exhibition offers another opportunity to continue building that symbolic language; one that invites viewers, wherever they are in the world, to find their own meaning inside it.
“Almost every school holiday, I would go somewhere new and paint murals with my mum.”
changed Keya Tama’s mindset.
the code to regsiter or go to www.dfac.org/summer
Big catch
Jobsite’s
tasty take on the making of ‘Jaws.’
By David Warner
teven Spielberg’s mega-popular 1975 shark flick “Jaws” is considered the film industry’s first summer blockbuster. “The Shark Is Broken,” the 2019 play by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon now playing at Jobsite, is a behind-thescenes look at the movie’s infamously fraught production—and if the stuffed-to-the-gills crowd at last Saturday’s matinee is any indication, the theater company may have netted a spring blockbuster.
And boy, does this show deserve to be seen. It’s a terrifically entertaining, impeccably cast 90-minute comedy-drama starring three of Tampa Bay’s best actors devouring the scenery with the gusto of Bruce chomping down on unsuspecting swimmers.
Bruce, of course, would be the ever-malfunctioning mechanical shark that was just one of the ongoing horrors that drove “Jaws” millions over budget. Spielberg’s insistence on filming on the ocean instead of in a tank was another, forcing delays due to everything from passing sailboats to raging thunderstorms. And those delays aggravated the tensions among the three stars
stuck with each other for weeks on a small boat: Roy Scheider (who played Brody, Amity Island’s stoic police chief); Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper, the hyper oceanographer); and Robert Shaw (Quint, the possibly deranged shark hunter).
Ian Shaw, the co-playwright, is the late Robert Shaw’s son (he played his father in the London and Broadway productions). Accordingly, the play is rich with insider info, not to mention in jokes based on what we now know about Jaws’ legacy. “Do you really think anyone will be talking about this in 50 years?” asks Shaw rhetorically. (Um, yeah.) The world beyond the filming gets acknowledged, too; we see a “Nixon Resigns” headline on a newspaper Scheider is reading, and when he muses that there’ll never again be a president as immoral as “Tricky Dicky,” the line gets a rueful roar from the audience.
The Jobsite production team recreates the “Jaws” milieu with uncanny precision. Set designer Chris Giuffré gives us an immediately recognizable Orca (particularly its small cabin, site of card games and soul-baring).
“The theater company may have netted a spring blockbuster.”
Katrina Stevenson’s costuming is equally spot on, with such familiar details as Hooper’s knit beanie. Joy Cadman’s lighting shifts convincingly from natural to filmmaking light, and Jeremy Douglass’s soundscape establishes a nautical ambience throughout. (In a witty opening touch, we also hear the first of composer John Williams’ unmistakable shark-is-coming chords, cut off mid-rumble to suggest the latest breakdown of Bruce.)
Under David Jenkins’s sure-handed direction, the actors expertly handle the challenge of playing wellknown figures. They don’t quite mirror the physicality of the three stars (Scheider was craggier, Shaw taller, Dreyfuss shorter and pudgier than their counterparts here), but they more than capture their essence. The rhythms of their rapport, the explosions as well as the quiet moments, reflect an ensemble that’s found a way to inhabit rather than impersonate their characters.
eager-beaver ambition, his self-doubt and jittery energy. And Christopher Marshall finds the inner calm and surprisingly professorial side of Scheider, who in the script’s portrayal is less the ball of coiled intensity that was Scheider-as-Brody and more the fulcrum trying to keep his castmates on an even keel. (It’s only when an annoying assistant interrupts his cherished sun-bathing time that we see him about to lose his cool in a very funny bit of physical comedy.)
THEATER
Jobsite Theater:
‘The Shark Is Broken’ Select nights through April 5. $71.40 & up Shimberg Playhouse at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts Jaeb Theater. 1010 N Macinnes Pl., Tampa jobsitetheater.org
There are occasional lulls in the action (they were out there for 10 weeks, after all), and a rather inexplicable thunderstorm. (Why are they still out on the boat in this weather? Why’s Shaw outside clinging to the railing?) And there are exits that don’t quite make sense: When they leap over the side of the boat, where are they going? Is there a barge out there?
Paul Potenza (is there any role he can’t play?) fully embodies the volatile, alcoholic Shaw; his barely suppressed glee when he successfully pulls pranks on Dreyfuss is a joy to watch.
Cody Farkas gets to the heart of Dreyfuss’s
But these are minor quibbles, possibly triggered by the overall believability of it all. There are many, many more reasons to get on board with this exceptional production. Book your passage before tickets disappear; It’s the most fun you can have on the water without getting wet.
AIN’T BROKE: (L-R) Christopher Marshall, Cody Farkas, and Paul Potenza.
JAMES ZAMBON PRODUCTIONS/JOBSITE THEATER
Out and about: Events happening in Tampa Bay
The events listed in our Do This section on pp. 12-13 aren’t the only things to do in town this weekend. Have a look at more events—like ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ in Clearwater—going down the week of March 26-April 1 and beyond. All events are at community.cltampa.com unless noted otherwise. Head there for more events and list your own.—Selene San Felice
ARTS
Remix: Charles Atlas Thursday, March 26. 6 p.m. $55. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa Ceramic Handbuilding and Atmospheric Firing Workshop Friday & Saturday, March 27 & 28. 10 a.m. $250. Morean Center for Clay, St. Petersburg.
The Devils Reign 10th Anniversary Friday & Saturday, March 27 & 28. $15. Dysfunctional Grace, Ybor City (Friday); Deviant Libation, Tampa (Saturday)
Bayboro Turns 6 Saturday, March 28.
3 p.m. No cover. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg
Bradenton Art & Music Festival
Saturday, March 28. 11 a.m. No cover. Bradenton Riverwalk, Bradenton. realizebradenton.com
Mendelssohn’s Elijah Saturday, March 28. 4 p.m. $25. Church of the Ascension, Clearwater
One Word Intention Saturday, March 28. 2 p.m. $75. The Paper Seahorse, Tampa. paperseahorse.com
Tampa Garden Club Flower Show
Saturday & Sunday, March 28 & 29. 9 a.m. No cover. Tampa Garden Club, Tampa HEP Fashion Show Sunday, March 29. 2 p.m. $75. Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin. hepempowers.org
Mendelssohn’s Elijah Sunday, March 29.
7 p.m. $10 & up. Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, Tampa ADC IBC Monday-Friday, March 30-April 3. Times vary. $19.60 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg Broadway Open Mic Night Monday, March 30. 8 p.m. Prices TBA. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa Ceramics Continued Study Select Sundays through April 19. 10 a.m. $45. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa Studio 55: Printmaking Wednesdays through April 8. 1 p.m. $80. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa
Sarasota Contemporary Dance: Women of Resistance Wednesday & Thursday, March 25 & 26. 8 p.m. $30 & up. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration Through March 29. 10 a.m. Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota
Selina Román: Abstract Corpulence Through March 29. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $0-$20. Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota
Janet Echelman: Radical Softness Through April 26. 10 a.m. Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota
Jun Kaneko: Silence Before Sound Through Aug. 23. $5 & up. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa
BOOKISH
T Kira Madden Thursday, March 26. 7 p.m.
