CREATIVE LOAFING • CLTAMPA.COM APRIL 22-28, 2021 (VOL.34, NO.16) • $FREE
Fried foods are just the tip on this year’s crazy state fair menu.
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each or try all three
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PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf FOOD and THEATER CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge FILM & TV CRITIC John Allman
RUDG
CONTRIBUTORS Jeffrey C. Billman, Caroline DeBruhl, Yuki Jackson, Alexandria Jones, Joe Newton, Stephanie Powers, Cory Robinson, Dan Savage
ory
INTERNS We don’t have any this semester. Apply via rroa@cltampa.com
stion ................. 5 tory
ART DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora
Kimberly SeaWorldPHOTOGRAPHER in February, animal rights DeFalco claiming the practice of keeping wild SENIOR ACCOUNT d dangerous. But even though public EXECUTIVES atmany SeaWorld in animal rights Carbone, Scott Zepeda don’tAnthony seeFebruary, a parallel between the kind claiming the practice of keepinganimals wild k, and the practice of displaying MARKETING, PROMOTIONS nd dangerous. evenOr though publicfor a AND asking for tooBut much? is it time d, many don’t see EVENTS a parallel DIRECTOR between the kind t” animals? Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
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It is like saying non-disclosure is preferable to full disclosure. Developer has a problem with City’s approach to the ‘Rome Yard,’ p. 15.
EUCLID MEDIA GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 40 Music: Tampa Bay Blues Fest ........................... Andrew Zelman Music Week ................................................... 42 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS Music: Tampa Blues Fest ........................... Concert review: Artic Monkeys .......................... 42 ChrisBay Keating, Michael Wagner40 VP OF DIGITAL SERVICES Stacy Volhein Music ................................................... 42 The ListWeek .......................................................... 46 DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Concert review: Artic Monkeys .......................... 42 Movie reviews ..................................................... 63 Jaime Monzon Movie ........................................................... reviews ..................................................... 63 euclidmediagroup.com Puzzler 66 Free Will Astrology ......................................... 64 cltampa.com
Savage Love ...................................................... 69
cldeals.com Puzzler ........................................................... 66
clspace.com Savage Love ...................................................... 69 EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loafing Tampa is a weekly newspaper 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 published by Tampa Weekly, LLC, 204 E. Henderson Ave. Tampa, FL 33602. The newspaper is available free of charge at locations throughout Tampa Bay and online at cltampa.com. Copyright 2020, Tampa Weekly, LLC. The cltv newspaper is produced and printed on How was your Date? Indigenous landyour belonging m/cltv cltampa.com/movies How was Date?to Tampa Bay’scltampa.com/movies Tocobaga and Seminole tribes.
MUSIC WEEK ������������������������� 45 ORACLE OF YBOR ������������������ 51 SAVAGE LOVE ������������������������ 53
The seasoned queen Randy cut my hair for years. Tyler Gillespie helps us fall in love with Florida all over again, p. 39.
CROSSWORD ������������������������� 55
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Money moves Photos by Kimberly DeFalco
I
n a welcome sign that the recovery from coronavirus closures is on the upswing, Tampa’s “Black Business Bus Tour” returned after more than a year away. On Saturday, tour founder Candy Lowe met attendees at Al’s Finger Licking Good Soul Food in Ybor City for a 9 a.m. departure before bringing 50 shoppers to seven different businesses in East Tampa, Ybor City and surrounding neighborhoods. Immpact Magazine founder Dee Wilkins, who helped Lowe with the event, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in addition to the tour, 37 vendors set up at Al’s for the post-tour market. There’s no date on the next tour, but 2021 marks the 15th anniversary of the Black Business Bus Tour— which has never been rained on in a decade-and-a-half—so Wilkins thinks there could be another tour scheduled in June or July. Learn more via blackbusinessbustourflorida.com.—Ray Roa
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Get lit
Indie Bookstore Day is this weekend
in Historic Ybor City We're open 7 days a week from 12 to 6pm, with after hours private shopping available upon request. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook
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his weekend, celebrate Independent Bookstore Day at one of Tampa Bay’s last remaining independent bookstores. There’s a party happening at St. Petersburg’s Tombolo Books—located in the Grand Central District at 2153 1st Ave. S—from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Using Record Store Day as its blueprint, publishers produce one of a kind, limited edition books and art pieces that are only available the day of and only at participating bookstores. Besides the specially released books, Tombolo will also have a kid’s book sale with special rates for teachers. Food Truck Pop Goes the Waffle will be on hand from noon-3 p.m. providing delicious noshes for purchase. The event is free but reservations are recommended for in-store shopping. Masks are required unless you are sitting in the courtyard, which Tombolo shares with Squeeze Juice Works and Black Crow Coffee. For reservations or more information, go to tombolobooks.com. And Tombolo isn’t alone in the indie bookstore fun. A rep for Tampa’s Mojo Books & Music—located at 2540 E Fowler Ave. near the University of South Florida—told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the shop is carrying Indie Bookstore Day’s special printings and running genre-specific sales of its own.
But even if you don’t make it to Mojo or Tombolo, there are even more ways to support the spirit of independent literature. You should support local authors (like Tyler Gillespie, whose new book is spotlighted on p. 39) and make sure to include other literary endeavors on your shopping list. One of our favorites include St. Pete’s Cultured Books. The shop usually hosts a Sunday pop-up at The Well (833 22nd St. S,St. Pete), but on Saturday, Cultured Books will be at the Grand Prix of St. Pete filming an episode of its “Reading Rainbow”-style TV program, “Read About It.” Cultured Books, however, does have a Saturday, April 24 BLC popup (Breakfast. Literacy. Community) at Coastal Creative located at 1st Ave S, St. Pete—from 10 a.m-11 a.m. And if you don’t want to leave Tampa, the Best Richardson African Diaspora Literature & Culture Museum is a nonprofit, indie, veteran and woman owned shop just outside of Ybor City at 1463 Tampa Park Plaza. The “BRAD” currently operates on a limited schedule and by appointment; it is, however, open Thursday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. More information is on bradlcmuseum.com or by calling 813-944-2122. Happy reading.
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“ ...a project that will transform West Tampa for generations to come.” POLITICS
ISSUES
OPINION
When in Rome
Developer disputes City of Tampa’s selection for West Tampa contract. By Colin Wolf and Ray Roa
A
developer is contesting the City of Tampa’s decision to award a multi-million dollar construction contract to Miami-based Related Group, which donated $10,000 to Mayor Jane Castor’s election PAC and currently employs her nephew, records show. A document shared with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay by the City of Tampa on April 12 shows that one “Rome Yard” finalist—InVictus Development, LLC—has filed a protest to contest the city’s decision. A bid protest bond basically saying that InVictus will pay up to $20,000 if it loses its protest was signed on April 7, and CL has asked the City of Tampa to send copies of Invictus’ protest and any subsequent appeals since they are not yet uploaded to the RFP portal. CL has also asked about dates regarding arbitration
hearings—public or private—related to Invictus’ protest. On March 17, the City of Tampa posted its intent to award Related—listed as RUDG LLC on the RFP—to its Request for Proposal portal. A day later on March 18, Castor wrote that she was thrilled to announce that Related Group was selected to work “a project that will transform West Tampa for generations to come.” According to the RFP, the Rome Yard is approximately “18-acres of City-owned real property located immediately west of the Hillsborough River, east of Rome Avenue, south of Columbus Drive and north of Spruce Street in the West Tampa Community Redevelopment Area.” Without documents detailing the protest, it’s unclear what Invictus—which placed second in
LOCAL NEWS
the final scoring for the Rome Yard project—is contesting. When reached by CL, a representative for Invictus would not comment on the matter. City Council chair Guido Maniscalco—whose council will have to approve the deal with Related— could not be reached for comment on April 12. While the intent of the protest is unknown, records and publicly available information obtained by CL, show that the context surrounding the City of Tampa’s decision to award the contract to Related is questionable, to say the least. (Editor’s note: After this story was published online, the City of Tampa sent a copy of the protest to CL. There’s a story about the specifics on cltampa.com.) According to filings with the Florida Department of State Division of Elections (DOS), Related Urban Development Group LLC, donated $10,000 on March, 21, 2019, to Castor’s “Tampa Strong” election political committee. In February of 2021, the City of Tampa narrowed down the selection process for the project to just three companies, including Related.
The same DOS records show that the other two companies selected as finalists—Invictus and Onicx/TRS Development Services—donated zero dollars to Castor’ PAC. A representative for TRS would not comment on why the company didn’t donate to Castor’s PAC. When contacted about the donation to Castor’s PAC, a rep for Related told CL that their company would “not be commenting at this time.” According to records, Related’s donation to Castor was its largest ever as a company, and it was a rarity. The developer has only donated to one other political candidate in Florida, and that was $1,000 in January of 2020 to Miami Beach State Rep. Michael Grieco, who besides overseeing its “largest market,” had previously pleaded no contest for campaign finance violations, and was accused of bribery, among other things. Political candidates, especially Florida mayors, receive quite a few donations from real estate and development companies, and Castor is no exception. Records show Castor’s election PAC raised just over $1 million between July of 2017 and April of 2019, and developer-related continued on page 17
JANECASTORFL/FACEBOOK
RELATED? Castor isn’t the only U.S. mayor who takes campaign donations from developers.
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continued from page 15 entities made-up more than 60%, totaling an estimated $602,200. Unsurprisingly, one of the largest individual donations to Castor came from Tampa-based American Investment Holdings, which donated $50,000 on March 25, 2019. The company—owned by local billionaire and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik—is currently working on the Water Street Tampa redevelopment project. The Rome Yard project is a partnership with the Tampa Housing Authority and plans to add new retail space, affordable and market-rate housing, as well as features like a “resort-style pool,” an observation “cigar tower,” and workforce force training center, among other things. Castor also stated that the company committed a minimum of $75 million in contracts for minority-and women-owned businesses. In a glowing piece from the Tampa Bay Times editorial board, the paper praised the project, calling Related “a major player in Tampa’s development boom” and noted that the “city and the company have an established working relationship and a shared interest in building a quality community.” It’s true, Related has worked with the City of Tampa before, and currently has a few active development contracts, including the $350 million project to redevelop Tampa’s West River area, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences project on Bayshore. According to the Times, Castor’s public nod to Related is merely a “preliminary selection.” That means the company essentially won the project, but a final contract will still have to be negotiated between the two parties and approved by Tampa City Council. But besides glaring pay-for-play optics, the Rome Yard contract is also problematic since the mayor’s nephew, Alexander Castor, is listed as an Assistant Construction Manager, who will “oversee all aspects of the construction process” with Related Urban Development. This potential conflict of interest was left out of a Related RFP form posted on Feb. 15. That same RFP form includes a conflict of interest disclosure form, which asks the applicant to disclose any immediate family (“spouse, parents and children of the person involved”), close personal relationship (“dating, cohabitation and/or having an intimate sexual relationship”) or controlling financial interest. The form on Related’s RFP is marked “no” and signed by Related group’s Albert Milo, Jr. City of Tampa spokesperson Janelle McGregor told CL that Mayor Castor had no bearing on the decision to select Related for the project. “At no point was Mayor Castor involved in any part of this RFP selection process, which
took place in a very public and transparent manner and under the close watch of concerned community members operating independent of the City,” said McGegor in an email to CL. “This was the first time community members participated in selecting a developer, and that final selection committee ultimately chose the developer they felt would make the biggest investment in their community by providing the most homes along with an opportunity for minority-owned companies to earn a minimum of $75 million--over and above what the RFP required.” While Castor may not have directly taken part in the RFP process, experts argue her nephew’s involvement still should have been made public. Darryl Paulson, a retired Professor Emeritus of Government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg looked at the RFP’s disclosure form, but told CL that he wonders about the lack of an explanation as to why employing a nephew of the mayor is not a conflict. “When you have a direct family relationship to the mayor, at the very least, it should be pointed out so decision makers can reach their own conclusion,” Paulson—who taught courses on public administration plus local and state politics—wrote. “Why would you not disclose such information? It may not be an issue, but the committee making the decision needs to know this, as well as the citizens of Tampa,” Paulson added. “It is like saying non-disclosure is preferable to full disclosure. It makes no sense to me.” But the bad optics don’t stop there. Two days after CL’s story on the protest published, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Ballard Partners—one of the country’s most powerful lobbying firms—was working for Related during the RFP process. Castor’s partner, Ana Cruz, works for Ballard. Todd Josko, a Ballard partner, would not say how much his company was paid, but told the Times he was hired by Related to help prepare the developers for their presentation before the selection committee in March. The Times reported that Castor said “that Ballard’s participation in the process was above board.” Josko said there was “zero conflict,” and Cruz added that, “Jane and I agreed when she decided to run for mayor that I wouldn’t profit from any business that Ballard does before the city. This has and will continue to be the case.” While the official Rome Yard agreement is not set in stone, as of today, parts of the fencing near the North Boulevard Bridge already have signage indicating that Related has been selected to develop the land. This is a developing story.
