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4 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa
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DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf FOOD CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge
CONTRIBUTORS John Allman, Jeffery C. Billman, Angelina Bruno, Paul Catala, Gabe Echazabal, Chris Fasick, Julie Garisto, LJ Hilberath, Erin Hughes, Alexandria Jones, Eliot Mayo, Peter Meinke, Nano Riley, Jennifer Ring, Melissa Santell, Cathy Salustri, eaWorld in February, rights SK West Eric Snider,animal Resie Waechter,
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INTERNS Chloe Greenberg, Christopher Cann
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Music: Tampa Bay Blues Fest ........................... 40
MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND
Music Week ................................................... EVENTS DIRECTOR 42
It’s time to turn it off. It’s been time.
Alexis Quinn Chamberlain 40 Music: review: Tampa Bay Blues Fest ........................... Concert Artic Monkeys .......................... 42
Tampa Bay Times finally takes down its mugshot gallery, p. 11.
Music ................................................... 42 The ListWeek .......................................................... 46 STREET TEAM
Nate Lamb, Liz MacLean, Daniel Nolan, Concert review: Artic Monkeys .......................... 42 Movie reviews ..................................................... 63
Paola Otero, Jason Rivera, Shomy Rodriguez,
TheWill ListAstrology .......................................................... 46 Free ......................................... 64 Abbey Turner
NEWS+VIEWS .....................10
Movie ........................................................... reviews..................................................... 63 Puzzler 66
EUCLID MEDIA GROUP
Free Will Astrology......................................... 64 Savage Love ...................................................... 69
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Andrew Zelman Puzzler ........................................................... 66 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS Savage Love ...................................................... Chris Keating, Michael Wagner69 VP OF DIGITAL SERVICES Stacy Volhein DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Jaime Monzon
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JOE NEWTON
ASTROLOGY....................... 35 SAVAGE LOVE .................... 36
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.
CROSSWORD ..................... 37
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.
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editor's note DAVE DECKER
NOT GREEK TO ME: There’s nothing confusing about “Black Lives Matter.”
You are not alone
It’s OK to feel like everything’s not quite right. By Ray Roa
W
hen it comes to the coronavirus, there’s now a clear and obvious push to get things back to normal. In some ways, this issue reflects that. In politics, we’re talking about Joe Biden’s potential pick for vice president (a “woke cop,” is what our columnist called Orlando’s Val Demings, p. 14). Our digital editor Colin Wolf is rightfully fired up about the fact that Trump will likely give his Republican National Convention closing speech at the same time that, 60 years prior, Jacksonville police allowed KKK members to violently attack Black protesters (p. 13). Two miles from CL’s Tampa Heights office, Chloe’s in Ybor Heights updating us on a new timeline and call for artists from the Crab Devil collective (p. 27). There are even live music listings (p. 31) and a chat with Tampa songwriter Shevonne Phillidor, who spoke candidly about her absent father (p. 32). Dan Savage, Rob Brezsny and the late Merle Reagle are all still giving you sex advice, astrology takes and the Bay area’s best crosssword (starts on p. 35). But we all know we’re still a long way from normal. After facing pressure from media junkies and concerned readers, the Tampa Bay Times got rid of its mugshot gallery (p. 11). Three months after a layoff, this office hasn’t hired back any
full-time staff; we’re still asking for donations to our new Press Club designed to keep editorial alive (look to your right). Everyday, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people are in the streets demanding real reform so that Black people might not live in fear of being beat up or killed by law enforcement. Last weekend, a “Back the Blue” rally and “Trumptilla” boat parade featured white power signs and Confederate flag attire (p. 8). Local chain owners are feeding hungry families (p. 19), and UberEats is getting flack for pandering to Black-owned restaurants (p. 20). One of Ybor’s most beloved coffee shops even closed its doors (p. 21). Plus, Florida keeps adding new coronavirus cases like nobody’s business, and Tom Brady is in a Bucs uniform (p. 15). So, no, we’re not moving towards our “new normal,” and that’s more than OK. Young people across the country—like Tampa’s Emadi Okuwosa, who we speak with on p. 10—refuse to leave the streets until change comes to police departments. And this paper, short-staffed since mid-March, lives to tell another week’s worth of stories. We’re grateful for that opportunity, and we’re steadied by the fact that you’re along for the ride. There’s a lot to take in Tampa Bay, and it’s been scary. Thanks for making sure no one feels alone.
“We’re still a long way from normal.”
6 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
PRESS CLUB JONATHAN LATIMER
GIVE HOPE: Jason Sowell (L) during a recent Laundry Project outreach in Seminole Heights.
Your stories
Two community leaders on why they support CL.
I
recently re-watched “The Post” during this span of warped time and space where seemingly nothing matters, and it reminded me once again of the beauty of a local newspaper. The feel of the paper. The uniqueness of the local voice. The heartbeat of a city and community that can be learned through the profiles and reporting of all that needs to be known. The local stories of people, places, things and histories that may not have an outlet to tell it otherwise. The importance of alternative, independent journalism. What a fantastic creation the newspaper is. A living document telling our collective story while time stamping it for future generations all wrapped up in artfully creative layout. My relationship with Creative Loafing for the 20 years I’ve lived in Tampa Bay has been exactly that. I’ve learned and come to appreciate so much about our community over these years through its pages. I’ve learned about amazing local artists creating beauty on our walls, in their hot shops, at their studios, through their camera lenses, in their homes. All of them finding ways to express their art and perfect their craft while CL came along and introduced me to their work. I’ve discovered bands and attended shows that have been the soundtrack to memorable moments in my life because CL told me about them, which allowed me to make lifelong friends in the process. I’ve gained knowledge of local and state politics that informed my decisions in voting because CL asked the questions I needed answers to and
interviewed the people I needed to hear from. I’ve found much needed inspiration from people in my community doing work to make the world right because CL told their story. And 12 years ago when I started my nonprofit organization, Current Initiatives, CL eventually told my story as well. As I sit here writing this I’m looking at a wall that hangs two Best of the Bay Awards along with photos of people long involved in my organization as a result of CL telling my story, and just like “The Post” did they remind me of the beauty of a local newspaper. The beauty is that they care—about our uniqueness, our heartbeat, our community, our stories… Your story. It’s why I joined their Press Club and it’s why I believe you should too. We should care. Because their story is our story. —Jason Sowell — Honestly, I hate to even think about not having the local coverage that Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has provided our community. Yes, I have benefited from their press, both personally and professionally. I’m proud to have had their support in music with Ascend the Hill and Fistful and in food and beverage with Union by Commune+Co. They have been fair and honest, supported small business and the local arts, and never once have I worried whether or not I would be fairly or accurately portrayed by their writers. I am proud to join the Press Club and encourage anyone with the means to help if possible. These are my friends. These are good people. — Joel Davis
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“I’ve found inspiration from people in my community doing work to make the world right.”
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 7
CHANDLER CULOTTA DAVE DECKER KIMBERLY DEFALCO ASHLEY DIEUDONNE JAVIER ORTIZ
8 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
Going the distance By CL photographers
O
n Saturday, citizens worried about law enforcement’s hurt feelings organized a Saturday “Back the Blue” rally. BLM activists—protesting so that Black people may have a chance at not being disportionately killed by law enforcement—responded by diverting a group to drown out distractors until they left (but not before throwing the "white power" sign). Next, more than 2,000 protesters took to Bayshore Boulevard and South Tampa for one of the largest, and hottest, marches to date. As a bonus, boaters, some draped in Confederate flag garb, took to the water on Sunday to celebrate Obama Appreciation Day (and Trump’s birthday) ahead of a Monday protest at the Hillsborough County courthouse. Per usual, CL photographers were all over it. See a few shots here and more via photos.cltampa.com. —Ray Roa
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 9
LEO TREVINO
EMADI SAYS: Emadi Okwuosa during a rain-soaked Tampa protest on June 6.
Tired, and ready for more
A 22-year-old protester embodies the resilience of the new BLM movement. By Ray Roa
L
ess than four weeks ago, Emadi Okwuosa wondered where he was going to get his master’s degree. But then the University of Soul Florida graduate saw video of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, being killed underneath the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. The 22-year-old joined his local protest to call for serious police reform and an end to the racial violence that’s been a stain on American history since slaves were brought to these shores centuries ago. On June 4, Okwuosa—a jock who played football and basketball at Connecticut’s New Haven High School—got arrested after Tampa police deployed pepper spray following what officers describe as an incident where a 17-year-old protester slashed an umbrella at a cop. Okwuosa disagrees with the police’s version of the incident. He says a bike officer started the scuffle by trying to grab the umbrella. As he led protesters away from the chaos and back towards Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Okwuosa thinks TPD singled him out for arrest. His friend, 21-yearold Stephanie Sanchez was also arrested; she sent video from those moments to the Tampa Bay Times. Another witness—Joel Davis, who was standing next to his cargo trike observing the arrest—told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay he saw officers violently body slam Okwuosa. Davis tried to pull out his phone to record the arrest and was met with officers who put shotguns (presumably loaded with nonlethal rounds) in his face while saying, “get the fuck out of here or I’m gonna shoot you.”