No cover with RSVP. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Chris Kneer Sunday, March 29. 3:30 p.m.
$6.71. Oxford Exchange, Tampa
Kids’ Writing Workshop with JJ Fleming Tuesday, March 31. 6:30 p.m.
No cover with RSVP. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Sili Recio and Elena Djome Lawrence Wednesday, April 1. 7 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg
FILM
Back To The Future Thursday, March 26. 6 p.m. $5.35. Gigglewaters, Safety Harbor
International Cinema Series: The Secret Agent Friday, March 27. 7 p.m. No cover. Miller Auditorium at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Friday, March 27. 8 p.m. No cover. Henry B. Plant Park at University of Tampa, Tampa
Wayne’s World Friday, March 27. Various times. $5.35. Gigglewaters, Safety Harbor
The Big Lebowski Saturday, March 28. Various times. $5.35. Gigglewaters, Safety Harbor
Free Film: Annie (1982) Saturday, March 28. 10 a.m. No cover. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa
The Muppets Take Manhattan Sunday, March 29. Various times. $5.35. Gigglewaters, Safety Harbor
Kids Movie on the Deck: Toy Story Wednesday, April 1. 5 p.m. No cover. Lower Deck Harbour Island, Tampa Movie On The Deck: Liar Liar and Braveheart Wednesday, April 1. 7 p.m. No cover. Lower Deck Harbour Island, Tampa. lowerdecktampa.com
LEARN
Cafe con Tampa Fridays. 8 a.m. $12. The Portico, 1001 N. Florida Ave., Tampa. Bill Leavengood (Playwriting workshop) Mondays throughout March. 7 p.m.-9 p.m. $200 tuition. The Studio @ 620, St. Petersburg. bill-leavengood.com
Bill Leavengood (Acting workshop) Saturdays throughout March. 10 a.m. $200 tuition. The Studio @ 620, St. Petersburg Carol Mickett and Robert Stackhouse Thursday, March 26. 6 p.m. No cover with admission. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa Pearls of Influence: CREW Tampa Bay’s 30th Anniversary Thursday, March 26. 8 a.m. $150. The Hilton Downtown, Tampa Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival Business Seminar: Leighton Kyler w/David Hill/Brittany Castonguay/ Tarneisha Peters/Yasmine Gardiner Friday, March 27. 9 a.m. No cover. GTE Financial HQ, Tampa. Photography Conference Friday-Sunday, March 27-29. 7 a.m. Friday; 9 a.m. Saturday & Sunday. $159. Manatee Technical College, Bradenton.
Tampa Bay Job & Career Fair Monday, March 30. 10 a.m. No cover. Holiday Inn Tampa Westshore, Tampa.
Inside Sarasota: Leadership & Advocacy Tuesday, March 31. 5:30 p.m. No cover with registration. Harvest House, Sarasota. sarasota.jl.org
Coffee with a Curator Wednesday, April 1. 10:30 a.m. No cover. The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg Arab Americans of Florida: The Story of Mecca, Pinellas Wednesday, April 1. 6:30 p.m. No cover. Palm Harbor Library, Palm Harbor
MARKETS
Dunedin Friday Market Fridays. 9 a.m. No cover. Pioneer Park, Dunedin Dunedin Saturday Market Saturdays. 9 a.m. No cover. Pioneer Park, Dunedin The Devils Reign 10 Year Anniversary Friday & Saturday, March 27 & 28. 7 p.m. $20. Deviant Libation, Tampa Do Good Day Saturday, March 28. 11 a.m. No cover. Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill, St. Petersburg Tampa GreenFest Saturday, March 28. 9 a.m. No cover. Tampa Garden Club, Tampa Tampa Zine Fest Saturday, March 28. 6 p.m. No cover. Southern Brewing & Winery, Tampa St. Pete Street Market Every fourth Saturday. 12 p.m. No cover. Pinellas Ale Works Brewery, St. Petersburg Secondhand Market Every last Saturday through May 30. 9 a.m. No cover. 1664 12th Street South, St. Petersburg St. Pete Night Market Every first Wednesday. 6 p.m. No cover. Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill, St. Petersburg
continued on page 45
Out and about: Events happening in Tampa Bay (cont'd)
SPORTS
Rays Opening Day Watch Party with Joe Maddon Thursday, March 26. 3:15
p.m. $20. Tampa Baseball Museum, Tampa
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Seattle Kraken Thursday, March 26. 7 p.m. $50.85 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
USF Softball vs Wichita St. Friday, March 27. 6 p.m. $8 & up. USF Baseball and Softball Complex, Tampa. gousfbulls.com
Lagerwood Derby Saturday, March 28. 12 p.m. $30. Crooked Thumb Brewery, Safety Harbor
Leadership Hillsborough: 10th Annual Golf Tournament Saturday, March 28. 9:30 a.m. $125. Top Golf Tampa, Brandon
Real American Freestyle 07 Saturday, March 28. 8 p.m. $92.55 & up. Yuengling Center, Tampa
Seminole Scramble Golf Tournament
Saturday, March 28. 8:30 a.m. Sold out. Westchase Golf Club, Tampa
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Ottawa Senators Saturday, March 28. 1 p.m. $73.45 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
USF Softball vs Wichita St. Saturday, March 28. 4:30 p.m. $8 & up. USF Baseball and Softball Complex, Tampa. gousfbulls.com
Galaxy Gutterballs (Spaceballs-themed bowling party) Sunday, March 29. 12 p.m. $45 for individuals; $200 for teams. Pin Chasers on Armenia, Tampa
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Nashville Predators Sunday, March 29. 5 p.m. $54.25 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa USF Softball vs Wichita St. Sunday, March 29. 4 p.m. $8 & up. USF Baseball and Softball Complex, Tampa. gousfbulls.com
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens Tuesday, March 31. 7 p.m. $61.05 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
THEATER
The Shark is Broken Select times and dates through Sunday, April 5. $59.40 & up. Shimberg Playhouse at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa
Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen Tuesday, March 24-Sunday, April 5. Showtimes vary. $62.20 & up. Morsani Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa
Sleeping Beauty Saturday, March 28, 11 a.m.
$10. Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo Patel Conservatory Popular Dance Program and Next Generation Ballet: On The Edge Saturday, March 28. 7 p.m.