“Why would you not disclose such information?”
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Shell game
Rubber bands and the struggle. By Yuki Jackson
I
’m not “going ham”, I’m going lobster. Layer after layer, shedding my lesser self. A few years ago, a friend told me how inspired she was in learning how lobsters grow. Since hearing about it, I’ve tried to bear their process in mind, as a form of encouragement. Transformation isn’t easy, on any level or for any species. How lobsters molt reminds me of what it takes for us to transform our lives on a fundamental level. We cast off our transient identity, like their previous shell. Their previous shell serves a purpose in protecting their vulnerability but once they grow more inside the hard shell, it no longer serves its function. So they have to cast their hardened shell off. That process exposes their vulnerable selves/ bodies, so they have to go hide under a rock or something similar until they finish the process of growing their new shell, a shell that fits them. I wonder if I’m going through all this shedding and growth only to be trapped and consumed. I remember watching a bunch of lobsters sitting in a bubbly tank at Red Lobster while waiting for my pick-up during an Uber Eats delivery run. As they waved around their rubber band-bound claws, I thought of T.I.’s “Rubber Band Man” song. The trap music classic with the lyrics “but why the rubber band? it representin’ the struggle man” serving as a literal bind between the plight of lobsters and oppressed peoples.
Oppression both serving as a pair of shackles restricting my movement and necessary pressure to uncover my highest self. It’s indeed a painful process, one that I don’t wish upon anyone nor yearn for myself. But the truth is, all the greats had to endure tremendous pressure in order to power up. It’s not to tolerate or encourage abuse or persecution, but to recognize its function. Those who set out on a mission to emancipate others experience imprisonment. This imprisonment comes in many forms and makes it appear that those trapped under its construct, cannot escape. But we do. Even when under a constraint, movement is made. The exhale of freedom comes with every breath. Proof that we are alive and able to push forward. Our will to live, the force that drives us. Our desire to leave behind what’s needed for the next generation, even if it kills us. Like Nichiren Daishonin writes: “Since death is the same in either case, you should be willing to offer your life...” I don’t see these words as a call to throw our lives away. Rather, I see it as a call to live our lives fully, for the most profound purpose. No doubt, it’s hard. And like those shells that we keep breaking through--we were born to do this.
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Editor’s note: Yuki Jackson is raising money for phase one of her project to establish an arts and tutoring center in the majority, and historically, Black Tampa neighborhood of Sulphur Springs. She hopes to secure an empty lot across from a K-8 public school and build the center there in phase two. More information is at cltampa.com/magazine and gofund. me/341a0bd4.
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Being canceled is its own reward
Republicans love to hate cancel culture. Or as we used to call it, ‘consequences.’ By Jeffrey C. Billman is concerned about vaccinated people transmitting COVID-19 to non-vaccinated people.) Carlson’s mouth diarrhea could and probably will get someone killed. Even so—as appealing as the U.K.’s media regulatory system sometimes seems—it’s not the government’s job to shut him down. But if public pressure saw to it that he ended up in Times Square shouting at strangers about the Mark of the Beast, that would be the market doing its thing. Actions have consequences. They used to, anyway. But then conservatives found a new fetish, what U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, hyperbolically labeled a “fundamental threat to free speech rights” and “the biggest threat to freedom we face.” More accurately, it’s a manufactured panic designed to blur the lines between opprobrium and censorship. Consequences have become “cancel culture.” It works like this: Georgia Republicans, losing control of the state, make it more difficult for Black people to vote. There’s a backlash—cancel culture. Major League Baseball relocates the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Colorado—also cancel culture. Republicans, realizing they look like the reincarnation of Bull Connor, throw a conniption about the “woke mob” and threaten “serious consequences” if businesses choose
INFORMED DISSENT
not to damage their reputations by associating with bigots. So five anti-cancel-culture senators propose going-nowhere legislation to punish baseball for “enforcing a woke standard,” as Ted Cruz told reporters, by revoking the antitrust exemption granted to MLB by a 1922 Supreme Court ruling—not cancel culture (somehow). One of Cruz’s cosponsors is Josh Hawley, a leader of the Jan. 6 Sedition Caucus. After the mob stormed the Capitol, Simon & Schuster canceled his book deal (or, more precisely, dumped it on a conservative imprint). Hawley immediately cried martyr: “It’s a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published. This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don’t approve of.” Hawley’s book is being released next month; needless to say, it wasn’t a First Amendment “assault,” as the government didn’t block Simon & Schuster from publishing it. The book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” engages another cancel culture hobbyhorse: the “techno-oligarchy,” which has been in the crosshairs since Republicans began complaining—all evidence to the contrary— that social media sites were blacklisting them.
Those complaints reached a fever pitch when Twitter and Facebook began fact-checking Donald Trump during the 2020 campaign and deplatformed him after the insurrection. For Hawley, being canceled is big business. In the first quarter of 2020, he raised $3 million. He’s not alone. Cruz—who went all-in on the Dr. Seuss “cancellation”—raised $5.4 million despite his ill-advised Cancun adventure. Even the most reviled member of Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-QAnon, raked in $3.2 million. Success in modern conservatism boils down to one thing: performative aggrievement. The more “the left” or “the media” or “the elites” attack, the better. Nothing else matters—not policy, not truthfulness, not even likeability. It certainly doesn’t matter whether the attacks are justified. Victimhood is its own reward. That’s why Tucker Carlson won’t face any consequences, by the way. There’s no line he can cross that would be worse for Fox News than canceling him. Get Informed Dissent delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today at billman.substack. com.
“Carlson’s mouth diarrhea could and probably will get someone killed.”
GAGE SKIDMORE
B
y dint of personality and profession, I’m pretty close to a free speech absolutist. I imagine most writers are. Restraints on artistic or literary expression shouldn’t be dictated by some vague notion of cultural acceptability. We wouldn’t be a better society if we were still smuggling copies of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” instead of buying them on Amazon. James Madison didn’t write the First Amendment with erotica in mind. He wanted to prevent the government from squelching dissent—or, as he originally worded it, to ensure that people “shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.” The amendment’s final language isn’t as categorical as Madison’s draft. Still, until the last year or so, we seemed to understand that “Congress shall make no law …” meant Congress. The First Amendment restrains the government. So for a free speech near-absolutist, there’s no contradiction between these two statements. 1. I support Tucker Carlson’s right to embrace white supremacy and spread deranged conspiracy theories. 2. We should run Tucker Carlson off the air. On April 8, the Fox News host embraced the Great Replacement, the theory that a globalist cabal is conspiring to replace Anglo-Saxons with immigrants. Seeing as this white supremacist favorite has inspired multiple mass murderers, you’d think Carlson—who has already shed advertisers like pine trees shed pollen over racist and otherwise offensive comments—would choose his words more carefully. Instead, he mocked “the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter [who] become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement.’” Five days later, Carlson said something equally irresponsible: “At some point—no one is asking this, but everyone should be—what is this about? If vaccines work, why are vaccinated people still banned from living normal lives? … So maybe it doesn’t work, and they’re simply not telling you that. Well, you hate to think that, especially if you’ve gotten two shots. But what’s the other potential explanation? We can’t think of one.” It’s evidently too much work to call the CDC or do a Google search before suggesting to an audience predisposed to vaccine skepticism that there’s a cover-up. (By the way, lots of people are asking these questions, and lots of people think the CDC is too cautious. Right or wrong, the CDC
GRAND OL’ PUPPET: Success in modern conservatism boils down to one thing: performative aggrievement
cltampa.com | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | 21
TACO TU EsDAY 200 E MADISON ST • DOWNTOWN TAMPA • 813-221-TACO
22 | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | cltampa.com
Shit Happened
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
THURSDAY 15
FRIDAY 16
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Tampa Bay now has an invasive clawed frog problem. As of now, it’s unclear how the Western clawed frogs—complete with protruding eyes, flattened bodies, and small talons attached to each limb— got here, or how widespread they are in Florida, but it’s totally on brand that 22 out of 43 local bodies of water surveyed are home to these fuckers.
MONDAY 19 In a Jim Crow-style Ted Talk/press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd uses a new ‘anti-riot’ bill to threaten potential liberal residents, saying, “Welcome to Florida. But don’t register to vote and vote the stupid way you did up north, you’ll get what they got.” But they got a public school system that isn’t the butthole of America and better healthcare, Sheriff Chudd.
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GOVRONDESANTIS/TWITTER
The Lightning announce a promotion where one lucky fan can use Airbnb to pay $5,000 to sleep with the Stanley Cup. The offer is only for Tampa Bay residents, which means racist ass Don Cherry can’t put his name in the hat.
Tampa’s Hyde Park Village is getting a Nike Live store. Essentially, the storefront caters directly to local Nike Plus users, meaning the hyper-localized store’s inventory, look, and pretty much everything is a reflection of purchasing data from the people in Tampa that use Nike apps. Nothing like stepping into the brick and mortar manifestation of a Facebook ad.