Okwuosa was seen wearing a GoPro at protests after that. That night, Okwuosa’s parents cried as they spent hours not being able to make contact. Mom—a Mexican-American from El Paso, Texas—normally calls her son every morning and night; her boy, an emergent leader in Tampa’s protests, went silent for five hours while he was in police custody. “That was the scariest moment of their life,” Okwuosa told CL on June 15, three weeks to the day after Floyd died. “They see these stories of police abusing people, stories of white supremacists taking other people. They fear for my safety.” Okwuosa’s mom believes in the movement he’s at the forefront of, but doesn’t necessarily want him to lead it or put himself in danger. He doesn’t blame her. “She doesn’t understand; she doesn’t think it’s my fight, but it’s everyone’s fight,” he explained. Mom and dad, however, should already know that their son isn’t the type to back down from something he believes in. Okwuosa was 14 or 15 when 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida, less than two hours from where he’s protesting today. When Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, got off, the country’s lack of sympathy and inability to create change broke his heart. Okwuosa “felt that pain, I felt that we had to do something. I wanted to march in the streets, but where I was at, nobody wanted to march in the streets.” Less than four years later, Okwuosa came
PROTESTS
10 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
out to his parents and gave them two options: Accept me, or lose me. He knew his coming out would rattle his mom’s expectations. He was ready for dad to outright disown him. “My dad’s not even Nigerian-American, he’s only Nigerian, culturally that’s not accepted,” Okwuosa said. Dead silence followed the announcement; Okwuosa heard the bag of chips in his dad’s pockets pop and then crumple. Okwuosa took a long time to figure out that he was gay, but he knew he was going to live freely with or without his parents. “My dad heard that, he saw that in my eyes,” Okwuosa said. “It was just quiet for two minutes. He didn’t say anything. And then he was like, ‘Well, I love you,’ and he got up and walked out. That was the last time we ever talked about it.” That’s the conviction Okwuosa—who believes in, and practices, non-violence—brings to demonstrations. It’s his belief that change can only happen when a segment of protesters is constantly on the streets making life the right amount of uncomfortable for cops and bystanders alike. In his eyes, the fight for equality—and more recently the fight for a Black person not to be killed by scared, under-trained and over-militarized police officers—has been going on for decades. And despite reform, or Mayor Jane Castor’s argument that the TPD has long had policies like those citizens demanded as part of the “8CantWait” social media campaign, Black people are still being abused and mistreated by police. “We’ve been attempting to speak about and ostracize racism. We’ve been trying so hard to do that, but it hasn’t been working. We’re still seeing the same things that we saw seven years ago eight years ago,” Okwuosa said. “I’m tired of taking that approach.” Okwuosa goes to bed helpless, angry, drained and emotionally exhausted.
In the mornings, thanks to the family he’s gained during the protests, he is energized and ready to go again. As CL sent this story to print, Okwuosa was exchanging text messages with a spokesperson for Mayor Castor, presumably to set up a meeting between Tampa’s top official and an emergent voice of the youth movement. He understands her part in the police force and the fact that she comes from a gay community which has a long history of being marginalized. “She does experience [discrimination] to a certain degree. But even within the LGBTQ community, Blacks are kept as minorities,” Okwuosa said. “The police system was built off the backs of slaves; they were slave catchers before they became police.” And until this movement gets the reform it wants, Okwuosa doesn’t see it stopping or slowing down. “At the end of the day, I’m not going anywhere. I have to live here. This is my country to defend, my country to protect. I don’t want to be in America that doesn’t represent me and isn’t safe for my children to live in,” Okwuosa said, adding that he knows people are exhausted, and that protesting isn’t one person’s job. “This is all of our jobs. This is going to be a fight that we can’t stop, but don’t think that change isn’t coming and don’t think that we’re not doing anything,” Okwuosa said. “Because the same way we’re tired, the police are tired, too. The government is tired of monitoring us, everyone is tired, but we have to win because we won’t have this momentum again… it’s hard to handle, but it’s a blessing. We have power behind this movement. We always ask for our voice to be heard, and now we have it—do not give up.” See an extended version of this story and CL’s full Q&A with Okwuosa via cltampa.com/news.
“Don’t think that change isn’t coming.”
TBT/ADOBE
JAVIER ORTIZ
Emptied mugs
MEAN MUG: The Tampa Bay Times has finally joined newspapers who say 'no' to mugshot galleries.
The Times finally takes down its mugshot gallery. By Jo Ellen Schilke and Colin Wolf
O
ver the past week, every other major newspaper in Florida dropped the insanely racist practice of publishing mugshots, and now the Tampa Bay Times has finally joined their ranks. On Monday, “Florida’s Best Newspaper” announced the move, saying the online tool used to scrape local jail sites has “little journalistic purpose” (mugshots, however, could still be used in the Times' crime stories). “The galleries lack context and further negative stereotypes,” said executive editor of the Times, Mark Katches, in a statement. “We think the data is an important resource that our newsroom will continue to analyze and watch carefully, but the galleries alone serve little journalistic purpose.” Last week, the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun Sentinel, which are both owned by Tribune Publishing, announced they were dropping their mugshot galleries, shortly after the country’s largest newspaper company, Gannett, announced a similar move involving all of their publications, including Florida papers. It’s also worth noting the Miami Herald hasn’t had a mugshot gallery in 12 years. On June 10, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay ran an article calling for the Tampa Bay Times to remove the mugshot gallery, pointing out that the practice was unethical and disproportionately
criminalizes Black people, among other things. CL reached out to Katches for comment on that story and he never got back to us. Since its creation, the Tampa Bay Times mugshot gallery has been criticized by both active staffers and former employees. While current employees have yet to go on the record about the issue, former employees have been extremely vocal. “It’s also an example of how media builds systems to amplify the position of police and authorities at the expense of the individual,“ said former Times employee Eric Deggans to CL, who is now NPR’s TV Critic and an MSNBC/ NBC’s Media Analyst. “It broadcasts the police and prosecutor’s allegations against an arrested person with a level of prominence that can affect the public.” But the most notable criticism came from the mugshot gallery’s creator. In a recent tweet, former staff member and current University of Nebraska journalism professor Matt Waite—who literally created the tool for the Tampa Bay Times—said “it’s time to turn it off. It’s been time.” Waite’s quote came after he commented for a February story by the Poynter Institute, a journalism school and organization that prides itself as a beacon for journalism ethics. Poynter,
LOCAL NEWS
which owns the Times, outlined the many problems with the paper’s own mugshot website. What are the ethical remedies? Put a note about the outcome in mugshots and stories? Remove the mugshot after a certain amount of time? Or is removing from searchable databases enough? There is an emerging conflict between the right to be forgotten and the right to publish. The right to be forgotten hasn’t gained traction in the U.S. yet. It is a personal privacy movement growing in response to the reach and depth of the internet. A standard in Argentina for more than a decade, the right to be forgotten was codified into law in the European Union as part of a data and human rights platform, but exemptions were carved out for media companies. There hasn’t been a significant test of the right to be forgotten in the context of the U.S.’ First Amendment yet, though there have been earlier decisions shaping privacy. It would be time consuming to publish mugshot pages in ways that complied with the many organizations’ codes of ethics. To correct, update, and gather information, provide context, allow the individual to respond to their mugshot would conceptually move mugshots from neutral data to reporting. Still, that idea is being floated in professional journalism groups. Cory Hutchins at the Columbia Journalism Review wrote that, “While it’s not inherently unethical to publish mugshots, some media
ethics specialists argue that newsrooms should contextualize such images for readers, articulate the public-service value of disseminating them, and pursue the stories of their subjects after the photos are taken.” Deggans was the media critic at the then St. Petersburg Times when the mugshot gallery launched. He was critical of it then, and told CL that he’s a strong believer that unfair systems are often built on small choices and small events. “Creating a media structure where people of color are over represented visually as lawbreakers, helps feed a system where they are over-policed and unfairly treated as lawbreakers,” Deggans added. “So I think journalists should think very carefully about how they use mugshots, and should avoid creating websites or galleries collecting them together.” In CL’s June 10 article, we suggested there should be additional focus on the call to minimize harm section in the code of ethics. Mugshot pages may give media sites their needed clicks, and might be justified as providing a public service by publishing public information. But newspapers don’t publish 60 or 70 individual’s phone numbers on a weekly basis, and those, too, are public information. It was hard to justify mugshot pages within the context of an ethical media, and it seems that the media is on its way to eliminating them. The community is better now that the Times has figured that out.
“Media builds systems to amplify the position of police and authorities at the expense of the individual.”
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 11
12 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
Tone deaf or racist?