$28.20 & up. Ferguson Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa
Dancing With The Stars Live Friday & Saturday, March 27 & 28. 7:30 p.m. Sold out. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater Mrs. Bliss’s Titanic Adventure Wednesday, April 1. 8 p.m. $15 & up. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa Moulin Rouge! The Musical WednesdaySunday, April 1-5. 7 p.m. Wednesday & Thursday; 2 p.m. Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon; 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon; 8 p.m. Friday night and Saturday night. $51 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater
TRAVEL & LEISURE
Bay Area Renaissance Festival Saturdays and Sundays through March 29. 10 a.m.
$18.95 & up. 12838 Auton Rd., Dade City
Interested in advertising around this listing? Contact jhoward@cltampa.com and acarbone@ cltampa.com for details.
Cracked up: Tampa Bay’s best comedy gigs
He’s not the most-famous comedian in his family, but Chris’ little brother has a successful decades-long career in his own right (you don’t get to host HBO’s Def Comedy program and The Apollo’s competition show without a legit resume, plenty of respect and thick skin).
Tony Rock, 12 years younger than Chris, is an accomplished storyteller from a large family, so there won’t be a lack of material to share across five shows in Ybor City when he does three shows at the Funny Bone. And as you might guess from his surname, a lot of the comedy will involve racial observations and adult content. Expect large crowds to soak it all in.
Get info on his gig—plus more of the best comedy coming to Tampa Bay March 27April 5—below.—Michael Murillo
Katt Williams Friday, March 27. 8 p.m. $85 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
Tony Rock Friday-Sunday, March 27-29.
7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. Sunday. $32 & up. Funny Bone, Ybor City
Brian Aldridge Thursday, March 26. 8 p.m.
$23.80. Side Splitters, Tampa
Jimmy Kopteros Thursday, March 26. 7:30 p.m. $22.50 and up. Snappers, Palm Harbor
John Jacobs Thursday, March 26. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach
Craig Loydgren Friday, March 27. 7 p.m. $25. The Hardware Store, Brooksville
Dark and Dirty Comedy Show w/Dick Ruse Fourth Fridays. 7:39 p.m. $11. Beech Kombucha, St. Petersburg
Kevin Nealon Friday-Saturday, March 27-28. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $50. Side Splitters, Tampa
Joe Hill Friday-Saturday, March 27-28. 7:30 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel
Jack Jr. Friday-Saturday, March 27-28. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $32.50 and up. Snappers, Palm Harbor
Jake Klark Friday-Saturday, March 27-28. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach
Dick Ruse Friday-Saturday, March 27-28. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater
The Dark Show with Gina M. Saturday, March 28. 9:30 p.m. $14.76. The Commodore, Ybor City
Jay Hewlett Saturday, March 28. 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $20. Coconuts, St. Pete Beach
Kerwin Claiborne Sunday, March 29. 6:30 p.m. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel
Rod Man Sunday, March 29. 6:30 p.m. $28.80 and up. Side Splitters, Tampa
Popcorn & Punchlines with Johnny B. Monday, March 30. $15. 8 p.m. The Beach Theatre, St. Pete Beach
Dave Schwensen Comedy Class Graduation Show Wednesday, April 1. 7 p.m. $8. Funny Bone, Ybor City
Ismo Wednesday-Thursday, April 1-2. 7 p.m. $28 and up. Side Splitters, Tampa
Michael Murillo Wednesday, April 1 and Saturday, April 4. Wednesday; 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. Coconuts, St. Pete Beach
Doughboys with Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell Thursday, April 2. 7 p.m. $46 and up. Funny Bone, Ybor City
John Butera Thursday-Saturday, April 2-4.
7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $22.50 and up. Snappers, Palm Harbor
Chris Cope Thursday-Saturday, April 2-4.
7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel
Stand Up Comedy for Charity with James Yon Friday, April 3. 8 p.m. $25.66 and up. New Port Richey Elks Lodge, New Port Richey
Guy Torry Friday-Saturday, April 3-4. 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday. $24. Funny Bone, Ybor City
Jimmy Kopteros Friday-Saturday, April 3-4. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater
Gianmarco Soresi Friday-Sunday, April 3-5.
7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday; 3:30p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday. $40. Side Splitters, Tampa
We Them One’s Comedy Tour Friday, April 3. 8 p.m. $92 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
Ali Wong Saturday-Sunday, April 4-5. 7 p.m. $53 & up. Duke Energy Center for the Arts at Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg
Funny businesses: Tampa Bay comedy clubs and venues
The world is on fire. But in many ways, it always has been. Comics have been there throughout time, to help us cope. Here’s a list of clubs and venues in the Tampa Bay area that offer comedy. Times subject to change, and please check the venue for specific showtimes and prices. Don’t see your spot here? Send rroa@cltampa.com some hate mail, but be sure to include details about the offerings.—Michael Murillo
Comedy clubs
Clearwater Comedy Club Nightly comedy offerings in an intimate, boutique setting. Seven nights a week at 8:30 p.m. and an additional late show Friday-Saturday at 10:30 p.m. 483 Mandalay Ave. Unit 210. 727-435-0327. clearwatercomedyclub.com
Coconuts Comedy Club at Tradewinds
Island Resorts This decades-old brand now produces multiple shows a week inside the popular Tradewinds. Saturday 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. 5500 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach. 727-360-5653. coconutscomedyclubs.com
Funny Bone Comedy Club Originally a theater in Ybor City’s heyday, the large ceilings and three-level seating let the laughs echo across the building. The attached bar has its own stage for regular open mics.
Thursday 7 p.m. Friday 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Saturday 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., plus open mics and other shows on various nights of the week. 1600 E 8th Ave. C-112, Ybor City. 813-864-4000. tampa.funnybone.com
Side Splitters Comedy Club (Tampa) A Tampa staple for more than three decades, the seating offers good sight lines and sound from anywhere in the showroom. The accompanying bar area is a good place for a pre-show drink. Thursday 8 p.m. Friday 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30p.m. Plus open mics and other shows on various nights of the week. 12938 N Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa. 813-960-1197 sidesplitterscomedy.com
Side Splitters Comedy Club (Wesley Chapel) The showroom looks just like a movie theater, because it is a movie theater. Side Splitters replaces the big screen with stand-up at The Grove every weekend. Thursday 7:30 p.m. Friday 7:30p.m. Saturday 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Open mics and other shows on various nights of the week. 6333 Wesley Grove Blvd. Theater No. 7., Wesley Chapel. 813-723-2170. sidesplitterscomedy.com
Snappers Grill & Comedy Club Located in a strip mall in Palm Harbor, this longrunning grill and comedy club has a sizable, colorful showroom for stand-up, a separate restaurant and an outdoor patio area for live music. Thursday 7:30 p.m. Friday 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. 36657 US-Hwy 19 N, Palm Harbor. 727-9382027. snappersgrill.com
Sunshine City Comedy Club A small, boutique-style club with audience and performer huddled close together to share laughter. One of the rare venues with shows every night of the week. Monday 8 p.m.