B R U N C H SAT & SUN
HAPPY HOUR M-F | 3-7PM
Overnight Monday—with the spectre of HB-1 and the abandoned trans athlete legislation festering in the ether—Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a $1 billion tax increase on consumers. The law requires out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Floridians. So much for not raising taxes, we guess. Apparently, it can always be worse. See how, in real time, via cltampa.com/news.
en p O ow
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24 | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | cltampa.com
RESTAURANTS
RECIPES
DINING GUIDES
Dill breaker
Ranking the state fair’s gastrointestinal wonders. By Stephanie Powers
FLORIDA STATE FAIR
A
most anticipated lineup has arrived, and definitely benefit from a rum floater though (not it’s looking pretty bold. telling you to sneak it in). No, it’s not the Oscar nominations, Candy pop sundae Candy as in your choice though Regina King got snubbed. And it’s not of candy bar. Pop as in candy-infused popcorn. the Razzie Award nominations—what the hell Sundae as scoops of ice cream with caramel and were you thinking with “Music,” Sia? It’s not chocolate sauce. At this point, we are actively even the Rays promotional giveaway schedule pissing off our teeth and blood sugar levels. (um, guys, no DJ Kitty stuff this year? Not cool.). Beer cheese and bacon fries Pretty It’s the Florida State Fair’s 2021 food list straight forward combo from Chester’s Gators and it’s both bold and audacious—bodacious. of loaded french fries topped with beer cheese This list may have you daydreaming, sav- and bacon. This would pair quite nicely with ing up or drooling. Or, if you’re like me, getting a cold Mich Ultra, you know, for calories sake. inspired to start Weight Watchers. But in honor Orange glaze funnel cake Midway presof this new lineup of culinary achievement, ents this orange explosion on a funnel cake. we’ve ranked the Florida Orange glaze, two funnel cakes with orange cream State Fair’s new slate of food options from most basic to frosting, orange whip cream, most bodacious. Bon appetit. with orange candies on top. The cookie pail Like a Deep fried caramel Florida State Fair pail you bring to the beach, apple sundae This one from but instead of filled with April 22-May 2. Florida State Fairgrounds, DeAnna’s Steak Sundaes 4800 US-301, Tampa. $5-$20 sand and salt water it’s filled already has my mouth waterfloridastatefair.com with chocolate chip cookies ing. It’s layers of cinnamon from the Cookie Crate. Looks like this one is sugar doughnut holes, cream cheese frosting, meant to share, or not. Not judging you if you sauteed caramel apples, caramel sauce and don’t. whipped cream. I can already hear my dentist Ice cream sandwiches Polar Bear is keep- yelling at me. ing it classic with ice cream sandwiches, but you Gelato nachos Yeah, you heard that get to pick the flavor. right. Gelato nachos, and tacos. Get to the Deep-fried rainbow cookie A rainbow Funky Flamingo for this brilliant creation. cookie is one of my favorite holiday treats from Dutch stroopwafels replace the tortilla chips my friend’s Italian mother. It’s almond-y, and or shells, and there’s a bunch of gelato flavors chocolatey and a little fruity and now, thanks to to choose from. Paul’s Concessions, it’s deep fried, covered with The PigRig One of only three of the new powdered sugar and served on a stick. options that is strictly savory, made by the folks Deep fried molten lava cake The classic at Low N Slow. It’s a grilled cheese stuffed with yet sometimes overplayed molten lava cake. It BBQ pork and mac and cheese then finished was part of the cause of Jon Favreau’s mental with even more barbecue sauce. I’d wait a bit breakdown in the movie “Chef” and it’s now before getting on Gravitron after eating this one. been given a new deep-fried life by Carousel Loaded tater burger Another strictly Foods. savory beast, this one new from Carousel Foods, Blueberry and cream donut Amish bak- is a hamburger with shredded toasted cheese, ing company Peachey’s tops its classic glazed cottage fries and bacon, then finished with donuts with fresh blueberries and whipped ranch dressing and chives. You pick your letcream. Just because it’s the least crazy new food tuce, tomato, pickle, and onion combinations. this year, doesn’t mean it’s the least delicious. Dill pickle pizza Either you love pickles or Blue raspberry lemonade pineapple you’re a fucking weirdo. This is on the top of my Cinnamon Saloon comes through with the only list to try because I, like many people, already refreshing option—frozen blue-raspberry lem- love the pickle pizza from Ybor City’s Mangia onade in a fresh hollowed out pineapple. Could Bene Pizzeria Corp. This one, from Angela’s
FOOD NEWS
SLICE OF LIFE: Either you love pickles or you’re a fucking weirdo. Pizza, has a white garlic sauce base, topped with mozzarella cheese and dill pickles.Ranch dressing and dill seasoning are added after it’s cooked. Anyone game for a taste test? Peanut butter and spicy jelly tater tots It’s peanut butter and (spicy) jelly time with Swift Concessions’ intriguing peanut butter and spicy jelly tater tot concoction. So intriguing, I might need to get my medical marijuana card soon so I can truly enjoy these without being paranoid about the legalities of being high AF in public. Flaming Hot Cheetos funnel cake Best Around wants to help you with your social
media thirst by offering a sweet, savory and spicy monstrosity that’ll drive much attention to your feed. Cornmeal, spices, jalapeños, and flaming hot Cheetos are added to the cake mix before it’s fried then topped with nacho cheese and more Cheetos. I might have to pass on this indigestion fest. Tickets for the Florida State Fair are currently on sale, with a disclaimer that by purchasing a ticket you agree to follow the fair’s COVID-19 protocols. Some of those protocols include a mask requirement when not eating or drinking, increased hand sanitizer stations and social distancing.
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Manhattan rising
A South St. Pete food hall leads this week’s foodie news roundup. By Alexandria Jones and Stephanie Powers
W
hen former Tampa Bay Buccaneers/businessman Vincent Jackson died, many wondered about the fate of St. Petersburg’s Manhattan Casino and its revamp. But Callaloo Group partner Mario Farias told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he group planned to still reopen and keep Jackson’s memory and vision alive. Now, 22 South Food Hall is getting ready to debut on April 30. Look below to learn a little more about the concepts coming to the food hall and see more local openings, closings and food news. The food hall is located inside the Historic Manhattan Casino at 642 22nd St. S. It’s open daily from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Betterway BBQ The Graveley brothers bring their classic BBQ to the hall. Guests can enjoy their house smoked meats and traditional faves like ribs, baked chicken, and more. Callaloo Bar & Bites A revamp of the initial Callaloo concept; expect craft cocktails, sangrias, and bar bites. Deuces Cafe Quaint coffeehouse featuring locally-sourced beans and brews full of flavor. Irie Mon Jamaican Grill Chef Dean Hudson serving up Caribbean dishes like jerk chicken and beef patties. Ray’s Vegan Soul Plant Based Shack Chef Ray Milton dishes out healthier faves like his curry pumpkin chili, buffalo cauliflower, and various desserts. Shokkan Sushi Sushi, the ever-popular poke bowls, and burritos by Chef Lan Mai. St. Pete Bowls Locally-sourced and crafted fruit and veggie bowls, smoothies, and juices by fruit & veggie artists Ajna Adams and Naomi Richardson. Three Generations Chef Mel Gardner’s food truck is finally putting down roots so everyone has a chance to enjoy plates like Avolox Toast (a riff on avocado toast with salmon), red velvet chicken & waffles, and Cajun fish and grits. VJ’s A tribute to Vincent Jackson run by Executive Chef John Karasiewicz, the menu features a twist on American fare. A portion of the proceeds will support the Jackson in Action 83 Foundation.
prime, and Wagyu. In addition, there are Texas hot links, smoked beef sausage, stuffed poblano peppers, and nachos. Of course all good barbeque comes with sides—at the shoppe, they’re collard greens, brisket and beans, mac and cheese, and potato wedges. The shoppe opens at 11 a.m. on Thursday and Fridays, and 9 a.m. on Saturdays when you can get an El Guapo breakfast brisket burrito. Closing time is when the brisket is sold out. 4004 Henderson Blvd., Tampa. thebrisketshoppe.com Red Star Live Seminole Heights’ Red Star Rock Bar expanded in February with this new restaurant and venue at Brandon HarleyDavidson. Blues songwriter Damon Fowler has been hosting a Thursday residency there, but the menu features classic bar fare including burgers, wings, and oyster specials on Sundays all served inside a massive space with three stages, two bars, a giant outdoor patio and a full service restaurant serving lunch and dinner seven days a week. 9841 E Adamo Dr., Tampa. brandonhd.com Willa’s Provisions Mini-King State vibes and a stacked menu arrived in NoHo last week when this Willa’s companion concept opened for brekkie (8 a.m.-11 a.m.) plus lunch and afternoon service (11 a.m.-5 p.m.). Items available on site and for pickup include breakfast tacos, baked goods (carrot cake loaf!), King State coffee and fresh fruit plus chicken soup, a gem wedge with lemon vinaigrette and red ion, farro salad, handheld wraps, ice cream, beer, wine and more. 310 N Rome Ave., Tampa. willastampa.com—Ray Roa
Closing Side Piece April 25 is the final day of service for the literal side piece of Restorative masterminds Jason and Cricket Borajkiewicz, who’ve decided to focus more on their original restaurant and their love of fine dining. Enjoy the last few days of paninis—like the “quack attack” with confit duck french dip, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese and thyme au jus, or the vegetarian “mary mo” and the meaty “hey mario”—and snacks like pad thai popcorn, smoked fish dip plus a cheese and charcuterie
plate. 587 Main St., Dunedin. @sidepicedunedin on Instagram ICYMI Seminole Heights’ Jug & Bottle is asking Tampa City Council to let its customers drink on site Supporters and haters can chime in on Thursday, April 22 during a Tampa City Council hearing, but in the meantime grab some 3 Dot Dash vegan food inside, then try the public bidet on your way out. 6203 N Florida Ave., Tampa. jugandbottledept.com
Also open Brisket Shoppe Barbeque supply emporium Grill & Provisions opened a second shop with The Brisket Shoppe restaurant attached and ready to sell smoked meats and accompaniments three days a week. Located where Holy Hog’s old Palma Ceia West location used to be, the menu focuses on three types of brisket: prime, USDA
Coming soon Fo’ Cheezy Twisted Meltz Owner Robert Hesse told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the second location of his grilled cheese sandwich concept is scheduled to open in downtown St. Petersburg this June at the old Five Guys spot. A portion of all sales will go towards his non-profit No Kid 86’d, which helps Tampa Bay area at-risk youth gain opportunities and mentorship, but in the meantime check out the flagship brick-and-mortar location at at 6305 Gulf Blvd. in St. Pete Beach. 111 3rd St. N., St. Petersburg. focheezy.com Q Southern Outpost Dunedin BBQ newbie moves into Caledonia Brewing where Side Piece used to live. In a recent review, CL food critic Jon Palmer Claridge wrote that Q’s chef Cameron Capri cooks up a perfect storm of the best American barbecue. 587 Main St., Dunedin. qbycapri.com
22SOUTHFOODHALL/FACEBOOK
OPENINGS & CLOSINGS
MEL YEA: Chef Mel Gardner’s food truck is putting down roots at 22 South.