Jacksonville will host the RNC on the 60th anniversary of ‘Axe Handle Saturday.’ By Colin Wolf “The intent was to scare, intimidate, and bring physical harm,” Hurst says about the KKK. “Many times you could not draw a line between the Klan and law enforcement, because law enforcement were at least accomplices to a lot of the things the Klan did.” The event came after years of bubbling racial tensions in Jacksonville, including a local high school being named after the first Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan B. Forrest, in 1959. Of course, Jacksonville has since renamed that school to Westside High School, and “whites only” lunch counters no longer exist, but it’s tough to argue that things have gotten much better. In fact, on June 14, NPR published a story detailing how Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, is facing public backlash after he declared June 13 “Nathan Bedford Forrest Day,” continuing a decades-old tradition honoring the Confederate general and slave trader. Last week, Attorney General Bill Barr tried to distance himself from the event after he ordered the violent beating of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters so Trump could hold a bible in front of a church. Plus, earlier this week Trump threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which would allow him to use the military against U.S. citizens. None of this is surprising, especially coming from the same president that referred to neoNazis in Charlottesville as “very fine people,” and just recently rejected renaming military bases currently honoring Confederate military commanders. So, of course, the upcoming GOP convention is racially tone deaf beyond belief. It’s also tough to believe that his upcoming rally in Tulsa on “Juneteenth,” the anniversary of the United States ending slavery, is anything but grotesque gaslighting (Trump moved the date back a day after this was pointed out, but the damage was done). “Jacksonville is a great city that will showcase Florida’s energy, facilities, entrepreneurship and commitment to bring together the delegates of the Republican Party at a historic time in our nation’s history,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a press release, with absolute zero irony. “There is no better place to host the
STATE NEWS
“Many times you could not draw a line between the Klan and law enforcement.”
TIA DUFOUR
W
ith the largest civil rights movement in history playing out as a backdrop, the City of Jacksonville is now celebrating the fact it will officially host the 2020 Republican National Convention, which will coincidently be held on the 60th Anniversary of a race riot. Known as “Axe Handle Saturday,” on August 27, 1960 more than 200 white people, including Ku Klux Klan members, chased down Black people in the streets of Jacksonville and beat them to submission with baseball bats and axe handles. “I got hit in the back of the head with an ax handle,” Alton Yates—who was the 23-year-old Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's youth council at the time—told The Daily Beast of that day six decades ago. “If you’ve ever seen stars before, it’s unbelievable. It’s something a young person never expects to happen to them.” Now, it appears the marking of this horrific occasion will be honored with a convention honoring our county’s biggest bigot. Mayor Lenny Curry, a Republican, made the announcement on June 11 in a flashy social media video, stating that the convention will be held from August 24-27, which means Trump will likely give his closing speech at the same time that, 60 years prior, Jacksonville police allowed KKK members to violently attack Black protesters. “If you think you know Jacksonville, think again,” said Mayor Curry in the video. For the unfamiliar, the events of “Axe Handle Saturday” are eerily similar to today’s protests, and occurred after the Jacksonville Youth Council and the NAACP organized a peaceful lunch counter demonstration to protest segregation. “The attack began with white people spitting on the protestors and yelling racial slurs at them. When the young demonstrators held their resolve, they were beaten with wooden handles that had not yet had metal ax heads attached,” wrote Dr. Ben Brotemarkle, executive director of the Florida Historical Society, for the state archives. Rodney L. Hurst, who as a 16-year-old in 1960 led sit-ins at “whites only” lunch counters in Jacksonville, wrote about the incident in his book, “It was Never about a Hot Dog and a Coke.”
PLAYING DUMB: Trump’s bad RNC timing is just another example of his racist dog whistle. Republican National Convention than in the nation’s largest swing state that is also home to President Trump and to the country’s best
governor. We are thrilled Florida was selected and we will not let them down.”
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 13
Val Demings, Woke Cop™
The former OPD chief is on Joe Biden’s shortlist. Let’s talk about that.
B
efore George Floyd was killed, Val Demings was already being vetted to be Joe Biden’s vice presidential nominee. Afterward, her political stock soared. And why not? Demings is an African American woman from Central Florida, a representative of a key Democratic Party constituency from a vital part of a vital swing state. She’s smart, youngish (for a national politician), a fresh face without a long voting record (she was elected in 2016), and a former biggish-city police chief who adroitly walks the line between acknowledging problems in law enforcement and assuring suburbanites she’s not a radical. But a line from an interview she had with CBS last week grabbed my attention. Asked about Attorney General William Barr’s assertion that policing does not have a systemic racism problem, Demings responded, “I’ve said it multiple times long before the tragedy that happened with Mr. Floyd, that racism is and continues to be the ghost in the room [of law enforcement]. And, look, I hear what Attorney General Barr is saying. I don’t believe he believes that. I believe that is just a talking point, and unfortunately, when you fail to publicly admit that there is a problem, then it is extremely difficult to address the problem.” The emphasis is mine. Remember those words. We’ll come back to them. First, some context. Demings was the Orlando Police Department’s chief from 2007-2011, and she’d been on the force since the ‘80s, working her way up. For most of the 2000s, I reported on Orlando’s city government and its police department. For lack of a better term, the OPD then was a shit show: violent, unaccountable, vindictive, absurdly moralistic. Its vice squad—formed with other area law enforcement agencies but led by the OPD— hunted strip clubs and porn purveyors with gleeful zeal. In one famous episode, after I investigated the vice squad’s troubled investigation into a predominantly Black strip club, the vice squad launched a racketeering investigation into my then-employer, the Orlando Weekly. That’s the police culture in which Demings was inculcated. Which brings me to the case of Fernando Trinidad. On April 12, 2007, Trinidad, an off-duty Orlando cop working security at a downtown nightclub, pushed a woman down a flight of stairs, badly injuring her ankle, then lied about what happened to his fellow officers.
The woman, who was arrested on the basis of Trinidad’s lies, lost her job and would likely have spent time in prison had a surveillance video not exposed the truth. When all of this came to light, the OPD’s Internal Affairs Division decided that Trinidad—who, in February 2008, left voicemails on a woman’s phone, threatening, “If I ever fucking see you, you’re going to get the biggest fucking smack in your face, the biggest fucking smack,” according to court documents—had engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer and had falsified police records. As punishment, he would lose two vacation days. Val Demings, the deputy chief of police, thought that was too steep a price for Trinidad to pay. She reduced the punishment to one lost vacation day. Between 2003 and March 2008—as far back as records went—98 claims of excessive use of force were lodged with Internal Affairs, I subsequently learned. In every case, the accused cop was cleared. This, despite a slew of lawsuits the city was facing and, in some cases, unequivocal evidence that the police did exactly what they were accused of doing. I wrote an exhaustive story detailing all manner of flagrant, unpunished abuses. It concluded that the “OPD is a place where rogue cops operate with impunity, and there’s nothing anybody who finds himself at the wrong end of their short fuse can do about it.” Here’s the part where I want you to remember Demings’s words: “When you fail to publicly admit that there is a problem, then it is extremely difficult to address the problem.” Demings—who by the time the story was published in July 2008 had been promoted to chief—responded with a letter to the editor (not to the Weekly, but to the city’s daily newspaper). “Looking for a negative story in a police department is like looking for a prayer at church,” she began. “It won’t take long to find one. … However, 98 claims of excessive force out of more than 2,000,000 encounters with the public would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Orlando police officers are doing OK, for the most part, in the performance of their duties.” Give the cops a cookie every time they don’t beat the shit out of someone. Nothing to see here, move along. Demings resigned in 2011 ahead of her first run for Congress the next year (she lost). But she left behind a problem that was never addressed.
INFORMED DISSENT
14 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
PHI NGUYEN
By Jeffrey C. Billman
VAL, PAL: Demings was not a transformative police chief. But she never tried to be. In 2015, an Orlando Sentinel investigation found that between 2010-2014, Orlando cops used force an average of 640 times a year, mostly on Black people; shot and killed 10 people, seven of whom were Black; and the city or its insurer had paid 30 people more than $3.6 million to settle excessive-force lawsuits, double or triple the amount of similarsize cities. The OPD still ranks among the country’s bloodiest departments. Per capita, in fact, it was the fourth-deadliest department in the country between 2013-2019, according to the website
Mapping Police Violence. Black people were 4.6 times more likely to be killed by cops than whites; Latinx people, 2.7 times more likely. Demings was not a transformative police chief. But she never tried to be. Until her political ambitions demanded otherwise, she hewed to the thin-blue-line line that cops are good people with hard jobs, so get off their backs. But as a possible future vice president once said, when you fail to publicly admit that there is a problem, then it is extremely difficult to address the problem.
“Give the cops a cookie every time they don’t beat the shit out of someone.”
Shit Happened FDOH
THURSDAY 11
Florida witnesses its biggest spike in new COVID-19 cases as Phase II ushers in the reopening of bars, movie theaters, and concert venues. There’s nothing funny about a second shutdown.
MONDAY 15
Tampa’s Meat Market notifies the public of COVID-19 exposure and says it sent an employee home on June 8. The joint is getting roasted on social media.