Wednesday-Saturday 8:30 p.m. Plus open mics and other shows on various nights of the week. 5501 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach. 727435-0327. sunshinecitycomedyclub.com
More places to laugh
Beach Theatre One Monday each month, date varies depending on schedule. 315 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach. 727-340-2866. thebeachtheatre.org
Beech Kombucha As the name implies, this venue is all about kombucha, with handcrafted selections and regular tastings. It also puts comedy on the menu once a month. Every fourth Friday at 8 p.m. 3100 Freemont Terrace S, St. Petersburg. 727-344-9693. beechbucha.com
Clearwater Brewing Company A free show every last Wednesday at 7 p.m. 1700 N. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. 727-412-9043. clearwaterbrewingcompany.com
CJ’s Backstage Known for regular live music, CJ’s also offers a free monthly adult (very adult) comedy show every fourth Wednesday at 9 p.m. 7022 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg. 727-202-8881. cjsbackstage.com
The Commodore Founded in 2023 and located on the border of Ybor City and Tampa Heights, this former pool hall has become Tampa’s go-to for improv comedy, plus special events like concerts, and the monthly Salud and Happy Days series. Between classes, a Thursday open mic, experiments in comedy, and a monthly
Monday open mic, there’s something happening here on most days of the month. 811 E 7th Ave., Tampa. commodorecomedy. com —Ray Roa
Firehouse Cultural Center A converted Firehouse in Ruskin, the main stage is home to regular music and theater, as well as a monthly comedy show every first Friday at 7:30 p.m. 101 1st. Ave. NE, Ruskin. 813-6457651. firehouseculturalcenter.org
Green Light Lounge and Kitchen An 80-seat arthouse movie theater that puts live comedy in the spotlight once a month every first Friday at 8 p.m. 221 2nd Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-256-0140. @stpetemovies on Facebook
JF Kicks Restaurant & Patio Bar Burgers, wings, bike nights, bands, and stand-up comedy in Valrico every second Saturday at 10 p.m. That’s Florida in a nutshell, right? 3345 Lithia Pinecrest Rd., Valrico. 813-643-7777. jfkicksrestaurant.com
Motorworks Brewing This sizable craft brewery and taproom curtains off a section of their main room for a monthly 8 p.m. comedy show every third Sunday. 1014 9th St. W, Bradenton. 941-567-6218. motorworksbrewing.com
Niagara Tap This local watering hole hosts regular bands and karaoke, with a longrunning free comedy series on the second Friday of every other month at 7 p.m. 11950 Seminole Blvd., Largo. 727-581-5331. niagaratap.com
APRIL 16–19, 2026
Floral interpretations on view in the Museum of Fine Arts galleries
THURSDAY, APRIL 16
LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN LUNCHEON
Special Guest Holly Heider Chapple St. Petersburg Yacht Club | 10:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, APRIL 17
FLOWERS AFTER HOURS
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg | 6:00 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
SUNDAY, APRIL 19 CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DESIGNERS
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg | 3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
For tickets and complete event information, visit stuartsociety.org or scan the QR code.
Born to rage
Sebastian Bach brings his birthday party to St. Pete.
By Randy Ojeda
Some rock stars spend their late-50s apologizing for the ’80s. Sebastian Bach is spending his 58th birthday screaming his way through St. Petersburg.
On his actual birthday, April 3, Bach brings his Party Never Ends Tour to Ferg’s Live, a fitting venue for a singer who has never been particularly interested in subtlety, restraint, or aging quietly. The date isn’t just another stop on the tour. It’s Bach’s birthday, and he has exactly one request.
“All I want for my birthday is a sold-out show,” he said. “That’s it.”
Bach recently caught up with Cigar City Radio, when he called in from Las Vegas, sounded energized, sharp, and, perhaps most importantly, completely uninterested in becoming a legacy act.
Bach’s latest album, Child Within the Man (2024), isn’t a pivot or a comeback narrative. It’s simply another chapter in a catalog he sees as one continuous body of work, not a collection of eras.
“When I do a new record, I’m just adding to my catalog,” Bach explained. “I’m not trying to change who I am. The same feeling I get hearing 'What Do I Got to Lose' is the same feeling
I get when I hear 'Youth Gone Wild' from 37 years ago. It all fits together.”
That mindset carries straight into his live show. Fans hoping for a full album playthrough or a nostalgia-only set, look elsewhere. Bach promised a career-spanning setlist that pulls from Skid Row classics, solo favorites, and newer material without apology or explanation.
“You’ll get the best songs from my career,” he said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Frankly, that’s all most fans want.
Visually, Child Within the Man continues a striking through line in Bach’s solo career: album artwork created by his late father, the same artist behind Slave to the Grind
“When my dad’s artwork comes up on the screen in my car when a song plays on SiriusXM, I know he’d dig that,” Bach said. “Bringing his art to life when he’s not here anymore is astonishing to me.”
It’s a rare pause from a man best known for climbing speaker stacks and screaming like the van’s double-parked outside, and it says a lot. Bach isn’t stuck in the past, he’s hauling it forward with him.
And yes, “Gilmore Girls” will come up. If you see Luke’s Diner shirts at Ferg’s, don’t be
surprised. Bach is fully aware that a non-zero number of fans know him less from Slave to the Grind and more from “Gilmore Girls.”
“We get ‘Gilmore Girls’ fans coming to my shows,” he said. “People come up to me wearing Hep Alien shirts and I’m like, ‘Who’s making money off that? It’s not me.’”
Depending on where he is, Bach gets recognized for wildly different reasons. In Canada, it’s “Trailer Park Boys.” In Manhattan, it’s Broadway, where Bach made history as the first true rock frontman to star on Broadway, playing Jekyll and Hyde.
“People always say, ‘What about Alice Cooper?’” Bach said. “He was never on Broadway! He should have been, but he wasn’t.”
The track was released with a different vocalist. Bach kept his version. Everyone moved on.
“They paid me not to work,” he said. “What the fuck?”
If that doesn’t perfectly summarize majorlabel logic in the ’90s, nothing does. But Bach isn’t stuck in the past.
Despite the relentless touring schedule, Bach isn’t done creating. He just refuses to force it.
“Touring is physical,” he said. “Making a record is mental. You have to stand still. It’s totally different.”
INTERVIEW
Ferg’s Live: Sebastian Bach
Next Friday, April 3. 7 p.m. $29 & up
Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill. 1320 Central Ave., St. Petersburg fergssportsbar.com
And that’s not the craziest story he has either. As a music attorney, I had to ask Bach about the wildest contract moment of his career. His answer sounds fake, but isn’t.
In the early-’90s, Bach recorded “Born to Raise Hell” with Motörhead at Electric Lady Studios, singing lead alongside Lemmy. Then his label stepped in.
“They paid me forty grand not to sing the song,” Bach said.
Yes, really.
“They said, ‘We’ll pay you double not to be on it.’ I said, ‘OK.’”