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Recently Reviewed: Takeout in Tampa Bay For now, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Jon Palmer Claridge—the Bay area’s longest-running food critic—is reviewing local takeout. Until it’s 100% safe to be shoulder-to-shoulder with each other in restaurants, I don’t see CL moving back to restaurant ratings. If you think there’s an out-of-this-world takeout experience he needs to try, please shoot me an email (rroa@cltampa. com). Oh, wear a mask and wash your hands, too. —Ray Roa Anju Chef Wolney has two “signature dishes,” K.F.C. (Korean fried chicken) and the Bap Bowl (bibimbap). Combined with the tots—K-town style with beef bulgogi, grilled kimchi, melted mozzarella and provolone cheeses, thinly sliced fresh scallions, crushed peanut or with Osaka, Japanese inspired crispy taters seasoned with Japanese mayo and sweet BBQ sauce, aonori (seaweed), bonito (tuna flakes), bacon, scallions and pickled red ginger—the menu is a menagerie of outof-this-world comfort food. $3-$14. 2827 16th St., N., St. Petersburg; 727-289-8568, anju-st-pete.square.site “Q” Southern Barbecue Chef Cameron Capri cooks up a perfect storm of the best American barbecue. Thinly sliced beef brisket is moist and not overly smoky, pulled pork butt is cooked low and slow to melt in your mouth, Lexington, North Carolina (western) style and meaty St. Louis style ribs are slow smoked until tender. Sauces are all made in house and represent a quintessential overview of popular barbecue styles, and the mac-n-cheese is a full on knockout. $3-$12. 664 Main St., Dunedin 727-734-7227; qbycapri.com Doormét With two locations—one on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, another off S Dale Mabry in Tampa—both sides of the Bay can get in on the well-oiled takeout operation featuring burgers, salads and fitness bowls and a strong Italian influence with hand-tossed pizzas, pastas, and classics chicken dishes. Saltimbocca is just marvelous, but I’m a sucker for the prosciutto and melted provolone that turns plain hand-breaded chicken medallions into a culinary supermodel. doormet.com
Jack’s London Grill This St. Petersburg takeout oasis delivers food that Brits crave. Jack’s fish and chips have crispy ale batter that coats the flaky white fish to perfection. Sausage rolls wrap a hot dog-sized link in puff pastry and bake it until perfectly crispy and seductive. The shepherd’s pie evokes fond memories and pushes all the comfort food buttons while the Bombay chicken curry and lentil pie balances the spices that swathe the tender chicken and legumes in a scrumptious mild coconut curry sauce. $5-$13. 1050 62nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg. 727-289-7170; jackslondongrill.com Taqueria Margarita Elia Maldonado proudly shares Abuela’s recipes homemade with the freshest ingredients, which instantly recall the pure flavors and aromas of food stalls in the Mercado de Coyoacán (abuela comes from México, Mexico). The array is mostly a familiar list: asada, pollo, el pastor, carnitas, campechano, and chorizo. On some days, there’s decadent and juicy quesabirria served traditionally, as a twice-cooked taco, or Instagram-ready as a tortilla “pizza” with the carne spread between two browned tortillas—and, yes, with a drool worthy consommé for dipping. $2.25-$11. 4001 W Dr. Martin Luter King Jr. Blvd., Tampa. 813-466-2484; @taqueriamargaritatpa on Instagram and Facebook Bodega on Central Designed to thrive in the face of today's challenge, Cubans and pork sandwiches are favorites, and the chicken version is a flavor explosion with contrasting textures. The flattened breast meat is balanced with smooth avocado and mango against crunchy jicama and fiery pickled chilies with some mango mayo. It’s a memorable mouthful for fans of spice. $0.50-$9. 1120 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-623-0942; eatatbodega.com
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In the wake of concerns about the novel coronavirus, it’s best to call or visit the websites of these breweries to check on their offerings.
CLEARWATER BREWING CO. Community-oriented and socially and environmentally conscious. 1700 N. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. clearwaterbrewingcompany.com
3 DAUGHTERS BREWING One of the Warehouse Arts District’s most popular hangouts, and a beautiful facility in which to drink some great brews. 222 22nd St. S., St. Petersburg. 727-495-6002, 3dbrewing.com
COPPERTAIL BREWING CO. Some of Tampa’s best beer, in one of its best tasting rooms. 2601 E. 2nd Ave., Tampa. 813-247-1500, coppertailbrewing.com
3 KEYS BREWING South-of-the-Skyway restaurant and brewery specializing in small batches. 2505 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton. 951-218-0396, 3keysbrewing.com 7VENTH SUN BREWING Some of the best sours, IPAs and collabs going. Two locations. 1012 Broadway, Dunedin. 727-733-3013/6809 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa. 813-2315900, 7venthsun.com
COTEE RIVER BREWING Craft beer in the heart of historic downtown New Port Richey. 5760 Main St., New Port Richey. 727-807-6806, coteeriverbrewing.com CRAFT LIFE BREWING Small-batch local brews and a sort of playground or LoL’s craft brewing guild. 4624 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes. 813-575-8440. facebook. com/CraftLifeBrewing
81BAY BREWING CO. South Tampa’s first craft brewery boasts a wide variety of styles. 4465 W. Gandy Blvd., Tampa. 813-837-BREW, 81baybrewco.com
CROOKED THUMB BREWERY Safety Harbor’s first brewery boasts homegrown flavor and local guest taps. 555 10th Ave. S., Safety Harbor. 727-724-5953, crookedthumbbrew.com
ANGRY CHAIR Crazy-good Tampa beer, open Tuesday-Sunday. 6401 N. Florida Ave., Seminole Heights. 813-238-1122, angrychairbrewing.com
CUENI BREWING CO. Located off the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin. 945 Huntley Ave., Dunedin. 727-266-4102, cuenibrewing.com
ANTIBREWERY Dunedin’s secret Sundays-only nano. 1367 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Dunedin
CYCLE BREWING One of St. Pete’s favorites. 534 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-320-7954. cyclebrewing.com
ARKANE ALEWORKS A wide variety of styles and flavors from the second brewery to open in Largo. 2480 E. Bay Dr., #23, Largo. 727-270-7117, arkanebeer.com AVID BREWING This Grand Central brewing supply shop added a taproom for its beers crafted in-house. 1745 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-388-6756, avidbrew.com BARRIEHAUS BEER CO. Lager-specific brewery, carrying on an over 150 year brewing legacy. 1403 E 5th Ave., Ybor City. barriehaus.com BAY CANNON BEER CO. West Tampa's first craft brewery, offering a variety of ever evolving beers, beer slushies and wine that pair perfectly with appetizers and entrées from the kitchen. 813-442-5615, baycannon.com BIG STORM BREWING CO. Stop by this Pasco brewery’s Storm Room for a flight, or visit their taproom on 49th Street in Clearwater, too. 2330 Success Dr., Odessa. 727-807-7998, bigstormbrewery.com BIG TOP BREWING Perhaps Sarasota’s premier purveyor of locally crafted beer, Big Top’s reputation has spread far beyond the region. 6111 Porter Way, Sarasota. 941-371-2939, bigtopbrewing.com BOOTLEGGERS BREWING CO. This Brandon taproom from Bootleggers Beer & Wine Home Brewing Supplies offers house-made suds and guest beers. 652 Oakfield Dr., Brandon. 813-643-9463, bootleggersbrewco.com BRASSERIE ST. SOMEWHERE Award-winning Belgian farmhouse ales from veteran Bay area brewer Bob Sylvester. 1441 Savannah Ave., Tarpon Springs. 813-5036181, saintsomewherebrewing.com BREW BUS BREWING BB brews its own suds, boasts 20 taps and offers food at its Eatery, too. 4101 N. Florida Ave., Tampa. 813-990-7310, brewbususa.com
DARWIN BREWING CO. Unique beers crafted with South American influence. 803 17th Ave. W., Bradenton. 941-747-1970, darwinbrewingco.com DE BINE BREWING CO. This addition bolsters the Northern Pinellas craft beer scene. 933 Florida Ave., Palm Harbor. 727-233-7964. DISSENT BREWING CO. Unique flavors and adventurous style outside downtown St. Pete. 5518 Haines Rd. N., St. Petersburg. 727-342-0255.
HOB BREWING CO. Rotating taps; some of the beers are brewed on-site and alongside a combination of local breweries plus local and international craft beer makers. 931 Huntley Ave., Dunedin. hob.beer IF I BREWED THE WORLD This self-described “mixtape of breweries” offers a bit of everything from the classic to the fun and outrageous. 2200 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-201-4484, ifibrewedtheworld.com IN THE LOOP BREWING Family-friendly Land O’ Lakes brewery with a lot of community support and plenty of events. 3338 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes. 813997-9189, intheloopbrewingcompany.com INFUSION BREWING CO. Another great location in the good-beer-packed Trinity/New Port Richey area. 7813 Mitchell Blvd. Ste 103, Trinity. 727-312-4512. INOCULUM ALE WORKS These folks are crazy for sours, and know how to craft ‘em. 554 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg. inoculumaleworks.com JDUB’S BREWING COMPANY You know ‘em, you love ‘em. A favorite statewide phenomenon. 1215 Mango Ave., Sarasota. 941-955-2739, jdubsbrewing.com KING STATE Named the No. 8 coffee shop in America by Food & Wine, King State is also home to brewer and Flying Boat Brewing Co. alum Aric Parker, who’s making some of the cleanest core beers plus a dynamic offering of rotating taps and bomber options available on-site in limited capacities. 520 E Floribraska Ave., Tampa. 813-2212100, king-state.com LAGERHAUS BREWERY & GRILL A Palm Harbor bar and eatery that offers seasonal brews to complement their regulars. 3438 East Lake Business, Palm Harbor. 727-216-9682, lagerhausbrewery.com
DUNEDIN BREWERY Florida’s oldest. Beer, eats and live music. 937 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. 727736-0606, dunedinbrewery.com
LATE START BREWING This beloved Tampa label does its thing inside the Pour House. 1208 E. Kennedy Blvd. #112, Tampa. 813402-2923, latestartbrewing.com
DUNEDIN HOUSE OF BEER This beer stop brews its own, and also has 40 guest taps. 927 Broadway, Dunedin. 727 216-6318, dunedinhob.com
LEAVEN BREWING Riverview’s first brewery is run by folks who’ve got experience brewing big and small. 11238 Boyette Rd., Riverview. 813677-7023, leavenbrewing.com
ESCAPE BREWING CO. Another very worthy Odessa/Trinity destination. 9945 Trinity Blvd., Suite 108, Trinity. 727-807-6092, escapebrewingcompany.com FIVE BRANCHES Veteran-owned brewery, small batches from IPAs to stouts. Serving up brews and a clear view of the Tarpon Bayou. 531 Athens St., Tarpon Springs. fivebranchesbrewing.com
MAD BEACH CRAFT BREWING Brews, ciders, and meads by the beach. 12945 Village Boulevard, Madeira Beach. 727-3620008, madbeachbrewing.com MARKER 48 Hernando’s first production craft brewery, with its own tasting room and beer garden 12147 Cortez Blvd, Weeki Wachee. 352-6062509, marker48.com
FLYING BOAT BREWING COMPANY St. Pete aviation history and tasty homegrown suds. 1776 11th Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-2999, flyingboatbrewing.com
MASTRY’S BREWING CO. From CD Roma’s restaurant to sweet new digs on St. Pete Beach. 7701 Blind Pass Rd., St. Pete Beach. 727-202-8045 mastrysbrewingco.com
BREW LIFE BREWING Ultra-small batches, and a lot of ‘em. 5765 S. Beneva Rd., Sarasota. 941-952-3831, brewlifebrewing.com
FOUR STACKS BREWING An always-changing lineup of local and regional guest suds, along with trivia, live music and more. 5469 N. US HWY 41, Apollo Beach. 813641-2036, fourstacksbrewing.com
MOTORWORKS BREWING A taproom and beer garden featuring full liquor and wine as well as 30 taps. 1014 9th Street West, Bradenton. 941-567-6218, motorworksbrewing.com
BULLFROG CREEK BREWING CO. A multitude of styles from former garage brewers is on tap in Valrico. 3632 Lithia Pinecrest Rd., Valrico. 813-703-8835, bullfrogcreekbrewing.com
GRAND CENTRAL BREWHOUSE 10,270 square-foot brewery, taproom, beer garden, and event venue with a lager-focused tap list. 2340 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-202-6071, grandcentralbrew.com