TUESDAY 16
FRIDAY 12 Police say a Tampa Bay man was bit in the face by an alligator, around 5 a.m. while looking for his Frisbee in waistdeep lake water. The jokes write themselves now. TITUSONEILWWE/INSTAGRAM
SUNDAY 14
WWE star Titus O’Neil, and actor Dave Bautista are set to lead a ‘Love Walk’ across Tampa on June 27. So when is one of these guys running for mayor?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers release the first photos of Tom Brady in the pewter and red. We wanna see the OnlyFans version. Get shit on your fingertips in real time via cltampa.com/news.
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 15
911 Central Ave. | St. Petersburg, FL | 33705
buyaramen.com | 727.202.7010
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RECIPES
DINING GUIDES
A need to feed
Farmers, 4 Rivers founder help Florida’s hungry families.
COURTESY OF 4 RIVERS
RESTAURANTS
By Alexandria Jones
A
s communities across the state face the reality of limited access to fresh food, restaurateur John Rivers, founder and CEO of the 4 Rivers Restaurant chain, created a program to provide fresh foods to students and families in their time of need. Rivers founded and launched the Feed the Need Florida program shortly after the state went into quarantine. Feed the Need Florida is an extension of his 4Roots nonprofit foundation and partners with several restaurants, farmers, local organizations, public school systems, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to supply families in need with donated meals. “The initiative is being done to feed the needy, create jobs, and teach the people about agriculture to reduce produce waste across the state,” Rivers tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. COVID-19 halted any farm efforts, but Rivers saw an opportunity, starting with Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), to feed students who weren’t receiving the daily free meals. He partnered with OCPS first to make sure daily meals were passed out. The partnership quickly grew from two initial sites in Orange County to 46 sites throughout the state including Tampa Bay. “We saw needs in the marketplace where students weren’t being reached in their free lunch program,” says Rivers. In mid-March, Rivers put plans in action; he was serving meals just two weeks later on April 4. It was fairly simple for Rivers to put all the logistics together since he already had a catering team and facilities to house food for meal prep. He reached out to a number of people including OCPS Superintendent Dr. Barbara M. Jenkins, Ed.D and Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried to figure out how to disperse food to families in need of help. “When we did the first feeding, we noticed only the students in the car were being fed and the rest of the family wasn’t getting anything. That’s when we decided to find food to feed these
beautiful families,” he says. “This is really a community event. As long as there are hungry people out there and folks are kind enough to support us, we’ll keep making meals.” In eight weeks, Feed the Need Florida reached a milestone: 500,000 meals donated to deserving families. Rivers says as long as there is food out there and people willing to support, they’ll keep making meals and feeding people. Although it seems like everything came easy for the program, there is still room for learning when it comes to figuring out the right way of donating food. “We’d never handed out meals before, so we had to adjust to regulations and requirements of the state for feeding students on top of the complications of COVID19 feeding. It’s not like a traditional catering we’re used to,” Rivers explains. Each donated meal consists of fresh ingredients like rice and noodles as a base with proteins like chicken and mojo pork, veggies, and black beans. Meals differ depending on what’s available, so families aren’t getting the same food every time. The food is sourced from either the Feeding Florida organization’s network of farmers or through direct farmer relationships. “We’ll start serving somewhere at 10 a.m. Cars are lined up by 8 a.m., and that gives you an indication how great the need is. It’s really beautiful and it really moves your heart,” says Rivers. Feed the Need Florida does about three events weekly. Recently, one of the first events for the program in Tampa involved partnering with Children’s Home Network to hand out 300 meals to families at the 4 Rivers Restaurant in South Tampa. Rivers describes the partnership as “an easy, natural alignment” due to previously established relationships with others involved in the Tampa Bay foster care system. A special treat for those families came from the opportunity to be served by WWE wrestlers Titus O’Neil and Dave Bautista. Rivers, O’Neil, and Bautista have been friends for years and helped each other with various charitable endeavors
FOOD NEWS
“Students weren’t being reached in their free lunch program.”
ROLLING RELIEF: John Rivers said his organization will keep the food coming as long as there’s a need. over the years. Rivers says they’re fans of the restaurant and the 4Roots Foundation. “When Titus found out about it, he wanted to come and help serve with us. It was really awesome especially for the kids and families that recognized him,” says Rivers. O’Neil says he’s always honored to help those in need because he grew up in similar circumstances. He says if it wasn’t for the help of others, he and his family wouldn’t know where its next meal was coming from. “Being on the other side, I can understand it better. I can empathize and sympathize with those families plus the social workers working to curb food insecurity in neighborhoods,” O’Neil tells CL. He says it’s a pleasure working with Feed the Need Florida and John Rivers because of their substantial work and readiness to help others in need.
“Their heart is pure and what they’re doing doesn’t need a lot of fanfare besides the fact they’re doing it. They just want to do the work, and that’s all I’m interested in,” says O’Neil. For him, making a difference in the families is something he’ll cherish. “Anytime you’ve been in a situation where you’ve been less fortunate or needed encouragement, when someone provides that resource to make things better, it’s always rewarded,” O’Neil says. To date, Feed the Need Florida has served 760,000 meals and created over 300 jobs. According to Rivers, he doesn’t foresee the program ending anytime soon. “It started so spontaneously. We’re going to do it as long as people are hungry and we can feed them,” says Rivers.
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 19
Support, delivered
UberEats looks to help Black-owned restaurants, with one caveat. By Ray Roa and Nina Rangel
U
ber says it’s showing commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement by waiving delivery fees on its Uber Eats app for Blackowned businesses for the remainder of 2020. With the app’s delivery fees typically running $3-5, that could be a game-changer for Tampa Bay’s Black-owned restaurants as the city slips into a "second wave" of the COVID-19 infections and some of us curtail our ventures out to eat. “Uber stands in solidarity with the Black community and with peaceful protests against the injustice and racism that have plagued our nation for too long,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
said in an emailed statement. “My hope is that if each of us recommits to doing all we can to counter bigotry wherever we see it, change will follow.” The app is even making it easier to locate black-owned businesses in users’ delivery areas by offering a prompt when it’s opened. What’s more, Uber is donating $1 million to the Center for Policing Equity, which works to measure bias in policing, and the Equal Justice Initiative, which aims to end mass incarceration and racial inequality. “We know this isn’t enough. It won’t be enough until we see true racial justice. But
FOOD NEWS
20 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
we plan to work day in and day out to improve, learn and grow as a company,” Khosrowshahi said in the email. “Lastly, let me speak clearly and unequivocally: Black Lives Matter.” In an email to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay a rep for Uber said that the promotion is happening in major cities in U.S. and Canada. The campaign is a “grassroots effort in response to requests from Eats users, and done in partnership with the Black @ Uber leadership team,” according to Javier Correoso, who works in the public affairs department at Uber. “This is a customer-facing fee, no changes have been made to our existing agreements with any restaurant on the app as a result of this project,” Correoso told CL. “Marketplace fees fund the services that restaurants have come to expect from Uber Eats. Reducing them puts
the safety and reliability of the marketplace at risk for everyone. This project is focused on helping Uber Eats users to easily support the Black-owned restaurants in their communities.” Correoso also called the lists a starting point. “We expect them to grow with more input from the community and restaurants themselves,” he wrote, adding a list of most of the local restaurants available on the app, including: 7th + Grove, BJ’s Alabama BBQ, COPA, Flavaz, Jamaican Grille, Jazzy’s BBQ (Town N Country), Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant, The Hall on Franklin, Thee Burger Spot. Critics argue that the fee Uber charges restaurants to use UberEats essentially eats away at most profit, so calling in for takeout is still probably the best way to show your support.
“This project helps users easily support the Blackowned restaurants in their communities.”
MICHAEL M. SINCLAIR
Bunker down
PEACE BE THE JOURNEY: The Bunker is closing the chapter on its Ybor City story.
A beloved Ybor café shutters doors, looks for new owners. By Ray Roa
A
bastion of community and culture is closing its doors after 14 years. After seeing rumors online, multiple employees confirmed the closure of The Bunker café in Ybor City to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. In an email to CL, owner Dale Swope said, “We have hopes that it can re-open soon, although with someone other than us in charge.” H e added that he and his partners always saw the café as more of a community project for us than a for-profit business. “Kind of a forum for the progressive conversations that have always been part of Ybor City,” Swope said. Others have called The Bunker “Ybor’s living room.” “This damned virus makes that kind of intimate, friendly place, supported by open mikes and local events, even more difficult than it was before, but it will take someone smarter than a couple of trial lawyers to make it work,” Swope explained. Ownership is now in talks “with people who have demonstrated a commitment to the community about just taking over, rent free and with no obligation other than to do their best.” “We are thinking there may be people who have real training in hospitality management who are now suddenly out of work who would
love the chance to jump in and make it their own, perhaps with our financial support,” Swope said. “The Bunker survived the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, two world wars, and being abandoned for a decade, so I’m sure it will survive this. For now, though, we are going to let it rest.” In 2004, Swope, together with Joe Kokolakis, started restor ing The Bunker building— which had been a fixture in the district since 1924—before its frame was threatened with demolition on the other side of Ybor. The frame was restored at The Bunker’s current location, 1907 N. 19th St., a block-and-a-half away from Seventh Avenue. Since 2006, it’s been home to coffee made with locally roasted beans and countless art shows and DIY concerts. The shop—nestled among prime examples of the classic Ybor City casita—was also a perfect spot to watch the roosters go about their days while forcing oncoming traffic to stop in the middle of the road. Employees told CL that unfortunately-timed repairs and the coronavirus hit the café—which is currently boarded up with a sign that says, “We demand justice so we can all enjoy peace”— hard.