And then there’s the curveball: Bach has long planned a traditional Christmas album but it’s not metal, not novelty, not ironic.
“I started in church choir when I was eight,” he said. “I want to sing the hymns and psalms in the same key I sang them back then.”
Mariah Carey has officially been put on notice.
For now, he’s focused on the show next week in St. Petersburg. The Ferg’s gig isn’t a nostalgia cash-in. It’s a birthday party, a victory lap, and a reminder that some rock stars never mellow out. Thankfully.
“All I want,” Bach said, “is a sold-out show on my birthday.”
St. Pete can handle that.
YOUTH GONE WILD: Bach says he’s never trying to change who he is on new work.
JIM LOUVAU
Live wire
Evidence in Live Nation-Ticketmaster trial shows Tampa fans as the butt
nyone who hoped that Donald Trump was actually serious about taking on Ticketmaster and Live Nation was let down this month when his Department of Justice (DOJ) announced plans to settle its antitrust suit against the concert giants.
Observers, including the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) were quick to point out that a proposed $280 million to pay any settlements in the case “is the equivalent of 4 days of their 2025 revenue…”
But not every state is rolling over. Politico says more than two dozen attorneys general have refused to sign on to a DOJ settlement that critics say falls short of properly addressing concerns surrounding monopolization in the live entertainment industry.
Tom DeGeorge, owner of Crowbar in Ybor City and Southeast Regional President for NIVA, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that Florida is among the states continuing the fight. CL reached out to Florida State Attorney James Uthmeier’s office for additional comment.
How the trial plays out is unknown, but what is clear is how one employee at Live Nation feels
about Tampa fans.
Two exhibits in the trial include messages between employees where Ben Baker—then working in Tampa as a regional ticketing director for Live Nation—joked about exorbitant parking and other ancillary charges like VIP access and lawn chair rentals.
The exchanges from 2022 show Baker and another employee, Jeff Weinhold, talking about sales surrounding concerts at Tampa’s MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, which is operated by Live Nation. In them, the men discuss pricing for seats on a Zac Brown show, with Baker sharing a strategy for mitigating any losses. “i gouge them on ancil prices to make up for it,” he wrote.
In one exchange, Baker laughed about charging $50 for grass parking, adding “i charge $60 for closer grass” and telling Weinhold that he charges $100 for oversize parking that is still almost a mile from the venue entrance.
“robbing them blind baby,” Baker wrote in another message. “that’s how we do”
The New York Times reported that messages about a 2022 Kid Rock show at Tampa’s
MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre include a “VIP Club” pricing chart, with a comment from Baker saying, “These people are so stupid.”
Baker also lamented a show cancellation from Dead & Co. because it would’ve let him jump ahead in sales ahead of co-workers at the Hollywood Bowl.
In another message, Baker joked that he didn’t know if he should “be nice” and give a refund to a mother who would no longer be able to take her teenager to see AJR play MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre back in 2022.
Weinhold replied, “los yes just give em the refund lol.”
“you’ve gone soft,” Baker replied.
Baker’s most recent title is head of ticketing for Venue Nation, a division of Live Nation Entertainment that includes its amphitheaters. In new testimony from the trial last week, Baker expressed regret over his comments, but noted that he’s been promoted twice since sending the messages.
Local indie venues still struggling
A recent “State Of Live” report from NIVA said that independent venues in Florida rank in the top three across the country in multiple economic measurements related to facilitating off-site tourism, jobs supported, industry jobs, tax revenue, wages paid, and more.
Despite the impact detailed in the report, only 35% of independent stages in Florida identified themselves as profitable in 2024.
DeGeorge, who opened Crowbar in Ybor City 20 years ago, will close his venue this summer due, in part, to rising rent.
MUSIC NEWS
Ticketmaster and Live Nation argued that the messages should not be allowed in the trial because they discussed “non-ticket ancillary products” not part of the trial, adding that they did not learn about the exchange until the public did. In a statement to the NYT, Live Nation said the exchange was between “one junior staffer to a friend” and said it “absolutely doesn’t reflect our values or how we operate.”
“Robbing them blind baby.”
Over the weekend, he urged followers to contact Florida’s state attorney and encourage him to stay in the fight against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
“You all have been in this fight with us since the beginning, and it’s you that keeps us all going. We’re all in this together because we all love live, and we want it to be affordable for everybody, and we want fair practices where these independent venues can exist for years and years and years to come,” he added.
A listing for the property owned by Ron Rampolla seeks $27.70 per square foot-per year at the 4,115 square-foot facility (just shy of $114,000/year). The listing promises the next renter “a rare opportunity to reimagine a legendary property that has shaped the city’s nightlife and music scene for over two decades.”
Thursday March 26, 2026 • 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
“Beyond Borders” Business Networking Dinner @ Industrious 1600 East 8th Ave
Free to attend - $59.34 bit.ly/BeyondBordersYbor
Saturday March 29, 2026 • 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
CUBAN SANDWICH FESTIVAL @ Centennial Park 1800 E 8th Ave
Free to attend - Tickets to Ybor Museum available bit.ly/CubanSandwichFestival
Tuesday March 31, 2026 • 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
CONNECTIONZ•COLLABORATIONZ & COCKTAILZ @ Centro Lounge and Kitchen 1600 East 8th Ave
Free to attend bit.ly/ConnectionzCocktailzYbor
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 • Doors 8:00 PM
Emo Night Tampa with Hovercar, Blacksmith , Floating Boy and Deep Bite @ Crowbar 1812 N 17th St
VIVA ITALIA! talian Club Open House & Membership Drive @ L’Unione Italiana 1731 East 7th Ave
Tickets - $7.18
bit.ly/VivaItaliaYbor
Saturday, April 11, 2026 • 11:00 AM
Hive Community Yoga @ Ybor Hive 1802 East 3rd Ave
Free with reservation bit.ly/YborHiveYoga
Sunday, April 12, 2026 • 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Elevated Wine Society - Wine & Cigar @ Ybor City Society Wine Bar 1600 East 7th Ave
Tickets - $65.08
bit.ly/WineCigarYbor
Wednesday, April 15, 2026 • 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Ybor City Espresso and Cigar Pairing by Fümi Coffee
Roasters @ Sterling Cigar Lounge & Bar 1531 East 7th Ave
Tickets from $65.08
bit.ly/EspressoCigarYbor
Saturday, April 19, 2026 • 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Spring Fling Sip & Shop
@ Ybor City Society Wine Bar 1600 East 7th Ave
Tickets from $53.75
bit.ly/YborSipShop
Sweet Krunch-Ybor City 1520 E 7th Ave
Ocean Ink 632 E 7th Ave
La Creperia Cafe @ Ybor City 1729 E 7th Ave lacreperiacafe.com
Try Out These Restaurants: Where to Live:
Casa Ybor • casaybor.com
Casa Ybor offers unique retail spaces, office spaces, and apartment homes for rent or lease in both newly constructed and lovingly restored historic buildings throughout the vibrant National Historic Landmark District of Ybor City near Downtown Tampa, Florida.