CAGE BREWING Custom brews in the Grand Central District from one of the ‘Burg’s newest. 2001 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-201-4278
GREEN BENCH BREWING COMPANY A space worthy of the adventurous beers it produces. 1133 Baum Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-9836, greenbenchbrewing.com
CALEDONIA BREWING Great in-house beers in the historic Dunedin Times building. 587 Main St., Dunedin. 727-351-5105, caledoniabrewing.com
GOOD LIQUID BREWING CO. Thirty taps and food (and a coffee roaster!) from a husband-and-wife duo. 4824 14th St. W., Bradenton. 941-896-6381, thegoodliquidbrewing.com
CALUSA BREWING Family owned and operated, opened Tuesday to Sunday. 5701 Derek Ave., Sarasota. 941-922-8150, calusabrewing.com
GRINDHAUS BREW LAB Small batches and no extracts. 1650 N. Hercules Ave., Clearwater. 727-2400804, grindhausbrewlab.com
CARROLLWOOD BREWING CO. “Secret” brewing action inside the Carrollwood location of craft-bar chain The Brass Tap. 10047 N. Dale Mabry HWY, STE 23, Tampa. 813-969-2337
GULFPORT BREWERY + EATERY Small batches with an artisanal food menu. 3007 Beach Blvd., Tampa. facebook.com/GulfportBrewery
CIGAR CITY BREWING Tampa’s most famous craft brewery. There’s also a taproom at Amalie Arena. 3924 W. Spruce St., Tampa. 813-348-6363, cigarcitybrewing.com
HIDDEN SPRINGS ALE WORKS This Tampa Heights brewery features a rotating tap selection. 1631 N. Franklin St., Tampa, 813-226-2739, hiddenspringsaleworks.com
BREW HUB Some of the area’s best beers are produced here along with suds for their own label. 3900 Frontage Rd. S., Lakeland. 863-698-7600, brewhub.com
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MR. DUNDERBAK’S The longtime restaurant, biergarten and homebrewers’ hangout is serving up its own beers. 14929 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa. 813-9774104, dunderbaks.com NAUGHTY MONK BREWERY Naughty Monk brings a love of Belgian styles to Manatee County. 2507 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Bradenton. 941-708-2966, naughtymonkbrewery.com OVERFLOW BREWING St. Pete’s newest, courtesy of local Rapp head brewer Troy Bledsoe and company. 770 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-914-0665, facebook.com/overflowbrewingco PEPPER BREWING The Angry Pepper Taphouse’s inhouse label, available “on a limited basis.” 9366 Oakhurst Rd., Seminole. 727-596-5766, angrypeppertaphouse.com PESKY PELICAN BREW PUB This beachy restaurant also offers up its own beers thanks to an in-house nano system. 923 72nd. St. N., St. Petersburg. 727-302-9600, peskypelicanbrewpub.com
PINELLAS ALE WORKS PAW offers a dog-friendly environment in addition to tasty brews. 1962 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-235-0970, pawbeer.com RAPP BREWING COMPANY Greg Rapp’s awardwinning styles are carefully crafted and delicious. 10930 Endeavor Way, Seminole. 727-544-1752, rappbrewing.com RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER This video game-centric Grand Central District craft beer bar started brewing its own in early 2018. 2244 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-360-0766, stpetearcadebar.com ROCK BROTHERS BREWING Brews named for national and local bands have a home in Ybor City. 1901 N. 15th St., Ybor City. 813-241-0110, rockbrothersbrewing.com SARASOTA BREWING COMPANY House-crafted brews, pizza, and sports out toward beautiful Siesta Key. 6607 Gateway Ave., Sarasota. 941-925-2337, sarasotabrewing.com SILVERKING BREWING CO. This space in Tarpon Springs complements a label that’s been around since 2012. 325 East Lemon St., Tarpon Springs. 727-4227598, silverkingbrewing.com SIX TEN BREWING A wide variety and a real passion for the craft-brew community. 7052 Benjamin Rd., Tampa. 813-886-0610, sixtenbrewing.com SOGGY BOTTOM BREWING More Dunedin goodness, including some truly original flavors and inventive brews. 660 Main St., Dunedin. 727-601-1698, soggybottombrewing.com SOUTHERN BREWING & WINEMAKING Multiple brews only available in its tasting room, as well as products and guidance for local homebrewers. 4500 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa. 813-238-7800, southernbrewingwinemaking.com ST. PETE BREWING COMPANY Beers crafted specifically for the climate. 544 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-692-8809, stpetebrewingcompany.com STILT HOUSE BREWERY This friendly Palm Harbor joint specializes in high-ABV ales and other styles you won’t find at other breweries in the area. 625 US Hwy Alt. 19, Palm Harbor. 727-270-7373, stilthousebrewery.com SWAN BREWING Nearly 4 decades of combined brewing experience go into the offerings at this petfriendly joint. 115 W. Pine St., Lakeland. 863-703-0472, swanbrewing.com TBBC Formerly Tampa Bay Brewing Co., local favorite for nearly two decades. 1600 E. 8th Ave., Ybor City/13933 Monroe’s Business Park, Westchase. 813247-1422, tbbc.beer TAMPA BEER WORKS At the former site of ESB Brewing, TBW focuses on American craft styles. 333 N. Falkenburg Rd., Suite D407 Tampa. 813-685-1909, tampabeerworks.com TIDAL BREWING COMPANY Small batches in Spring Hill. 14311 Spring Hill Dr., Spring Hill. 352-7011602, tidalbrewingfl.com TWO FROGS BREWING COMPANY Tarpon Springs’ latest brewery and taproom focuses on American ale styles. 151 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs. 727-9406077, facebook.com/twofrogsbrewing KEEL FARMS AGRARIAN ALE + CIDER Tasty brews from the folks behind Keel & Curley winery. 5210 W. Thonotosassa Rd., Plant City. 813-752-9100, keelandcurleywinery.com TWO LIONS WINERY & PALM HARBOR BREWERY Wine and beer brewed in-house. 1022 Georgia Ave., Palm Harbor. 727-786-8039, twolionswinery.com ULELE SPRING BREWERY Beer crafted in accordance with traditional Bavarian purity laws. 1810 N. Highland Ave., Tampa. 813-999-4952, ulele.com THE WILD ROVER BREWERY What started as an English pub in Odessa is now a higher-production facility in Westchase. 13921 Lynmar Blvd., Tampa. 813-475-5995, thewildroverbrewery.com WOODWRIGHT BREWING COMPANY Traditional German styles in downtown Dunedin. 985 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. 727-238-8717, facebook.com/ woodwrightbrewing ZEPHYRHILLS BREWING COMPANY East Paco’s first microbrewery. 38530 5th Ave., Zephyrhills. 813-715-2683, zbcbeer.com
Relax responsibly . Corona Extra ®
, Corona Light ® and Corona Premier® Beers. Imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL
®
15897-CXLP Cinco Taco Tuesday fullPage 2.indd 1
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4/14/21 9:20 AM
Richard Avedon, American, 1923–2004, Marian Anderson (Contralto, New York, June 30, 1955), 1955, Gelatin silver print, NEA photography purchase grant
38 | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | cltampa.com
BOOKS
The Thing About Florida virtual book tour Gulfport Public Library LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Thursday, April 22. 7 p.m. Free with registration. upf.com/calendar.asp
MOVIES
THEATER
ART
CULTURE
Here’s the thing
A new book gets to the messy and marvelously magical heart of the Sunshine State. By Ray Roa
Young and Beautiful Forever The first boy I ever crushed on had the best tan in school and could perform a spot-on
impersonation of Jim Carrey. I had to pine for my Ace Ventura: Pet Detective from afar because my Southern Baptist school considered homosexuality a sin. It was an expulsion-worthy offense. The high-school me feared expulsion for homo-feelings, but, luckily, I had Tampa. A bridge separated the city from God and the school’s administration. My best friend Jessica and I would drive to the city’s gay bars more often than I care to admit. We’d get drunk on our own kind of holy water as I began to figure out how this whole gay thing worked. I could do this as a young teenager in bars because I had found an ID of a twenty-five-year-old white guy with a crew cut. I’m not saying all white guys look the same, but the ID worked for me all but one of the many, many times I flashed it. I struggled with my outlawed sexuality during the day, but in gay bars, I danced away the fiery damnation. In those bars, I got a different education. I heard a new language, code, and slang. I started to learn the history of men who had met in secret bookstores and clandestine spaces. Those generations had fought for people like me. I learned these things from older guys. They’d usually arrive at the club early like me—them to get home at a decent hour, and me to get in for free. I’d sit at the bar next to them, and they’d tell me a story. I’ve always liked good storytellers, and those seasoned queens were some of the best. It was at one of these bars that I first dressed in full drag, for Halloween when I was seventeen or eighteen. I took inspiration from rock groupies. I put on a Joan Jett wig, AC/DC bandana, black lipstick, and drew skulls on my arm. I wore a tank top as a mini dress and let a lavender bra hang out of it because I’m classy. Halloween proved my one big foray into drag until I moved back in with my grandmother. My hometown haircut place only took appointments for women, even though they also cut men’s hair. My favorite stylist, Randy, called it an old barbershop rule. He gave me a code name to use for appointments. “Call in and say you’re booking a haircut for Brigitte,” he said, “that way I’ll know it’s you when I see the schedule.” The seasoned queen Randy cut my hair for years. We struck up a friendship through discussions of American Horror Story and the less popular Ryan Murphy show Scream Queens.
“Mom said I’d been so traumatized as a kid that I’d grow up to be either a compassionate person or a serial killer,” said the fifty-two-year-old. “Instead of turning into a serial killer, I just like to watch them on TV.”
Excerpted from The Thing about Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State by Tyler Gillespie. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2021. Reprinted with permission of the University Press of Florida.
TYLERMTG/TWITTER
I
t’s been a decade since Tyler Gillespie’s byline first appeared in Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. In 2011, he pondered on how safe it was to be out, wondered about the “Adonis factor” and asked who the hell was buying into gay lifestyle marketing. A few years ago he popped back into CL’s pages to talk with LGBTQ rights activists and then checked in with Parisian baking happening right here in our backyard. But now, his byline is on shelves everywhere thanks to a new book, “The Thing about Florida: Exploring a Misunderstood State.” In it, the fifth generation Florida man is ready to be a voice and face for a state he was once embarrassed to call home. Gillespie—who released a collection of “Florida Man” poems in 2018—leaves no Palmetto frond unturned in the 164-page collection of interviews and musings. There are halfway houses, venom rooms, gator farms and nudist campgrounds. He interviews drag queens, smugglers, ranchers, storm chasers and Floridians of every stripe who’ve been mischaracterized in headlines across the country. And Gillespie goes deeper than the memes. He addresses the state’s racist tendencies, visits with Florida’s LGBTQ seniors and uses a gentle touch with the emotions of his subjects as he reflects on his own experiences as a Florida man. “It’s dangerous to meet our fears with fear,” he says. To celebrate a virtual book tour happening on April 22 in conjunction with the Gulfport library’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center, Gillespie has shared the opening of his book’s sixth chapter, “Young and Beautiful Forever,” where he describes escaping his Southern Baptist school to get to Tampa’s gay bars. “A bridge separated the city from God and the school’s administration,” Gillespie writes. “We’d get drunk on our own kind of holy water as I began to figure out how this whole gay thing worked.” Read it below and visit cltampa.com/magazine to watch Gillespie chat with another Florida author—Sarah Gerard—who said Tyler has delivered “a kaleidoscopic view of one of our strangest, wildest, and most beloved places.”
YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL FOREVER: Gillespie looking bodacious against a bougainvillea.
cltampa.com | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | 39
Learn traditional printmaking Workshops in - Etching - Lithography - Letterpress - Silkscreen and more. Our gallery space has local and handmade gifts Drop by during normal hours Tuesday thru Friday 11-4 Saturday 11-6 • Sunday 12-4
NO CARD NEEDED Cannabis Dispensary • CBD Flower Delta 8 THC Flower • Carts • Gummies All products contain .3% or less of Delta 9 THC
13601 66th St N, L a rg o, F L 3 37 7 1 | 727. 3 3 0.6 2 0 5 40 | APRIL 22 - APRIL 28, 2021 | cltampa.com
Jakob’s ladder
couple, and that translates to nothing short of a magnificent gift for their longtime fans.
The ideals of vampirism have climbed to the heavens. By John W. Allman a gift, to be given after careful consideration, and for the right reasons, which is especially poignant for someone like Anne who has tamped down her own ambitions for so long that she’s forgotten what it might be like to finally slip free and recognize her true potential. Kudos as well to Stevens for not just touching on vampire tropes that have permeated horror cinema for more than 40 years, and paying homage (I’m convinced that The Master is a loving nod to “Salem’s Lot”), but for taking our expectations and goosing them with a righteous blast of female empowerment. “Jakob’s Wife” also is a nuanced, intelligent and wholly authentic depiction of a marriage at a midlife crossroads, and what that means for two people who truly love one another but have slowly drifted farther apart than they realized, until one half decides that she wants more, so much more, than she’s ever dared to acknowledge. It’s a heartfelt and surprisingly insightful exploration of faith and love, what it means to have one or both not just challenged, but blown up and reconfigured. And it’s quite honestly one of the goriest vampire films in recent memory with some truly inventive and sure-to-be iconic kills. More than anything, “Jakob’s Wife” is not only a showcase, but a tour-de-force, for its leading
FILM & TV
Jakob’s Wife ★★★★½ 98 minutes, streaming One of the absolute joys of being a film critic, and a diehard movie lover, is seeing actors that you’ve grown up with over decades deliver an awards-worthy performances and shattering any silly notion that genre cinema, horror specifically, isn’t worthy of A-list recognition. And trust me when I say that there is no actor more deserving than Barbara Crampton, who should be immortalized on the Mount Rushmore of Legendary Horror Heroines with Jamie Lee Curtis and Dee Wallace. Crampton is proof that talent cannot be contained, no matter the swerves that life throws. After capturing the horror community’s attention in 1985’s “Re-Animator,” although I still remember her too from “Fraternity Vacation,” Crampton became a genre icon with a fantastic nine-year run that included “Chopping Mall,” “From Beyond,” “Puppet Master” and “Castle Freak.” And then she turned her focus to raising a family, while still making an occasional guest appearance on TV or taking a recurring daytime soap opera role. In 2011, Crampton roared back into horror with a vengeance in “You’re Next,” and over the past 10 years, she has amassed a string of iconic roles, culminating with “Jakob’s Wife,” which very well may be remembered as her best, and rightfully so. “Jakob’s Wife” is a triumph in every regard. From Crampton’s turn as Anne Fedder, a meek almost invisible companion to her smalltown Mississippi pastor/husband Jakob (Larry Fessenden, also delivering a career-best performance) to the remarkable 180-degree turn by co-writer/director Travis Stevens, who has advanced light years in a very short time since his 2019 debut, “Girl on the Third Floor,” there is simply nothing about “Jakob’s Wife” that doesn’t succeed. This is a vampire movie that not only rewrites the rules of vampirism for the better, but it presents the idea of eternal life not as a curse, but as
The Believer ★★½ 91 minutes, streaming
The Banishing ★★ 97 minutes, Shudder Writer/director Christopher Smith has made one film in his career that I would hold up as a classic, 2009’s gory time-travel slasher “Triangle,” but that’s enough for me to always take a chance on any new movie that has his name attached. His latest, “The Banishing,” has received a lot of advance press and buzz for being the British equivalent of James Wan’s wildly-successful “The Conjuring,” as it introduces a character from across the pond, Harry Reed (Sean Harris), an occultist and paranormal expert to rival Lorraine and Ed Warren. The problem for me with “The Banishing” was two-fold: I didn’t find Smith’s film to be scary in the least, and I found Reed’s personality too abstruse, which likely was due to a combination of the script and Harris’ performance.
RLJE
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ust over 8 million Floridians have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine inside of them, with about 5 million of them fully vaccinated (that’s a lot of 5G!—joke). Still, more than 35,000 have died from COVID-19 statewide in the last year, and as Florida Politics points out, Florida’s positivity rate saw a spike last weekend, hitting 10%—”the threshold for which health officials consider the spread of the virus out of control.” With those numbers in mind, here are some new movies to keep you safe and streaming at home. See an extended version of this roundup via ctampa.com/magazine.
Making Monsters ★★★ 85 minutes, streaming Kudos to Justin Harding and Rob Brunner for smashing viewer expectations with their twisty, surprisingly well-thought-out, survival thriller, “Making Monsters.” I’m willing to bet that almost any viewer, even the most jaded horror fan, will be surprised by the story, which follows a social media celebrity named Chris (Tim Loden) who has amassed 10 million YouTube followers by prank-scaring the shit out of his fiancé Allison (Alana Elmer), who reconnects with an old friend and accepts an invite for him and Allison to spend the weekend at a country estate. Once there, copious amounts of booze and drugs help fuel a series of increasingly unsettling sequences where Allison believes that she, once again, has been set up as the butt of an elaborate ruse. Whether she’s right or not is the hook that Harding and Brunner bait, and I’ll be honest, I did not expect the swerve that kicks off the final act, or the adrenaline kick that carries their vision across the finish line. Suffice to say, I was pleasantly surprised, which doesn’t happen as often as one might expect.
Writer/director Shan Serafin’s first film in nine years, “The Believer,” is a head-scratcher in the truest sense. Ostensibly, a portrait of a marriage in free fall due to a singular decision, and the damage that causes to both Lucas (Aidan Bristow) and Violet (Sophie Kargman), “The Believer” has a lot more percolating just under the surface than most low-budget, independent films. I’m still not sure I fully understand what Serafin was going for, but this much I do know: Kargman is exceptionally talented and does a bang-up job portraying a woman straddling the line between narcissistic and sociopathic, and “The Believer” left me feeling wholly unnerved and unsettled.
BIG BITE: Barbara Crampton’s performance helps make ‘Jakob’s Wife’ a triumph in every regard.
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Retro fit
Check out this beachfront throwback. By Colin Wolf
A
midcentury-modern time beachfront throwback is under contract on St.Pete’s Vina Del Mar Island. Located at 190 21st Ave. N, the home was built in 1957, and appears to still have plenty of the original charm, like an incredibly pink-tiled bathroom, floor-toceiling windows, vaulted ceilings, a floral-wall bathroom, a wood-paneled den, a mermaid mural, and other Mad Men-like aesthetics that
are apparently back in style. The 2,815-squarefoot home comes with a grand total of five bedrooms, and six bathrooms, and also features a separate mother-in-law suite, a screened in lanai, an outdoor shower, a tiki hut and best of all, its own private patch of sand. The house was asking $1,295,000 and the list agents are Carol Giovannoni and Chris Graus of Remax Preferred.
HOMES
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THU APRIL 22 –WED APRIL 28
C
Designated Safe And Sound Venue
Just over 8 million Floridians have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine inside of them, with about 5 million of them fully vaccinated (that’s a lot of 5G!—joke). Still, more than 35,000 have died from COVID19 statewide in the last year, and as Florida Politics points out, Florida’s positivity rate saw a spike last weekend, hitting 10%—”the threshold for which health officials consider the spread of the virus out of control.” Still, the local concert scene is finding ways to try and stay on its feet, we’ve marked the gigs at venues that have joined a Tampa-based and city-recognized “Safe & Sound” initiative that pledges to strictly enforce limited capacity, mask wearing and social distancing—and tried our best to explain COVID-19 protocols at venues that not able to join Tampa’s “Safe & Sound” program.
FRI 23
C Basement Sessions: Lilith w/Bad Cameo/G’on Git/Jay Browne/K.III Like the Alamo, there’s no basement at the West River venue Hooch and Hive, but no matter because shit is going down for this event featuring some of the best in local art, jazz, and hip-hop. BadCameo brings in Mike Mass to rhyme with its indie-funk, joining Jay Browne, Lilith, Chael Blinya, G’on Git, and K.III. Visual Artists on hand include Adriana Flavi, Kris Markovich, Lulu, Matthew Cornier, Gun, DDSVISION, Chuck Cooper, and Lele. So open your ears, and your wallet, because there’s for sure going to be a new favorite musician or artist at the Safe and Sound show. Masks are required. (Hooch and Hive, Tampa) Camille Trust In a video for “Florida” shot in Odessa, Lutz, Weeki Wachee and PassA-Grille, now New York-based soul and pop songwriter Camille Trust pens a love letter to the place that raised her, all while detailing the differences between the Sunshine and Empire states. “There is longing and heartache when reminiscing about times past and an eagerness to get back to the roots which raised me,” Trust—who recently headlined Hooch and Hive in Tampa—wrote. She’s even got the Don Cesar on the artwork of her latest release. She reconnects with a full band for the first time since the onset of pandemic during this gig at the recently remodeled, restored and reopened Floridian Social Club (formerly State Theatre). (Floridian Social Club, St. Petersburg) Carl Craig w/Dru Ruiz/Doctor Boom Detroit DJ Carl Craig brings another Friday night EDM show to this listening room on Eighth Avenue. Craig isn’t a newb to the scene, his first album Landcruising came out in ‘95— right at the start of the Jnco era—and his
spaceage remix of Junior Boys’ “Like A Child” was nominated for a 2008 Grammy. The Motor City’s Dru Ruiz and Tampa’s own Doctor Boom open the limited-capacity show. Fader Events also requires masks, and expect a temperature check, too. If you’re sick, stay home. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) Dave Mason: Feelin’ Alright Tour w/ Abraham/Billings Yacht rock fans probably know singer-guitarist Dave Mason. His single “We Just Disagree” is on heavy rotation on AM gold playlists, under the “No-Fault Breakup” soft-rock song theme, which is right next to the much bigger “Non-commital sex” song theme. Mason started in the psychedelic-rock band Traffic, with Steve Winwood, and those influences are still present in his music, which he’ll play in Clearwater after local band Abraham/Billings opens the show. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) Marshall Tucker Band w/BlackHawk A half-capacity gig from Southern rock founder Marshall Tucker Band. Even if you don’t recognize the name you surely know the hit “Can’t You See,” which has one of the best flute runs in music history—sorry Jethro Tull. The song, like the rest of music the jazzinfluenced rock band, makes me want to hop in an El Camino and have a party at the moontower. Lead singer Doug Gray, the last original member, has a pretty tight relationship with the NRA, but as an FYI, guns are not allowed at the Clearwater venue, even if you have a license to carry. ‘90s country band BlackHawk opens the show. Masks are required and there are temperature checks at the door. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) Nirvanna w/Cult Nation It’ll smell a lot like teen spirit—or at least the off brand version— when cover band Nirvanna plays an outdoor gig in downtown St. Petersburg. According to the band’s promo video, the sound is pretty close to the Seattle grunge outfit, and if you get as fucked up as the Sub Pop-signees used to in the ‘90s, you probably won’t notice the difference (this is humor, it’s best not to touch heroin—stick with Amberbock, that’ll take you back). For more tribute band action, Cult Nation takes on Ian Astbury’s The Cult, which is weird because, in a non-COVID-19 world, you actually still have a chance to see the black-haired rock god singing “She Sells Sanctuary’’ live, but probably not for $10. At Jannus, “masks are strongly encouraged when indoors or social distancing is difficult!” (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg) C Sam Farmer and Friends w/Matt Burke A deconstructed Have Gun, Will Travel plays the New World music hall, with the Americana band’s drummer Sam Farmer sharing the bill with HGWT frontman Matt Burke. Farmer—who’ll wear a songwriter hat for this gig—is joined by bassist Mark Cunningham, drummer Devin Neel, and Rob Pastore on pedal steel guitar. Burke recently released a “scrappy, lo-fi” collection of his
COURTESY
By Stephanie Powers
Camille Trust
continued on page 47
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EST. 1995 FRI APRIL 30 SAT MAY 1 SAT MAY 8 FRI MAY 14 SAT MAY 15 FRI MAY 21 SAT MAY 29 ALL
Shows:
Shaun Hopper/Chris Barbosa Shawn Mullins Selwyn Birchwood Leon Majcen Ariella Mike Zito Ana Popovic
Outside STAGE + Socially Distanced
BAR | RESTAURANT | MUSIC VENUE LIMITED CAPACITY SOCIAL DISTANCING MASKS REQUIRED
WED
6:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE DJ Mike Blenda of Gwan Massive spins reggae
THU
6:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE AJ Hall spins classics on vinyl