“The Bunker survived the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, two world wars, and being abandoned for a decade, so I’m sure it will survive this.”
CLOSING
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 21
BEST LARGE BREWERY IN FLORIDA ADDITIONALLY, WE WON TWO GOLD MEDALS AND ONE SILVER MEDAL FOR THREE OF OUR CRAFT BEERS.
4465 W. GANDY BLVD. • TAMPA • 813-837-2739 • 81BAYBREWCO.COM
22 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
No matter where you are in the Bay area, you’re not far from unique, locally handcrafted brews. We'd call, however, to see about offerings during the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s our ever-evolving list of Bay area brewers—support them during this difficult time! 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 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. 813-231-5900, 7venthsun.com 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 ANGRY CHAIR Crazy-good Tampa beer, open TuesdaySunday. 6401 N. Florida Ave., Seminole Heights. 813-238-1122, angrychairbrewing.com ANTIBREWERY Dunedin’s secret Sundays-only nano. 1367 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Dunedin 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. 813-503-6181, 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 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 BREW LIFE BREWING Ultra-small batches, and a lot of ‘em. 5765 S. Beneva Rd., Sarasota. 941-952-3831, brewlifebrewing.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 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 CALEDONIA BREWING Great in-house beers in the historic Dunedin Times building. 587 Main St., Dunedin. 727351-5105, caledoniabrewing.com CALUSA BREWING Family owned and operated, opened Tuesday to Sunday. 5701 Derek Ave., Sarasota. 941-9228150, calusabrewing.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
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 CLEARWATER BREWING CO. Community-oriented and socially and environmentally conscious. 1700 N. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. clearwaterbrewingcompany.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 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 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 CUENI BREWING CO. Located off the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin. 945 Huntley Ave., Dunedin. 727-266-4102, cuenibrewing.com CYCLE BREWING One of St. Pete’s favorites. 534 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-320-7954. cyclebrewing.com DARWIN BREWING CO. Unique beers crafted with South American influence. 803 17th Ave. W., Bradenton. 941-7471970, 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. DUNEDIN BREWERY Florida’s oldest. Beer, eats and live music. 937 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. 727-7360606, dunedinbrewery.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 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 FLYING BOAT BREWING COMPANY St. Pete aviation history and tasty homegrown suds. 1776 11th Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-2999, flyingboatbrewing.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. 813-641-2036, fourstacksbrewing.com GREEN BENCH BREWING COMPANY A space worthy of the adventurous beers it produces. 1133 Baum Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-9836, greenbenchbrewing.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.co
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
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
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. 727201-4484, ifibrewedtheworld.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
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. 813-9979189, intheloopbrewingcompany.com
SARASOTA BREWING COMPANY House-crafted brews, pizza, and sports out toward beautiful Siesta Key. 6607 Gateway Ave., Sarasota. 941-925 -2337, sarasotabrewing.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.
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
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 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 LATE START BREWING This beloved Tampa label does its thing inside the Pour House. 1208 E. Kennedy Blvd. #112, Tampa. 813-402-2923, latestartbrewing.com LEAVEN BREWING Riverview’s first brewery is run by folks who’ve got experience brewing big and small. 11238 Boyette Rd., Riverview. 813-677-7023, leavenbrewing.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 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 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 MR. DUNDERBAK’S The longtime restaurant, biergarten and homebrewers’ hangout is serving up its own beers. 14929 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa. 813-977-4104, 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
GRINDHAUS BREW LAB Small batches and no extracts. 1650 N. Hercules Ave., Clearwater. 727-240-0804, grindhausbrewlab.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
GULFPORT BREWERY + EATERY Small batches with an artisanal food menu. 3007 Beach Blvd., Tampa. facebook. com/GulfportBrewery
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
HIDDEN SPRINGS ALE WORKS This Tampa Heights brewery features a rotating tap selection. 1631 N. Franklin St., Tampa, 813-226-2739, hiddenspringsaleworks.com
RAPP BREWING COMPANY Greg Rapp’s award-winning styles are carefully crafted and delicious. 10930 Endeavor Way, Seminole. 727-544-1752, rappbrewing.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 pet-friendly 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. 813-247-1422, 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. 352-701-1602,tidalbrewingfl.com TWO FROGS BREWING COMPANY Tarpon Springs’ latest brewery and taproom focuses on American ale styles. 151 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs. 727-940-6077, 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. 813715 -2683, zbcbeer.com ZYDECO BREW WERKS Craft brews in Ybor thanks to an award-winning brewmaster, as well as full bars and NOLA-influenced cuisine. 1902 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City. 813-252- 4541, facebook.com/ Zydecobrewwerks
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 23
#EATDRINKBEGREEK
dinegreek.com YBOR CITY • NEW TAMPA • RIVERVIEW SARASOTA • ST PETERSBURG • SOUTH TAMPA
Weekly Specials Monday:
Tuesday:
Burger Bag Day
Tactogon Tuesday
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Closed
$6 Cubans
Saturday and Sunday: Vegan donuts & rotating weekend sandwich specials @goldendinosaursvegandeli 2930 Beach Blvd. S in Gulfport goldendinosaurs.com 727-873-6901
24 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 25
STAY CONNECTED Join us all summer and enjoy powerful stories, virtually told on our newly launched Virtual Stage. Meet new people and explore new ideas with our Virtual Academy.
Summer Shorts | Creative Conversations Virtual Summer Camp | Master Classes and more!
EXPLORE TODAY. AMERICANSTAGE.ORG
IT’S SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER!
We’re back on June 24th and better than ever, thanks to a new menu full of fresh seafood favorites and cool cocktails just waiting for you to dive into! Swim by for dinner and enjoy the upscale dining experience you’ve been waiting for!
6000 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach | RumFishGrill.com | 727.329.1428 |
26 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
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CULTURE
Devilish details
A new Tampa art collective shares new timeline, sends call for artists. By Chloe Greenberg rooms work to spotlight and celebrate all that is unexpected and outlandish, and in this case, all that is Florida. Submissions for the Cabinet of Curiosities are due July 1 and “should be extraordinary, bizarre, and unsettling 2D and 3D creations to be included in our contemporary Wunderkammer,” the Crab Devil call for submissions reads; commissioned works should be completed and delivered by September 15. So far, Brady said, Crab Devil is working with several artists and creatives in planning the 40-foot shipping container installations. He describes the Cabinet of Curiosities as an introductory piece to the larger Peninsularium whole, housing smaller-scale works that can be displayed in a more traditional way. He also hopes the open call to artists will help Crab Devil broaden its horizons in terms of artist partnerships, helping to connect Crab Devil with local creatives they have not yet worked with. Tracy Midulla, Crab Devil’s creative director and Tempus Projects’ founder, director and chairman of the board of directors, told CL she hopes the call for submissions helps Crab Devil create a registry of Tampa artists to work with on both the Peninsula and on future projects. Her job as creative director, she said, is to be a liaison between the artists and the organization. “Often when you do an open call for submissions, you obviously get so many more submissions than you can accept,” Midulla, 46, explained. “The important thing to me, whenever we do a call for submissions, is that it introduces us to artists that we do often have a relationship with already.” Wanting to bring together local—and national and international—artists for an immersive and unusual experience, Brady said the first discussions for The Peninsularium began about two years ago. “I’d say, in the last probably five years or so, there’s been an uptick in these large scale immersive art experiences,” he said. Citing Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf, New York City’s Sleep No more and the Museum of Ice Cream, Brady said much of the Inspiration for the Peninsularium came from existing experiential groups. “Some of these other immersive events are more Instagram-oriented, social mediadriven, kind of things, where there’s a heavier
LOCAL ART
CRAB DEVIL
A
n ode to the weirder side of Florida history, Crab Devil’s Peninsularium has taken its next steps in bringing the unusual to the Tampa Bay art scene. The fairly new Tampa-based arts collective, comprised of artists and visionaries from several other local collectives including Tempus Projects, Cunsthaus, LiveWork Studios and more, is in the process of launching its Peninsularium, and most recently has sent an open call to artists to fill its Cabinet of Curiosities. As its website reads, the Peninsularium is “cooler than a museum, smarter than a theme park, weirder than a carnival.” And it will be weird. With an entrance disguised as a typical Florida roadside bait shop, this large-scale collaborative, experiential arts project will act as a love letter to both Florida and Tampa’s “kitsch” history and culture, featuring immersive art spaces housed inside repurposed shipping containers, as an homage to both Tampa’s history in maritime commerce and travelling circuses of the early 1900s. Housed at 3800 N. Nebraska Ave. in Ybor Heights, alongside the nonprofit art gallery Tempus Project and Tim Ogden’s brewery and tasting room Deviant Libation, the Peninsularium is Crab Devil’s effort to bring Tampa its first and only permanent immersive arts experience. Crab Devil Company Officer Devon Brady said the Peninsularium will be a representation of the roadside show scene and mom-and-pop operations of Florida’s past. “The kind of thematic elements that we’re dealing with are kind of the weird side of Florida that you would see in these roadside attractions and cabinets of curiosity and museums of oddities and things like that,” Brady, 46, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “So, it’s kind of a mishmash of actual Florida or Tampa history and lore, and then invented imagined histories and taxonomies and flora and fauna and everything in between.” The Cabinet of Curiosities, which will act as a physical passageway into the Peninsularium, draws upon the idea of the traditional cabinet of curiosities: a display of notable collections of objects of natural history, works of art and antiquities that came before the modern museum. Also referred to as Cabinets of Wonder or Wunderkammer, modern adaptations of these
CRAB POT: Ybor Heights’ new art collective is slowing coming off the ground. component of advertising and branding,” he said. “So, we kind of position ourselves a little bit more on the fine art side of things, although it is immersive and it’s family oriented.” Initially hoping for an early 2021 opening of the Peninsularium to the public, Crab Devil has seen some complications and changes arise from the COVID-19 pandemic. “I would say that mostly the only thing that has changed for us really has been the timeline,” Midulla said. “We had a couple of small events that we obviously had to postpone, but it hasn’t stopped us, it hasn’t changed us, it’s just changed our timeline.” Midulla said that while the timeline has been altered, the situation has given Crab Devil an opportunity to work with local and regional artists under the confines of self-isolation on smaller-scale projects, like sending out old cigar boxes to be made into dioramas. “I know that there are plenty of people that
have been set back financially, they’ve been set back emotionally because it’s very hard for some people to spend that much time alone,” she said. “We’re trying to keep everyone engaged creatively, so that they can work positively through this time.” Although current happenings are leaving some things up in the air, Brady said he’s hoping to open the Peninsularium some time next year. His long-term goal for the project is to set Tampa as a place of support and community for artists. “I think that we’ve always had a really strong crop of artists in Tampa,” he said. “But there’s always been a disconnect between that scene, and the things that it takes to make that scene perpetuate itself. So, this kind of concept of the for-profit immersive venture opened my eyes to another way of doing business that could possibly help to support a large number of artists and a community.”