La Union • bit.ly/LaUnionYbor
Community, connection, and culture come together at La Unión Apartments, where Tampa’s rich history and vibrant future unite. Inspired by the historic social hall once on this site, our Ybor City apartments honor that legacy by fostering bonds among residents, the neighborhood, and the area’s deep-rooted heritage.
Miles at Ybor • milesatybor.com
Step into the pulse of Tampa’s most vibrant neighborhood at Miles at Ybor, where modern luxury apartments in Tampa blend seamlessly with the rich cultural tapestry of historic Ybor City. These aren’t just furnished apartments in Ybor City – they’re your gateway to an elevated urban lifestyle that celebrates both heritage and innovation.
Hive Ybor 1802 E 3rd Ave
Rooted in community, Hive is a cozy coworking space designed for creative professional and coffee-shop hoppers in the Tampa + Ybor area. yborhive.com
Industrious Coworking Space 1600 E 8th Ave, A200
Once a movie theater, Located in the heart of Ybor City, Industrious Centro Ybor is a unique and flexible workplace, with dedicated offices, and on-demand meeting space with all-inclusive amenities and benefits bit.ly/IndustriousYbor
Centro Ybor 1600 E 7th Ave
Unique shopping, dining, and entertainment in the heart of historic Ybor in Tampa, FL. centroybor.com/directory
By Ray Roa
THU 26
C 11th Annual Spring Beer Jam: Oteil Burbridge & more Ripples of Bob Weir’s death are still reverberating, and as Deadheads keep truckin’ there are still songs to help them find home. Expect Oteil Burbridge to play quite a few of them at this intimate gig. Undisputed royalty in the jam band world, the 61-year-old bassist is a founding member of Dead & Co., The Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Tedeschi Trucks Band. He also spent 17 years in the Allman Brothers Band. While Burbridge is known to Dead fans as a guy whose improvisational skill reinvented classics like “China Doll” and “High Time,” he arrives at the four-day Spring Beer Jam alongside his Aquarium Rescue Unit bandmate Rev. Jeff Mosier, the Blueground Undergrass banjo player and founder who is a jam scene legend himself for the work he’s done with Phish (the crowd will likely lose it if “Good Times Bad Times” makes the setlist). Burbridge and Mosier will be backed by members of St. Pete’s own kings of prog-rock Anthill Cinema. Spring Beer Jam organizer, and brewery General Manager Mike Bryant told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that Burbridge will wrap the weekend on Sunday, playing inside Moon Tower facing a mural of his longtime, and late, Aquarium Rescue Unit bandmate Col. Bruce Hampton who passed in 2017. ThursdaySunday, March 26-29. 7 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin
FRI 27
C Sauce Pocket w/Tamayo Sauce Pocket plays a support set for astro-jazz outfit Dionysus on Thursday, but comes to Tampa the night after to headline the Skipperdome ahead of the three-day Fox Fam Jam happening next month at Brooksville’s Florida Sand Music Ranch. The jazz-tronic unit was among the Bay area’s best instrumental bands in 2024 and is joined under the oak trees by funky Latin-ish jam outfit Tamayo. 7 p.m. $10. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
C Only R&B: Slim of 112 In the late-’90s and early aughts, Marvin Scandrick’s falsetto was on JVC stereos across the country as young folks lost their virginity. His group, 112, won a Grammy for its slow jams, but the 45-year-old been on a solo journey since 2008 when he released Love’s Crazy Last year, Scandrick, better known as Slim, dropped a new single, “Somebody to Love.” On a weekend that sees Warren G come to Busch Gardens, Slim’s set at The Grove is a pretty good reason for old-school heads in the Chap to stay closer to home or pull a double-header. 7 p.m. $16.30 & up. Krate at The Grove, Wesley Chapel
THU MARCH 26–THU APRIL02
SAT 28
Rentfest III: Tone I.E. w/Floating Boy/Joheen Ason/Severed Silence/ Emmpower/Scissor Blade/more We don’t know where Rentfest organizers plan to put more than a dozen bands on two stages, but live music fans that DM them can find out. The soundtrack will be on point, too, thanks to this eclectic lineup of heartbreak-pop singers (Tone I.E.), emo outfits (Floating Boy), DJs (Emmpower), rappers (Joheem Ason, Nimbu$), hardcore bands (Scissor Blade) and more. 6 p.m. $15-$20. DM @rentetechnology for address
Rockabilly Battle Royale Round 11: Shaun Young w/Laura Hope & Andrea Maddox/Johnny Safford/Hot Rod Hornets Break out a black leather jacket and those jeans that barely fit. Shaun Young, vocalist and rhythm guitar for ‘90s-era Austin, Texas rockabilly trio High Noon brings a new band to the 11th annual Rockabilly Battle Royale. The get together is a full on revival of the storied American sound, and Young will be joined by bassist Lara Hope who is in a band with Hey Y’alls
frontwomen Andrea Maddox, plus old-timey Rhode Island picker Jonny Safford and St. Pete’s own Hot Rod Hornets. 6 p.m. $20. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa
SUN 29
C Arenas, Lasky & Nash Project: The Bacharach Book Early this month, Alejandro Arenas, Simon Lasky and Allison Nash started recording their debut album The Bacharach Book . Jazz audiences in the know have had plenty of chances to see the bass-piano-and-vocal trio better known as Arenas, Lasky & Nash Project perform material from the effort at venues across the area. This time the magic—"Alife" and " This Girl's in Love with You" are some highlights from a performance at the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin—happens at what organizers at the New Tamp Performing Arts center describe as a living-room style setting inspired by “MTV Unplugged.” Expect to hear a lot of Bachy’s material along with original work from the revered local musicians. 3 p.m. $17.50 & up. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa
C Tampa Food Not Bombs food drive & benefit show: Carpet Drugs w/Lilith Black/SB & JG/Choking on the Revelry Our neighbors are hungry. The Tampa chapter of long-running mutual aid group Food Not Bombs has always worked hard to help because humans have a right to food. The group is joined by the pop duo of Shae Krispinsky and Jeremy Gloff (aka Shower Beers), plus noise-rock outfit Carpet Drugs, and the Bearded Dragon of St. Pete, Lilith Black, for a food drive that benefits both a local community fridge and the Food Not Bombs chapter in Gaza. Pantry staples they’d love to get including canned veggies, pasta, dried beans, and more. 6:30 p.m. Donations accepted. Deviant Libation, Tampa
WED 01
C Emo Night Tampa: Hovercar w/ Blacksmith/Floating Boy/Deep Bite Deep Bite and Blacksmith have found themselves on bills together lately, and this gig curated by Emo Night Tampa is another chance to see an up-and-comer and OG of the scene under the same roof. Homegrown grunge-rock trio Hovercar tops the offering along with Floating Boy, the Sarasota emo outfit that rang in the new year with Perfect Place (an early contender for one of the best Florida rock records of the year). 8:30 p.m. $12.49. Crowbar, Ybor City
Redd Kross w/Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends/Barely Pink Redd Kross’ Tampa ties are deep because of the late Eddie Kurdziel. The guitarist died in 1999, but not before laying down tracks for the Los Angeles power-pop band’s biggest albums, Phaseshifter and Show World Kurdziel was also in ‘80s local new wave outfit Real Cameras. Expect Redd Kross’ McDonald brothers (Jeff, Steven) to talk about their comrade at this gig where Barely Pink—Tampa’s own, still active purveyors of singalong-ready pop-rock—have been added as last-minute support. 7 p.m. $35.06. Orpheum, Tampa
THU 02
C Rock The Park: Florida w/Bill./Jacob Marcello After illness forced a cancellation in February, Bill. (stylized all-lowercase) finally gets to bring a loud, unforgiving debut LP, Wimmer, to the Curt. The Tampa rock outfit is in the heart of this bill where one of the Bay area’s original guitar gods, Billy Summer, leads his rock & roll outfit Florida through glamorous, fuzzy, and muscular riffs. Lime Street Band songwriter Jacob Marcello opens. 6:30 p.m. No cover. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa
See an extended version of this listing via cltampa.com/music.