W 4.28 F 4.30 F 4.30 Sa 5.1 Su 5.2 F 5.7 Sa 5.8 Su 5.9 F 5.14 F 5.14 Sa 5.15
4.21 Pon Site!
4.22 The Finest In Funk FRI
4.9
Sam Farmer & Friends + Matt Burke of HGWT 8-11 | Music Hall 7:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE
Sam Williams surf noir 8 | Music Hall | FREE
SAT
Bach to Rock Soundcheck student showcase
4.10 NEW BELGIUM
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BBQUSTIC! Rob Hazen pop-rock/looping
SUN
4.11
Estrella Galicia presents SUNDAY SESSIONS 5:30-7:30 | Biergarten | FREE
Sa 5.15 Su 5.16 Th 5.20 F 5.21 Sa 5.22 Sa 5.22
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BOLD = ticketed, in the Music Hall
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SAT 24
Orleans w/Bertie Higgins The yacht rock continues at the Cap when this Woodstock
‘94 alum—featuring founding members John Hall and Lance Hoppen—brings harmonizedhits like “Still the One” and “Dance with Me” to a half-capacity show. You also might recognize Hall from his four years as a U.S. Congressman representing New York—definitely no washed up musicians here. Florida’s own Bertie Higgins, known for his beach-rock single “Key Largo,” opens the show. Put your pina coladas in the air, “Here’s looking at you kid…” COVID-19 protocols are still in effect at the Cap, and if you don’t want to sit around the half-vaccinated masses, a private loge box for four will set you back $278. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
C Who Runs the World: Shevonne and the Force w/Sienna Queen/Noan Partly/ DJ Betty Dawl Promoter Healthy Phoenix is back with its monthly all-womxn bill. This once stacks the lineup with “American Idol” alumni Shevonne Philidor and her band The Force playing soulful rock ‘n’ roll with a splash of alternative-pop in the headlining spot (watch “Strange Love” on YouTube). Also playing is banjo playing neo-soul singer Noan Partly whose vocal runs give your ears the much needed workout they’ve been missing lately. Lo-fi indie darlings Sienna Queen bring garage-rock, and Tampa expat DJ Betty Dawl provides chillwave beats throughout the night (her “Mylkshake” brings all head
nods to the yard). The show will cap out at 100 people, so if you want to see these superstar ladies get your ticket ASAP. Wear a mask. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SUN 25
C Crash Mitchell Tampa’s most lovable singer-songwriter is back at New World for the first time in, well, we really can’t remember because who knows what year it is anyways. But no matter what year it is, Mitchell’s twangy comical storytelling rock and roll is the medicine for what ails us. Personal favorite “Satan Moved to Nashville” describes Lucifer leaving Hollywood and taking country music under his evil sellout wings. It’s Mitchell’s first gig since the pandemic and his first one at the new New World in Sulphur Springs. Two sets will be filled with “...pretty much the classics and a few newer songs and maybe, just maybe, one brand new song if I’m feeling up to it,” Mitchell told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. New World is at 25% capacity and you can’t just go up to the bar to order a drink, sitting anywhere you please. Get there early, grab a table, and enjoy yourself with a free Sunday show. (New World Brewery, Tampa)
MON 26
Full Moon Beach Party: Tribal Style Hot off the fall release of its Future Roots album, Tampa reggae staple Tribal Style plays this freaky MondayFull Moon Beach Party on St. Pete Beach. “The song ‘Wah Do Dem (What’s Wrong with Them)’ is basically about peace, achieving that goal within yourself, and helping others in need,” bassist Mugabe Tenn told CL. Fire dancers, tarot card readings, and a drum circle all add to the nag champa vibe. And if you really want to get your chi flowing, you can pay $80 for an open bar or $119 for a premium open bar. (Postcard Inn, St. Pete Beach)
RYAN MCGIBBENY/GASPARILLA MUSIC FESTIVAL
home demos, and if you’ve seen him live, then you know Burke’s emotional folk-rock guitar-vocal-harmonica mashup provides the perfect soundtrack for sipping whiskey and forgetting the week that was (ICYMI, New World now serves liquor). While you’re there, check out Sam Williams playing surf-rock in the biergarten starting at 7:30 p.m. (New World Brewery, Tampa)
Tribal Style
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Where the vinyl is: a list of Bay area record stores
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) mid-2019 revenue report said streaming music accounted for 80% of total industry revenues, which rose 18% to $5.4 billion. Vinyl album revenue grew 13% to $224 million, but the RIAA also pointed out that sales of wax still only accounted for 4% of total revenues. Rough translation: Yeah, people are buying more records, but your local shop still needs you more than ever. If you’re reading this page, then you probably already know this, but you need your local shop, too. So many of the spaces listed to the right are so much more than stores. They’re community centers for ArtPool Records (2030 Central Ave., St. Petersburg) 727-433-5195, artpoolrules.com Asylum Sights and Sounds (6566 Central Ave., St. Petersburg) 727-384-1221 Bananas Records (2887 22nd Ave N., St. Petersburg) 727-327-4616 ext. 1, bananasrecords.com Bananas Records Warehouse (2226 16th Ave. N., St. Petersburg) 727 327-4616 ext. 2, bananasrecords.com Blue Moon Antiques, Books & Music (1413 Cleveland St., Clearwater) 727-443-7444 The Clearwater Record Shop (1610 N. Hercules Ave., Clearwater) 727-755-1201, clearwaterrecordshow.com
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music lovers. Some of them are venues for local bands. The staff at most of these shops have more musical knowledge in their left ear than you’ll ever have in your entire life; they’re willing to share it with a smile on their face, too. Patronize these brick and mortars… frequently. Make friends with your neighbor behind the counter. Your wallet might be a little lighter, but your mind will be happy in return. You don’t have to stop streaming — let’s face it, no one will — but opening an app will never live up to the feeling of opening the door at your local record store. —Ray Roa
Daddy Kool Records (2430 Terminal Dr. S., Side B, St. Petersburg) 727-822-5665, daddykool.com
Kingfish Records (Main Store) (26024-B US Highway 19 N., Clearwater) 727-351-5177, kingfishrecords.com
Sound Exchange Tampa (14246 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa) 813-978-9316, soundexchangetampabay.com
Disc Exchange (6712 Central Ave., aSt. Petersburg) 727-343-5845, thediscexchange.com
Kingfish Records (Flea Market) (180 Race Track Rd., Tampa) 727-455-9923, kingfishrecords.com
Dunedin Records & Audio (757 Main St., Dunedin) 727-423-4108, dunedinrecords.com
Microgroove (906 N. Florida Ave., Tampa) 813-667-7089, microgroovetampa.co
Sound Exchange Pinellas Park (66th Street N and 86th Avenue N., Pinellas Park) 727-545-0042, soundexchangetampabay.com
Dustin’s Vinyl Shop (180 Race Track Rd., Booth F25 W, Oldsmar) 727-678-6829, facebook.com/pg/dustinsvinylshop
Mojo Books & Records (2540 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa) 813-971-9717, mojotampa.com
Green Shift Music & Comics (5713 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa) 813-238-4177, greenshiftmusicandcomics.com Hello Darlin’ Records (Roving VW Camper) 727-479-6783, hellodarlinrecords.com
Patrick’s Book and Record Store (15215 US Hwy.19 C, Hudson) 727-868-3168, patricksbooksandre.wixsite.com/patricks Planet Retro Records (226 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N., St. Petersburg) 727-218-7434, planetretrorecords.com
St. Pete Records (6648 Central Ave., St. Petersburg) 727-490-8861, stpeterecords.com Steelworker Records (708 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tampa) 813-666-4933, steelworkerrecords.com Unique Music & Collectables (123 Main St., Dunedin) 727-240-0757 Vintage Vinyl (38874 U.S. 19 N., Tarpon Springs) 727-940-8301, vintagevinyl.biz
OFFICIAL
HARD SELTZER OF
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ORACLE OF YBOR
Here comes the sun By Caroline DeBruhl
Dear Oracle, I recently got my first vaccine shot, which was so exciting but also really emotional. My feelings are all over the place… including this feeling of anxiety about the world opening back up. It’s not that I’m worried that I’m going to get sick… It’s that I’m kind of worried I’m not ready to go back to how things were. Quarantine was NOT a great time, not by a longshot, but there are parts of my life I enjoy now that I feel like will get swept away once things go back. Does that make sense? Anyway, do the cards have any idea of what will happen when the world goes back to normal? Cards: Five of Wands reversed, The Sun reversed, Three of Pentacles Dear Normal, there’s a phase in Latin that I’ve been thinking about lately: “Status Quo Ante Bellum.” It means “the situation as it was before the war.” The Internet has dubbed the time pre-pandemic as “The Before Times,” (and racists have co-opted “antebellum” in the worst way) but I prefer the Roman version because it sounds better and is more honest. The first card in the spread is the Five of Wands reversed, meaning a lengthy war. In this column, I have referred to the pandemic before as “a little war,” and the truth is, I don’t mean that metaphorically. As of this writing, the U.S. has lost more civilians to COVID-19 in 13 months
than it did throughout both World Wars. That is a devastating toll. Like a war, our lives were upended, and our loss was significant. Like a war, there was great fear for the future, a fear that in many ways came to fruition. And I bring this up because there is no status quo after a war; there is no picking up where we left off. That’s simply not a choice we have. We cannot return to the world as it was because, in a very real way, that world ended. It ended quietly as we all watched “Tiger King,” but it ended just the same. I can’t tell you what the world will look like after the pandemic because it’s not over, not yet. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a time between death and birth, when the soul moves through a liminal space and experiences reality and deals with all of its shit from its old life and confronts its deities and fears and beauties and prepares for the next life. It’s called the Chönyid Bardo and, metaphorically, that’s where We The People are collectively at. The old world died, and we have much to do before the new one is reborn. There is hope going around now that vaccines are going into arms, and I understand that, I really do. I cried when I got my first shot and felt such relief when I got the second. It’s springtime, the world is violently in bloom, the
weather is welcoming, and for the first time a year, there is a hum of optimism in the air. It does feel like we’re close to a victory, to that new world. This is The Sun reversed. We are ready for joy, for new life, for hard-won celebration. And it will come. The Sun is waiting for us on the other side, but we are not there yet. If you listen to nothing else from this Oracle, please hear this: we are not out of this war yet. The only card in the upright position in this spread is Three of Pentacles. It means working together, all hands on deck. This is our present, and this is something we desperately need to do in the years to come. The world will not go back to working order as soon as shots are in the arms. First, because we must bury our dead; secondly, because we’re going to be at a place where we can all collectively mourn, and it’s going to create a mental health crisis. There is a lot of talk of “resilience” going around in newspapers and online, but those articles forget to mention why it’s crucial now when it feels like we’re at the end. The keyword in “post-traumatic stress disorder” is not “traumatic” but “post.” It’s only after the last silo is fired, when the dust clears and our brains can settle, and we can see how deep the wounds go; people who were able to barrel through the pandemic may find themselves dealing with the fallout long after they’re been vaccinated. It’s not just the disease that ravaged us this year. People lost jobs and homes (eviction moratorium be damned).