“Submissions should be extraordinary, bizarre, and unsettling.”
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 27
28 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 29
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30 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
THU JUNE 18–WED JUNE 24 By Ray Roa
Leon Majcen
CL recommends
FRI 19
C Leon Majcen The Hideaway Café was one of the local venues to figure out sociallydistanced concerts from the get go, and while the St. Petersburg listening room’s calendar is packed (Jimmy Buffett collaborator John Frinzi on Saturday, a Father’s Day show from Wisconsin road-dog Peter Mulvey, Wednesday’s gig by ethereal folk crooner Mountain Holler), this Friday gig from Leon Majcen is special. The young, gravel-throated Bay area export just saw a new tune premiere on American Songwriter, and his new record (Back Till I’m Gone) sees release on the same day as this show, where only 12 two-top tables are available (if the first show sells out, there may be a late night gig added). Visit cltampa. com/music to hear more. (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) Uglysquad Orpheum brought its famous Saturday sink-or-swim back to Seventh Ave. a couple weeks ago, but this Friday night gig features a Tampa hip-hop duo playing “Our first show since the world was shut town, it’s time to TURN TF UP! We can’t wait to raise a glass with everyone!!” (Orpheum, Ybor City) George Pennington One of the last big live music highs George Pennington experienced was in February at the NAMM 2020 conference when he found himself in the middle of a jam session with bassists John Ferrara and Victor Wooten (Pennington, a guitarist, works for Michael Kelly Guitars). The concert world shut down shortly after, and Pennington, a USF School of Music grad, has been watching and listening. Expect something like a catharsis when he hits the stage for this 21 & up show near the suburbs of northwest Tampa. (Wild Rover Brewing, Tampa)
LEANDRO GONGORA
As the local live music calendar ramps back up, it’s important to note that Florida is nowhere near out of the woods when it comes to coronavirus cases. In fact, recent days have seen record numbers of new cases. Just because something’s open doesn’t mean you have to go do it.And that’s not to say that your live music venues don’t need you (they do, and they’re nowhere near out of the financial woods either). In short, be safe, practice social distancing and please respect the rules and each other. Maybe even wear a mask. It’s advisable to check with these venues before heading out in case anything’s changed since this went to print. And remember, these places have been closed for three months, and are operating at reduced capacity, so tip like your money’s on fire.
SAT 20
C FayRoy w/Aych/Sam E Hues/Queen of Ex/Shawn Kyle/more Crowbar’s concert calendar was ravaged in the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, and it’ll be months until it even resembles itself again. In the meantime, locals are driving the car, and this first “Road to Reopen” show back features surf-noir band FayRoy, rappers Acyh, Queen of Ex and Sam E Hues, plus songwriters Shawn Kyle, Mountain Holler and Lauris Vidal. Tampa hip-hop godfather DJ Sandman handles the ones and twos. What’s more is that no cash will be taken at the door, and the first opportunity to buy tickets to the shows went to folks who donated money for commemorative T-shirts that helped put money in the pockets of Crowbar’s out-of-work bar staff. The first two concerts will also be live-streamed, and more information is available on the venue’s Facebook page or cltampa. com/music. (Crowbar, Ybor City) C Forrest Hoffar Tampa songwriter Forrest Hoffar has been riding with The Attic since it opened in late 2016, so it’s fitting to find him bringing Ybor City’s best listening room out of coronavirus lockdown with a set featuring
songs that’ll please fans of singer-songwriter fare that’s both poppier (a la Michael Tolcher) and rootsy-introspective (Noah Gundersen). Tickets must be purchased in blocks of four, and the venue is only letting 75 guests in. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) Chad Spikes & Friends If you’re in the mood for some bluegrass, St. Petersburg’s Bayboro Brewing plays host to Born Lonesome picker Chad Spikes who’ll take the reins on a jam session that runs from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. (Bayboro Brewing Co. St. Petersburg) Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues Love’s always been in the air when Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues take the stage, but the bluesy couple is celebrating it officially at this brew pub gig on Sunday which marks the couple’s anniversary. (The Pesky Pelican Brew Pub, St. Petersburg)
SUN 21
Lauris Vidal Seminole Heights restaurant Ella’s has always been an A-plus venue for laid-back concerts, but it’s become a dinner theater in the wake of COVID-19. Guests must
book reservation-only, seated dinner shows; the June music calendar for Ella’s looks a lot like it did before Covid-19 precautions started to cripple local businesses. This weekend see’s Florida’s best ear-to-ear-grinnin’ one-man band Lauris Vidal taking the stage on Sunday, and rock-and-roller Daryl Hance playing on Friday night. (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa)
MON 22
Mischief Mondays w/Ku/Heist/Buckwheat The Ritz brought back its #Pound Friday EDM weekly on June 6 (CL reached out to see if it’s continuing each week going forward), but the Seventh Ave. concert stronghold also announced the return of this industry-focused weekly headlined by DJ Ku, a turntablist who was among the most cautious about playing in clubs during earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic. (The Ritz, Ybor City) Please be safe as the live music calendar returns. Email us at rroa@cltampa.com to tell us about your upcoming concert.
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 31
KENNY BOBBY
WALK ALONE: While she has a great mom, Shevonne thinks about her estranged father a lot.
A father, someday
Tampa songwriter reflects on father who went out of the picture when she was 10 days old. By Ray Roa
F
ather’s Day is this weekend, and Tampa songwriter Shevonne Philidor just addressed the thoughts swirling around in her head in a new song called “Someday.” Last week, Philidor told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that her mom left her father when she was just 10 days old; from that day forward, he wasn’t in her life, though they have recently cultivated a long distance, online relationship, since he lives in Haiti. “Although I had a great life and have a great mom, I’ve always felt like something was missing,” Philidor said, describing her youth when she didn’t see a lot of interracial kids. “I was bullied and told by other kids that my mom wasn’t my mom ‘cause she was ‘white.’ When I would overhear other families and someone saying, “You look just like your dad.’ I would wonder what my dad looked like,” Philidor added. Mom only had two pictures of dad, so Philidor wondered if she looked like him, what his talents were, about his interests and what kind of person he was. Mom said he was a good dancer, and a goofy guy, but that she left because he was a dishonest womanizer.