C CL Recommends
It’s time to hang on the passenger’s side of your best friend’s ride—especially if ‘90s R&B girl groups are on rotation in your playlist. Last Monday, TLC, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue announced the “It’s Iconic” tour (stylized all-caps), which includes a stop in Tampa this fall. No bustas allowed.
Included in the performance lineup are classics from the groups’ debut and bestselling albums, from TLC’s “No Scrubs” and “Waterfalls” to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop” and “Push it” and En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind,” according to a press release. In the announcement, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins said the lineup had ““supergirl power,” while Cindy Herron of En Vogue promised a “feast for the audience.”
Watkins and her TLC bandmate Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas remain a duo, 24 years after the 2002 death of 30-year-old Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who was touted not just as the group’s rapper but as its creative force in songwriting and visuals.
TLC has five Grammys to its name, and was also the first female group to win Video of the Year at the MTV Music Awards in 1995 for “Waterfalls.” Salt-N-Pepa’s Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “Spinderella” also made strides as the first all-female rap group to earn platinum certification. En Vogue also has three MTV Video Music Awards and seven Grammy nominations.
Tickets to see TLC, Salt-N-Pepa and En-Vogue play MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa on Wednesday, Sept. 23 go on sale to the public on Thursday, March 26—prices have not yet
Gracie Topp Friday, April 3. 5 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa
Tina and Her Pony Saturday, April 4. 5 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa
Belle and Chain (opening for Barns Courtney) Monday, April 6. 8 p.m. Prices TBA. Crowbar, Ybor City
October London w/Leela James/Eric Benet Saturday, April 18. 8 p.m. $93.05 & up. Yuengling Center, Tampa
Forever K-Pop Wednesday, April 22. 8 p.m. $47 & up. Morsani Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa
Jon Shain Wednesday, April 15. 5 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa
Lovesong (The Cure tribute) w/First Wave Friday, April 17. 8 p.m. $18. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa
Ramirez Saturday, April 25. 7 p.m. $37. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
been announced. The September show is one of just two Florida dates on the tour featuring the R&B legends.
Guests planning to park at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre need to purchase a separate parking pass per vehicle, which starts at $25. Parking lots open two hours before the venue is open for entry. See Josh Bradley’s weekly roundup of new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below.
—Jasmin Parrado
Brenn! w/Hudson Ingram Tuesday, April 28. 7 p.m. $28.04. Crowbar, Ybor City
Soulja Boy w/Lil Xan Friday, May 8. 8 p.m. Prices TBA. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Exodus w/Biohazard Monday, May 11. Time and prices TBA. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Jason Mraz w/Gregory Page Saturday, May 16. 7:30 p.m. $82 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater
Slainte Baby Sunday, May 17. 6 p.m. No cover. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa
Paul Gilbert w/Greg Koch Friday, May 22. 8 p.m. $25 & up. Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo
King of Denmark w/John Olthoff/more Saturday, May 23. 7 p.m. $10 & up. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa
UPCOMING SHOWS
MARCH 28
ORBIT CULTURE Jannus Live
APRIL 18
THE ACADEMY IS The Ritz Ybor APRIL 25 RAMIREZ Jannus Live and APR 8
APRIL 28
THE MAINE Jannus Live
MAY 2
PURITY RING Jannus Live
MAY 10
EXODUS Jannus Live
no clubs presents!
Homework
By Dan Savage
I’m a 50-year-old married bisexual American man living in Europe with my wife and kids.
The “bi” part of me is still extremely new. Two years ago, I started seeing a sex-positive therapist to address my significant interest (and feelings of guilt about) kink and BDSM. Long story short, I admitted to myself that I wasn’t just into kink, but that I was also bisexual. All the things I thought would be difficult—coming out to my wife, discussing an open marriage, having my first gay experiences—have gone really well. My wife and I are in a great place, and I feel better about myself than I have in a long time.
The part I struggle with is identity. I consider myself bisexual, Dan, but I have no idea what being queer means. If I were in the U.S., I would find some social groups and meet some other queer people, but I am in a foreign country where it is easy to get a hand job from a man but hard to have a nuanced conversation about sexuality. I considered not worrying about it. I present as a boring suburban dad and could have gone through the rest of my life with only a small group of people knowing. However, I felt a tug to understand this (and myself) better. I know nothing about gay culture and feel adrift compared to people who come out younger. My roadblock is basically, “What’s next?” I have no problem calling myself bisexual, but I don’t feel like I can call myself queer because I do not know what that means for me. Any suggestions?—Bi Dad Seeking Meaning
One mistake the LGBTQ2SIA+ movement made over the last decade—in addition to all the variations on that acronym—was convincing people that being queer or being an ally meant homework. It wasn’t enough to be queer, it wasn’t enough to be cool with queer people. No, you had to do the reading, attend struggle sessions, and pass vocabulary tests. We turned “queer” from something a person could just was into a 400-level course a person was always in danger of failing. Take BDSM here. He’s bisexual and he’s out—and he’s out there getting hand jobs and hopefully more from other men—and he’s nailing this queer shit. But he’s worried about flunking.
So, BDSM, you can relax. If you’re not straight, you’re queer. And your queerness, however you choose to express it, is just as valid as the queerness of a gender studies TA. And while you might present as a boring suburban dad, you’re actually subverting—you’re “queering,” as the gender studies profs say—what it means to be a boring suburban dad one hand job at a time.