George Floyd Breonna Taylor lost their lives. The Insurrection happened. All of these separately can provoke a strong reaction emotionally; combined, it's a field of landmines. So your anxiety right now is normal, but make sure you tend to it, especially if it begins to affect your day-to-day life. At the beginning of this pandemic, there was a call for all of us to unite, to work together to flatten the curve. That didn’t happen then, but I hope it happens now. I know what PTSD on a grand scale looks like because it happened in New Orleans after Katrina. I’m sure anyone from NYC could say the same thing. What I saw was a spike in the murders, suicides, and hell of a lot of heroin. But I also saw mutual aid on small and large scales and compassion. People came together, and honestly, I don’t know who we’ll survive if we don’t do something similar. I’m feeling optimistic, Normal. I think we’ll make it through. The new world is coming. We’ll get to decide what we bring into it, and personally, I hope compassion and caring for each other makes a big splash. One day, we’ll get to linger in The Sun, where we can be viciously in love with life and celebrate all this newness and all the good we’ve gleaned from quarantined, sourdough, sea shanties, and all. We will get there. I believe that. I hope you do, too. Send your questions for the Oracle of Ybor to oracle@cltampa.com.
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Numb and numbered By Dan Savage
invariably fatal—condoms weren’t used 100% of the time by 100% of gay and bi men. Now with PrEP (a daily pill that prevents HIV infection) and treatments for HIV+ men that make it impossible for them to spread the virus (HIV+ men with undetectable viral loads can’t transmit the virus), fewer gay and bi men are using condoms these days. If you wanna use a condom because you’re not on PrEP and/or you wanna protect yourself and your wife from all the sexually-transmitted infections PrEP won’t protect you from—and that would be all the other sexually-tra nsmitted infections out there—insist on condoms and pass on guys who argue with you about it. 3. If you wanna be able to have spontaneous and/or anonymous sex with other men, taking PrEP daily is smart. But you can use PrEP without taking it daily if you’re having sex with other men once or twice a year and you’re making those sex dates at least a few days in advance. Intermittent or “on-demand” use of PrEP is highly effective; take two pills 24 hours before you have sex and one pill a day for two days afterwards. 4. Not all gay and bi men are into anal sex or into anal sex with casual partners, WANNABI, and while most of the men I’ve encountered—most of the men I’ve encountered the shit out of— were functionally versatile, there do seem to be more bottoms out there than tops. Not that “bottom” and “top” are static identities; a guy who’ll bottom for you might be more comfortable topping for someone else, a guy who enjoys bottoming when he’s younger might enjoy topping more later in life and vice-versa, etc. 5. Not every photo is recent, WANNABI, and not every guy is decent. Some guys will lie to get in your pants or in your ass or on your dick or on your face. Trust your gut, WANNABI, and be choosy about the guys you invite to rearrange yours.
SAVAGE LOVE
1. There are lots of biphobic gay men out there, WANNABI, but I gotta say… there are more biphobes in the straight community. Yes, straight biphobia is less gallingly hypocritical, I will grant you, but it does more harm; research has shown that having a biphobic straight spouse is the single biggest risk factor for poor mental health outcomes among bisexuals. So I’m happy to hear that your spouse accepts your bisexuality, WANNABI, and I’m going to apologize in advance for the biphobia you’ll encounter from some dumb gay men. But if all you’re after for is some casual sex, WANNABI, you don’t need to disclose your bisexuality to the men you meet on the apps. You also shouldn’t assume the men you meet on “gay” hookup apps are gay; some will be bisexual, just like you. And while biphobic gay men get all the press, WANNABI, there are lots of biphilic gay men out there—that is, gay men who are really into married “straight” men. If you don’t wanna hide the wife and don’t wanna wind up with a FWB who wants you to leave the wife for him, finding guys who are actually turned on by the fact that you have a wife at home is not a bad strategy. 2. Even at the height of the AIDS crisis— even at a time when contracting HIV was almost
I’m a gay male in his mid-40s living in a rainy city. I met and fell for a recently divorced guy with a few teen kids. We progressed quickly, moved to
not with a person I might want a relationship with. My questions: 1. How do I get this? We all know LOTS of relationships where the partners don’t have sex with each other anymore, but they all did in the beginning. No one wants this from the start. 2. The close friends I’ve told this to think I’m broken and or nuts. I think I’m fine. I can’t explain why this is what I want but I know it feels right. Am I nuts? Am I broken?—Down To Fuck Or Marry But Not Both 1. You ask for it. That’s no guarantee you’ll find it, of course, but it ups your chances considerably. And while it’s true most loving-butsexless relationships were sexual at the start, DTFOMBNB, not all of them were. So if lovingbut-always-sexless is what you want, well, then you should lead with that. Put it out there. There are gay asexual guys who want partners and day-to-day intimacy and someone to sleep with every night but who don’t want sex—not at the start, not ever. There are also gay cuckolds out there, DTFOMBNB, and while most wanna have sex with their “cheating” partners, some wanna be denied sex by a partner who constantly fucks around on them with other guys. 2. I don’t think you’re broken or nuts, DTFOMBNB, but something has definitely changed. What you want now, posttraumatic breakup, isn’t what you wanted before. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing… I guess… so long as you can find what you want or aren’t driven crazy by your inability to find what you want. Because it’s definitely gonna be more difficult for you to find a partner; asexual gays and cuckold gays are out there and they’re great, for sure, but they represent tiny minorities of an already tiny minority. So I’m thinking you might wanna unpack this shit with a shrink. At the very least you need to acknowledge that what you want has changed and that it could change again. Do what and who feels right for you now but don’t lock yourself into anything—don’t sign any leases, don’t make any long-term romantic commitments, sexless or otherwise, don’t weld yourself to any self-fulfilling prophecies—at a time when you may still be numb or still be reeling from a traumatic breakup. Contact mail@savagelove.net, follow @FakeDanSavage on Twitter and bookmark savagelovecast.com. JO E NE WT ON
I’m a cis bi guy in my 40s who doesn’t have a lot of experience with other men. I’m happily married to a wonderful woman who knows I’m bi, and while we’re presently monogamous, we’ve talked about opening things up in the future. If that happens, I’d like to casually hook up with a guy once in a while, but I’m a little anxious about gay hookup culture. 1. Will a lot of guys dismiss me for being bi or married? I assume biphobia is more of an issue when looking for a relationship, rather than a hookup, but I dunno. 2. If I meet a guy and we’re going to fuck, is it weird to bring up condoms? I know: I shouldn’t be afraid to ask to use a condom, and if someone can’t respect that, I shouldn’t fuck him. I’m not and I won’t. But will most guys be a little surprised, especially with PrEP these days? 3. On that note, should I ask my doctor about PrEP when all I want is a very occasional fuck (maybe a few times a year) with someone I’ve vetted and trust about their HIV-negative or undetectable status? I want to be safe, but I don’t want to put superfluous meds in my body. 4. Is the “top shortage” I’ve read about a few times a real thing? Are a lot of guys strictly tops or bottoms? 5. And is there anything else I should know before hopping on the apps?—Wondering About Navigating New Arenas Before Indulging
the burbs, made a home, and even had one of his kids come live with us. It was out of character for me to move that fast, but we clicked. I thought he knew what it took to make a long-term relationship work and his post-divorce finances put him in a spot where it really helped him for us to live together. Fast forward five years to me coming home one day with him declaring he was moving to a not-at-all-rainy state with his new boyfriend. New BF had been a mutual friend who I had suspicions about, but I was told repeatedly it was all in my head. Of course the friend made a show of being “really hurt” because he felt I didn’t like him anymore for something he claimed to be innocent of but was actually quite guilty of. So yeah, textbook gaslighting by both of them. Since then what I want from a relationship has changed. I miss and want the emotional connection, the day-to-day stuff, the sleeping in
the same bed with someone, the incidental physical affection. Sex, that’s a different story. As soon as I have sex with someone once, maybe twice if it’s really good, I don’t want to continue seeing them. I still want and do have sex, just
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THE WORLDWIDE 57 Film editor Allen 112 113 (The Hustler, WEB 115 Bonnie and by Merl Reagle Clyde, and many 116 ACROSS 117 others) 1 Catchy comment 118 59 Cosmetic box on the 6 o’clock worn by Japanese 119 news 120 (anagram of 10 Hard-to-seeNOIR) through conditions 61 Hard-lead rating, 15 Razor sharpener in pencils 1 20 Numskull 62 Least moist 2 21 Michael J. on 63 Pitcher’s area 3 Family Ties 66 “___ none o’ my 22 “Voila” affair” 4 23 Like a free-soil 68 Fired on state 71 Royal address 5 24 Impulsive 73 Paper name, for 6 25 Steinbeck family short 7 26 Slangy gumshoe 74 ___ D.A. 8 78 Pale 27 Watered down 79 Lily Munster 28 Last words portrayer of “Over the 9 81 Class action grp.? 10 Rainbow” 83 Anti-tobacco org. 29 Clever comeback 30 Design on metal 84 Taxing job? 11 86 Beethoven pieces 32 1983 Indy 500 89 Ruckus winner Tom 12 90 Peter Jackson’s 13 34 Dressed like a Lord of the Rings queen? 14 trilogy, e.g. 36 Big birds 15 38 Comment by the 92 Media mogul Murdoch 16 work-weary 93 Break new 39 Turkey-Greece ground? 17 separator, with 94 White sale items 18 “the” 95 French filmmaker 40 Free TV spot Jacques 19 43 Japan’s largest 97 Jefferson in Paris 28 island star 29 45 Famous last 98 Kentucky Derby 31 words drinks 33 47 Majors and Marvin 99 Hiking-the-ball 35 48 Scientific name cue, perhaps 37 for crickets and 101 Surveyor’s map grasshoppers 102 Walked 39 50 April sheets assertively 40 52 Unlock, in verse 105 Swab again 53 Gaza grp. 108 Fishhook part 41 54 Heated 110 Infant’s addition? 42 56 Noted spokescow 111 Tremble 44 1
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