“Maybe she shouldn’t have been so honest about the second part, but that’s our family dynamic, we’re all super honest about everything,” Philidor explained. “My mom raised me and my sister to be tough, independent and to deal with shit head on—I understand that marriages don’t always work out but as a kid, you don’t know that, you just feel abandoned.” Sometimes, his absence made Philidor—who made it to the top 40 of “American Idol” last spring—feel like she wasn’t living her true identity. “I’ll never see him again unless I travel to Haiti as he’s been deported,” Philidor said. Instead, her mom, aunt and uncle opened her eyes to the country’s food, culture and music. She also takes trips to Miami to see her grandfather and get immersed in Haitian culture. “I still wonder what life would have been like if I grew up with my dad and if I would be the same person,” Philidor admitted, “But the good part is, I’ve had an amazing life so far, I’m happy with who I am and I love myself—and that’s all I can ask for.” Listen to the song via cltampa.com/music.
LOCAL MUSIC
“You just feel abandoned.”
32 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
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Ct
ME
r r
1 e ”
t s T y ”
Gemini The twins.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “A finished person is a boring person,” writes author Anna Quindlan. I agree! Luckily, you are quite unfinished, and thus not at all boring—especially these days. More than ever before, you seem willing to treat yourself as an art project that’s worthy of your creative ingenuity—as a work-in-progress that’s open to new influences and fresh teachings. That’s why I say your unfinishedness is a sign of good health and vitality. It’s delightful and inspiring. You’re willing to acknowledge that you’ve got a lot to learn and more to grow. In fact, you celebrate that fact; you exult in it; you regard it as a key part of your ever-evolving identity. CANCER (June 21-July 22): “To hell with pleasure that’s haunted by fear,” wrote Cancerian author Jean de La Fontaine. I’ll make that one of my prayers for you in the coming weeks. It’s a realistic goal you can achieve and install as a permanent improvement in your life. While you’re at it, work on the following prayers, as well: 1. To hell with bliss that’s haunted by guilt. 2. To hell with joy that’s haunted by worry. 3. To hell with breakthroughs that are haunted by debts to the past. 4. To hell with uplifts that are haunted by other people’s pessimism. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Experiment #1: As you take a walk in nature, sing your five favorite songs from beginning to end, allowing yourself to fully feel all the emotions those tunes arouse in you. Experiment #2: Before you go to sleep on each of the next eleven nights, ask your dreams to bring you stories like those told by the legendary Scheherazade, whose tales were so beautiful and engaging that they healed and improved the lives of all those who heard them. Experiment #3: Gaze into the mirror and make three promises about the gratifying future you will create for yourself during the next 12 months. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Vincent van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night” is one of the world’s most treasured paintings. It has had a prominent place in New York’s Museum of Modern Art since 1941. If it ever came up for sale it would probably fetch over $100 million. But soon after he created this great masterpiece, van Gogh
himself called it a “failure.” He felt the stars he’d made were too big and abstract. I wonder if you’re engaging in a comparable underestimation of your own. Are there elements of your life that are actually pretty good, but you’re not giving them the credit and appreciation they deserve? Now’s a good time to reconsider and re-evaluate. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Now is a favorable time to make adjustments in how you allocate your attention—to re-evaluate what you choose to focus on. Why? Because some people, issues, situations, and experiences may not be worthy of your intense care and involvement, and you will benefit substantially from redirecting your fine intelligence in more rewarding directions. To empower your efforts, study these inspirational quotes: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” —philosopher Simone Weil. “Attention is the natural prayer of the soul.” — philosopher Nicolas Malebranche.
extravagant wishes for lavish and amusing powers, blessings, and fantastic possibilities. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Poems, like dreams, are a sort of royal road to the unconscious,” writes author Erica Jong. “They tell you what your secret self cannot express.” I invite you to expand that formula so it’s exactly suitable for you in the coming weeks. My sense is that you are being called to travel the royal road to your unconscious mind so as to discover what your secret self has been unable or unwilling to express. Poems and dreams might do the trick for you, but so might other activities. For example: sexual encounters between you and a person you respect and love; or an intense night of listening to music that cracks open the portal to the royal road. Any others? What will work best for you?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. a tender heart.” Capricorn 21): Scorpio poet hero Martin Luther King, Marianne Moore’s poem Jr. said that, and now I’m “O To Be a Dragon,” conveying it to you. In my By Rob Brezsny begins with the fantasy, astrological opinion, his “If I, like Solomon, could have my wish . . .” What formula is a strategy that will lead you to success comes next? Does Moore declare her desire to in the coming weeks. It’ll empower you to remain be the best poet ever? To be friends with smart, fully open and receptive to the fresh opportuniinteresting, creative people? To be admired and ties flowing your way, while at the same time gossiped about for wearing a tricorn hat and you’ll remain properly skeptical about certain black cape as she walked around Greenwich flimflams and delusions that may superficially Village near her home? Nope. None of the above. resemble those fresh opportunities. Her wish: “O to be a dragon, a symbol of the power of Heaven—of silk- AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. worm size or immense; 18): “If it makes at times invisible. you nervous— Felicitous phe- you’re doing it nomenon!” In right,” says a c c o r d a n c e the daring with astrolog- musician ical omens, I and actor invite you to D o n a ld be inspired Glover. by Moore in the coming
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
weeks. Make
Personally, I don’t think that’s true in all situations. I’ve found that on some occasions, my nervousness stems from not being fully authentic or being less than completely honest. But I do think Glover’s formula fully applies to your efforts in the coming weeks, Aquarius. I hope you will try new things that will be important to your future, and/or work to master crucial skills you have not yet mastered. And if you’re nervous as you carry out those heroic feats, I believe it means you’re doing them right. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean author Patricia Hampl understands a lot about the epic tasks of trying to know oneself and be oneself. She has written two memoirs, and some of her other writing draws from her personal experiences, as well. And yet she confesses, “Maybe being oneself is always an acquired taste.” She suggest that it’s often easier to be someone you’re not; to adopt the ways of other people as your own; to imitate what you admire rather than doing the hard work of finding out the truth about yourself. That’s the bad news, Pisces. The good news is that this year has been and will continue to be a very favorable time to ripen into the acquired taste of being yourself. Take advantage of this ripening opportunity in the coming weeks! ARIES (March 21-April 19): My Aries friend Lavinia told me, “The fight I’m enjoying most lately is my fight to resist the compulsion to fight.” I invite you to consider adopting that attitude for the foreseeable future. Now and then, you Rams do seem to thrive on conflict, or at least use it to achieve worthy deeds—but the coming weeks will not be one of those times. I think you’re due for a phase of sweet harmony. The more you cultivate unity and peace and consensus, the healthier you’ll be. Do you dare act like a truce-maker, an agreement-broker, and a connoisseur of rapport? TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “The answers you get depend upon the questions you ask,” wrote physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn. That’s always true, of course, but it’s especially true for you right now. I recommend that you devote substantial amounts of your earthy intelligence to the task of formulating the three most important questions for you to hold at the forefront of your awareness during the rest of 2020. If you do, I suspect you will ultimately receive answers that are useful, interesting, and transformative.
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 35
Oral reports By Dan Savage
I’m a 32-year-old straight guy. My wife and I have been married for four years and together for nine. We have a great marriage, and all is well. We have been quarantining at home since March. During this time, we have been exploring things sexually, which has been really fun. We have also been talking more about our kinks and fantasies. One thing my wife really wants to try is an MMF threesome. I’ve agreed, and she’s been talking about how hot it will be to make this happen once quarantine is over. She is particularly turned on by the fact that this would be my first sexual experience with another guy. The only issue is, in reality, it won’t be. The truth is that when I was in high school, a guy friend and I fooled around a few times. I have no regrets but those experiences only served to reaffirm that I preferred women. I never did anything with another guy, and I never felt the need to mention these early experiences to my wife. She just assumed I had never had a same-sex encounter. Now I feel like I’ve misled her or lied to her somehow. Should I tell her the truth or just let her believe our MMF threesome would be my first time with a guy? —Nervously Omitted Homosexual Occurrences, Mostly Oral
But your question isn’t, “Why didn’t I tell her then?”, but rather, “Should I tell her now?” And I don’t think you have to. She wasn’t harmed by this omission—you didn’t deprive her of information she was entitled to—and disclosing now would only serve to deprive her of something, i.e. the excitement she feels about being there to witness what she thinks is your first samesex encounter. My wife questions my use of the word “gay” as being potentially offensive and I’d like to get your take. I’m male and my male friends like to flirt and joke about performing sex acts on each other. We’ve never actually carried through with it, but I consider myself on the “spectrum” and might be open to gay sex. My male friends and I say we’re being or acting gay (though we’re all practicing heterosexuals) and this is where my wife takes issue. For example, I might say, “We’re so gay!”, in our conversations but the word is used in a positive way. My wife makes the point that the word has a history of being used negatively, so may be considered offensive, and should only be used casually by people who are more legit gay. Should I stop using the word gay this way? —Gay Poser
SAVAGE LOVE
If your wife reads my column, NOHOMO, then you’ve just told her the truth and the advice that follows is moot. So here’s hoping she doesn’t read my column: You don’t have to tell your wife about the handful/mouthful of times you messed around with another guy in high school. If you’re like most straight guys with one or two cocks in your past, NOHOMO, I’m guessing you didn’t tell the wife because you didn’t want her to feel insecure or spend all her free time corresponding with advice columnists about whether her husband is secretly gay. In fairness to the wife, NOHOMO, not every woman whose straight-identified male partner admits to a little same-sex messing around worries her boyfriend or husband is going to leave her for a dude or all the dudes. But this worry is common enough to be something of cliché. A straight guy doesn’t even have to admit to having sucked one dick one time for his wife or girlfriend to worry he’s secretly gay; I get at least one letter every day from a woman who’s worried her husbands is gay because he like to have his nipples played with or his butts touched or because he has feelings. So while it’s not ideal that straight-or-mostly-straight guys don’t feel they can be honest with their wives about their long ago and far away same-sex experimentation, NOHOMO, it’s understandable that many straight guys err on the side of keeping that shit to themselves.