That said, BDSM, you don’t have to identify as queer; lots of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people
don’t identify as queer. If identifying as bisexual makes you feel less anxious—if you don’t feel like you’re gonna flunk bisexuality—then you can just identify as bisexual. It has the virtue of being both true and clear. Because unlike telling a guy you’re queer, which is a broad term that invites at least one follow-up question (“So, what kind of queer are we talking about?”), when you tell a guy you’re bisexual you give him all the information he needs before the hand job commences.
P.S. Sometimes when a person comes out to a spouse and gets the go-ahead to explore their sexuality, the newly out person has a kid-in-thecandy-shop moment and winds up neglecting their spouse’s sexual needs. I hope you realize how lucky you are to have your wife’s support, BDSM, and that you don’t screw things up for yourself by making her regret giving you her blessing to explore men and kink outside your marriage.
P.P.S. What it sounds like you want aren’t reading assignments, BDSM, but a sense of community—which will come in time. The more gay and bi men you meet and jerk off, the more gay and bi men you’ll get to know, and the better you’ll come to understand your queerness and the queerness of other men.
little shits. Gays and lesbians literally made “queer” happen. And to gays and lesbians who insist “queer” was imposed on us, I say this: They didn’t impose “queer” on us, you guys, they stole “queer” from us. We could let them have it—we could let them get away with appropriating “queer” from us—but stealing it back would piss these modern homophobes off more.
SAVAGE LOVE
P.P.P.S. Some gay men and lesbians—including gays and lesbians who are old enough to know better—seem to believe that “queer” was imposed on them by a bunch of non-binary AFAB femme-presenting allosexual phallophiles. (Or “straight girls,” as they used to be known.) That’s simply not true. “Queer” was embraced as a unifying term after gay and lesbian activists distributed a pamphlet titled “QUEERS READ THIS” at the 1990 New York City Gay Pride Parade.
“We use queer as gay men loving lesbians,” the anonymous authors wrote in the “WHY QUEER” section of a manifesto that led to the founding of Queer Nation. “Queer, unlike GAY, doesn’t mean MALE. And when spoken to other gays and lesbians, it’s a way of suggesting we close ranks, and forget our individual differences because we face a more insidious common enemy. Yeah, QUEER can be a rough word but it is also a sly and ironic weapon we can steal from the homophobes.”
Just as annoying—way more annoying— than gays and lesbians who complain that “queer” was imposed on them are self-identified queers who insist that being gay or lesbian isn’t “enough” to make a person queer.
So, to those who seek to exclude gays and lesbians from queer, I say this: Gay men and lesbians were the O.G. queers, you gatekeeping
Your fiancé has the right idea: “Let’s fuck, let’s see.” Meaning: you two fucking the shit out of this woman—the two of you inviting this woman into your intimate life—is the right first move. If all three of you click sexually (a big if) and all three of you click emotionally (an even bigger if), VHR, then you can begin to have a conversation about the possibility of inviting this woman into your romantic life six months and several dozen successful threesomes from now. And while it couldn’t hurt for you to read the poly books and listen to the poly podcasts now, asking your husband to read those books and listen to those podcasts could hurt your chances of getting what you want. Just as no single person wants to listen to someone talk about their dream wedding on a first date, no engaged/ married person wants to listen to their fiancée/ spouse talk about their dream poly triad before their first threesome. While being informed about polyamory is a good idea—especially if you’re going to have an opinion about it (which everyone does these days)—you don’t have to do all the homework in advance your first threesome. You’re obviously into the idea, your amazing husband is open to the idea, and this amazing woman is vibing on the idea. That’s enough for the time being. If the three of you are still fucking six months from now, VHR, write me back and I’ll send you a list of book recommendations and resources and poly podcasts. But you don’t need more homework right now. You just need to start fucking.
I’m a 37-year-old single cis woman. A few years ago, I was starting to get serious with a guy who already had kids and a vasectomy. Being with him meant forgoing having biological kids and I was trying to weigh if that would work for me. Then, he tragically and unexpectedly died. In the aftermath of his death, I had a deep knowing that I will have a child someday. It’s been a year-and-a-half since then. I have been hooking up with a good-looking, kind, smart divorcé for the last few months. Originally, I was interested in dating him but now I’m only interested in being FWB. I was honest with him that there isn’t a romantic future here, so he put his strong “love” feelings for me aside because he likes hooking up and wants to keep doing it.
He has never wanted bio kids (he has a grown stepchild). We use the pullout method. I’ve made it clear that I desire a child and if I become
pregnant, I’m keeping it. He’s OK with that. I’m aware of my ovulation schedule and am pretty confident in the pullout method. My question is, should I consider asking him to help me become intentionally pregnant? I’m not sure what level of involvement he’d want but I’d be OK with doing it solo or letting him have a relationship with the kid. I’ve been pregnant once before, but the timing was wrong, and I didn’t want to be stuck with the guy who knocked me up. But now I wonder if I didn’t blow my opportunity to have a kid. I’d love to have a partner and choose to do this together, but what if I fall in love with someone who doesn’t want a kid? Or perhaps I don’t find a partner at all and miss out on these childbearing years. I’m pretty content with my life, loving being an auntie to my friends’ kids, and am always rejecting the BS rhetoric of “geriatric pregnancies.” Should I hold out for a few more years and see what comes my way? Or should I take a leap with my fuck buddy?—Baby Games
Do you want a kid? You say you do… but the longer you take to make this decision, BG, the more it looks like you don’t want a kid. For while you may reject the concept of “geriatric” pregnancies (which now goes by the nicer name “advanced maternal age”), biological reality is biological reality, BG, and the longer you wait to make up your mind, the less likely you are to have a kid. While it’s true that lots of women successfully have children in their late-30s and even into their 40s, a woman’s fertility declines after age 35 and the risks for complications increase. This is one of those instances where not choosing is choosing: take too long to make this decision, and the decision will be made for you. Does this guy want a kid? He says he doesn’t… but the more he puts his bare cock in you, BG, the more it looks like he does. I mean, you’ve already told him that you plan to keep the baby if he gets you pregnant, right? And while the pullout method is an effective form of birth control (when executed perfectly), each time he chooses to put his bare cock in a woman— whether that woman is you or not, whether that woman “deeply” wants a child or doesn’t—he’s risking fatherhood. So, just as your actions (delay) could be interpreted as a sign that you don’t want a child, his actions (raw) could be interpreted as a sign that he does.
But if I’m wrong about you—if you do want kids—you could do a lot worse than a guy who’s kind, smart, and good-looking. And seeing as you’ve already talked to him about what you plan to do if he should accidentally get you pregnant, I don’t see why you can’t talk about intentionally getting pregnant.
P.S. The “In Search of a Platonic Co-Parent” story in the New York Times earlier this year about people searching for platonic co-parents might be of interest to you—and to him. Send question for the column to mailbox@ savage.love!