36 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
Jesus, just suck off one of your male friends already—just get it over with—and then you have my permission to keep using “gay” as compliment, GP. I’m a 35-year-old seemingly straight man, but in the past year—roughly corresponding with the longest sex drought in the history of my adulthood—I have had recurring wet dreams where I suck myself off. Probably a dozen or so of these dreams, all up, and I very much enjoy both sides of the transaction. What do you think it means? Am I witnessing the stirrings of some latent bisexuality or am I just desperate? Should I heed the call? —Originally Unilateral Regarding Oral But Oneiromancy Reveals Opening Sexuality I usually don’t allow elaborate signoffs, OUROBOROS, but I’m making an exception for yours because it’s brilliant. (To save my other readers the trouble of googling: “oneiromancy” is the interpretation of dreams to predict the future and an “ouroboros” is an image of snake swallowing its own tail, often used as an infinity symbol.) That said, I’m not sure there’s really any call to heed here—other than a call to start doing the kind of stretching that would allow you to suck your own cock if you were 1. to get limber enough and 2. your cock is long enough. But a desire to suck one’s own cock—or even an attempt, successful or not—doesn’t mean a man is latently bisexual or gay. I assume you’ve been masturbating for more than two decades,
OUROBOROS, and just as there’s nothing gay about all those handjobs you’ve given yourself, there’s nothing gay about the blowjobs you can only dream about giving yourself. I’m that rare gay man who doesn’t like sucking dick. It wasn’t hard for my VGL husband to find guys who wanted to blow him before quarantine and for years I didn’t ask about it because I didn’t want to know the details. But I knew he had video on his phone of some guys blowing him that he sometimes watched and I recently asked to watch one and I was completely shocked. It wasn’t just a blowjob. He spat in the guy’s face, called him homophobic names, and was just generally brutal. The intensity and violence wasn’t something I’ve ever detected in my husband or been on the receiving end from my husband. When I pressed my husband he shrugged and said, “That’s how a lot of guys like it.” I’m not sure what to do. —Gay And Gloomy Guy Extremely Disturbed I read your letter three times and I still can’t tell whether you’re appalled or you’re jealous. Do you disapprove of your husband treating someone that way, or are you disappointed that your husband has never treated you that way? If it’s the former, well, don’t watch any more videos of your husband throat fucking his subby cocksuckers. If it’s the latter (and I suspect it is),
GAGGED, then you’re going to need to figure out how to articulate that clearly—something you failed to do in your letter—so you can tell your husband you’d like it like that, too. Not being used for oral like that, of course, since you don’t like performing oral sex. But maybe you’d like anal like that? Dear Readers: This is gonna feel a little weird stuck onto the end of this week’s column, I realize, but I wanted to say something about protests all over the country and the world. While I haven’t been able to personally attend a Black Lives Matters protest over the last two weeks—I have deeply shitty lungs and I’m concerned about contracting coronavirus—I fully support everyone who has taken to the streets to protest the violence of systemic racism and the specific violence inflicted on the black people by racist cops. And while I can’t be at the protests, my husband and I made a donation to bail funds across the country to help out people who were arrested at them. (You can donate at actblue.com/donate/bailfunds.) Please keep marching, please wear your masks (they work!), and please—please—make sure you and everyone you know is registered to vote. Contact mail@savagelove.net, follow @ FakeDanSavage on Twitter, and bookmark savagelovecast.com.
creative loafing puzzler
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30 31 32 33 35 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 46 48 49 50 51 52 53
54 MAGIC 55 NUMBER 57 by Merl Reagle 58 ACROSS 62 Final passage 63 Dracula author’s 64 first name 65 Synagogue horn 66 One in charge 67 Greystoke’s 68 extended family 72 1960s White 74 House daughter 75 Melon variety 76 Run ___ 77 (meet by chance) 714 78 Gold Coast ship, 79 ca. 1800 80 Munich’s river 81 Word that’s the initials of 82 a Hemingway 83 novel 84 Shower of uncut 86 movies S.E. Hinton novel 87 Order to board London paper 88 Culture-growing base 89 Coupon clipper 90 Have to have 91 Musical measure 94 Knock over 99 Throat threat 100 Dutch farmer in Africa 101 Large serving dish 102 Some ducks 103 Liberal agenda? 104 Constrain a con Metal marble 105 “___, ’twas not 106 to be” Impostor 1 Secret grp. of WWII
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2 Iridescent gem 3 Moot 4 “Oh, he’s as cantankerous ___” 5 Lose focus 6 Dead-end job 7 Reaches 8 Error 9 Ridicule 10 Christmas dinner 11 Sweet finale 12 The extra mile, perhaps 13 Treated badly 14 Charged 15 It’s often unauthorized 16 For all to know 17 Attempts 18 Play by yourself? 24 T follower, in science 25 Marge Simpson’s is blue 26 Protector of citizens’ rights in ancient Rome 32 “En ___!” 33 Ball elevators 34 Actress Corday 35 Embargo targets 36 Capricorn’s beast 37 Become a rich forty-niner 38 Doubtful 41 Makeover place 42 Coke or Pepsi, e.g. 43 Swear 44 Noted cow 45 Where chicks hang out 47 Car option 48 Next to, in a way 49 Puzzling hedge DOWN Broadway pickup 51 Open ___ of worms artists
Hunky-dory Cut back Liver in Liverpool? 714 Strolling place Flipping out “___ he tells me!” Industrious bug ___ N the Hood Singer Bareilles Skater Brian Tragic Moor Coleridge effort Early Billy Joel hit Get mad Ocean phenomenon School VIPs Aussie bird Snooker Strip created by Jeff MacNelly Vigor Some bills French fraus Like water for cleaning Theater owner Grauman A must-not-see review Author Ambler Blyth et al. Finally 714 Part of ABC: abbr. Church, in Chartres Vaccine pioneer Edmonton’s prov. Poi ingredient Part of a military motto Greek peak Type of 77 Across
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C A R S
POV AM I U E S L GA I A S N E L Y L OU E L L S A L E I K S E R AW RRO L A I RO S A K A
I R O B O T
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A N E L E N D I GE I NGS N E E A RD T O I N E Y NOR S T OR A N B K P E E L E S OS
R A T I L A B E R T S T O U A T SOR E MS M A S A I A C L T I D EM S E D A E N AM T I S AM A E E R A N T UR T D T E R E A N C H A O
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B B A A R N T
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M A S
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PUZZLE FANS ! For info on Merl's Sunday crossword anthologies, visit www.sunday crosswords.com.
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93 95 96 97
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Somebody Tad An O’Neill Getty was one Molten rock Zodiac sign Sword Three before V School test: abbr. “Lonely Boy” singer With 93 Down, prepare to ensnare See 92 Down Back again Puppy’s cry Downward course, perh. Loop trains
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S C A T U B R E B E Y E E L E D S S C J E A V A T S I CH A S K S I S P T R A E DOU DO L L E L A P S E A RO N E D D L E E A B A T S E U S
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78 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 91
Solution to Backup Crew A P A R T D E L I A J E A NG P EGG S E F A I R B URN S L E N EGO M MO L L U D E L C YGN E R A ND E X AM M I T E S E S S A B F S T Y R E H OWA R A RC S Y E A H
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52 Douglas’s flora 55 Part of QE II: abbr. 56 ___-Hari 57 Greet, Japanese-style 58 Exceller in terza rima 59 Where the “free” square is on a bingo card 60 Go up and down 61 Drachmas and sesterces 62 Vientiane’s land 66 Shake-lover’s buy 68 "You bet your sweet ____" (Laugh-In line) 69 Not set in stone, as a constitution 70 Be specific about 71 Responsibility 73 Wielder of gold-tipped arrows 74 Grande et al. 75 Does a self-serving job 77 Pre-storm condition
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An additional 3 lbs per barrel of the high impact flavor hop, Galaxy, to the dry-hopping sessions coupled with London Fog yeast provide a light haze to the appearance as well as adding more subtle fruity notes. Tropical island aromas dominate the nose. Bright citrus, peach & passionfruit flavors shine through. This beer is out of this world!
tbbc.beer @tbbco #beerisyourfriend 38 | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | cltampa.com
cltampa.com | JUNE 18-24, 2020 | 39