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Restoration of Tampa’s Jackson House’s is ready to move forward after Tampa City Council’s agreement with Accardi Properties—but the historic building will need some emergency repairs before that work can begin.
Late last month, council and Accardi Properties agreed to make a 10-foot strip available around the house so that the Jackson House Foundation (JHF) can make repairs. In exchange, the company—founded by Jason and John Accardi who also run Tampa’s 717 Parking—will get an alley between E Twiggs and E Zack Streets. Tampa’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) also approved
$1.2 million for improvements to the intersection, a development celebrated by all concerned with preservation of the historic boarding house that once hosted Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and James Brown during the Jim Crow era before slowly falling into disrepair.
The victory was short-lived. Days after the resolution between JHF and the Accardis, wood panels fell off the east side of the 124-yearold building—meaning the home will have to undergo emergency repairs. Read more and see all the photos via cltampa.com/slideshows.—Ray Roa and Jani Burden.
Saturday, August 16 · 5 - 8pm 2009 N 22nd Street, Tampa, FL PURCHASE TICKETS
do this
Tampa Bay's best things to do from Aug. 14 - 21
Big Ds
The hill Florida Democrats have to climb to office gets higher and higher every day thanks in part to the 1.3 million registered voter advantage Republicans have in the state. NPAs make up 3.4 million of the more than 13.5 million eligible voters in Florida, and it’ll be interesting to hear what David Jolly—a recent Republican who now wants to represent the Ds in the gubernatorial race—has to say at this immigration town hall. Jolly, who changed party affiliation in April, recently told WMNF public affairs program The Skinny that he would shut down the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center on day one. He also thinks immigration is where he might be able to contribute to the national dialog. “Republicans have gotten away with conflating immigration and crime, and it’s gross and it’s wrong and it’s cruel. We can be a state, and we should be a Democratic party, that’s tough on crime but lifts up communities. Republican leadership right now is fighting communities, not fighting crime,” he added. Rep. Kathy Castor is also on the panel along with La Gaceta publisher Patrick Manteiga, immigration attorney Danielle Hernandez and others.
Immigration Town Hall: Tuesday, Aug. 19. 6 p.m. Donations accepted. Cuban Club, 2010 N Avenida Republica de Cuba, Ybor City. @hillsboroughhispanicdems on Facebook—Ray Roa
Wheely cool
Manatee County’s mammoth-sized monster trucks are back in Tampa Bay after rolling around the world. Monster Jam competitors this weekend include fan favorite Grave Digger, and one of the show’s newest trucks, Bailey Circuit (a robo pup collaboration with Ringling). With each monster truck weighing over 10,000 pounds, the skilled, fearless-toa-fault, drivers will perform their own high-stakes version of the game Operation—carefully weaving through obstacles, balancing their beasts on two wheels and taking on a freestyle competition (one that doesn’t involve break dancing or rapping). Based in Palmetto, the show started three decades ago in Pontiac, Michigan and later became a global phenomenon with events held in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, China and more. About an hour before the Tampa show, fans have an opportunity to go behind the scenes with the pit crews, see some driver interviews and get a great view of the opening ceremonies with the “Monster Jam Trackside” experience open to general admission. The trucks can be seen around the Bay area before they take the stage—or dirt—with beloved star Grave Digger making an appearance at Northern Tool + Equipment on Hillsborough Avenue and Sparkle Smash and El Toro Loco each making a pit stop at different Chick-fil-A locations. Monster Jam: Friday-Sunday, Aug. 15-17. Various times. $35 & up. Amalie Arena, 401 Channelside Dr., Tampa. monsterjam.com—Jani Burden
It’s a party, puddin’
The comic book artists who made Harley Quinn a full-blown baddie are coming to St. Pete. Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti, spouses and co-creators of the “Harley Quinn” comic book series, will meet fans and speak on a panel at the Imagine Museum’s “Graphic Worlds” comic book weekend. Connor, who is also the mind behind “Power Girl” and “The Pro,” will be exhibiting her cover art. Palmiotti also played a crucial role working on “Deadpool,” “Punisher,” and many other Marvel series. The weekend also includes a “Mind Magic Show” and an anime voice acting Q&A with Joshua Seth, the iconic voice of Tai (“Digimon”), Tetsuo (“Akira”), Young Knives (“Trigun”) and more. He’ll be selling selfies and autographs for $20-$60. At the indoor market, collectors can get rare items, exclusive merch and original art. For artists looking to develop their own work, there’s a duct tape art workshop with Vincent Ricottilli, known for his use of alternative materials, and a comic watercolor workshop with Tampa-based artist Josh Rodriguez. To prevent any hangry fights over rare collectibles, Nams Sandos and Best Bakery Around will save the day. Cosplay is encouraged with fandom battles like Spider-Verse Showdown, DC Heroes & Villains Battle, X-Men Mutant Mayhem, Marvel Infinity Clash and a Final Panel Showdown & Cosplay Parade to finish the weekend off.
Graphic Worlds Comic Book
Weekend: Friday-Sunday, Aug. 15-17. 10 a.m. No cover. Imagine Museum, 1901 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. imaginemuseum.com Jani Burden
Crosswalk it like it’s hot
Pretty much every Florida city besides Key West has agreed to get rid of rainbow crosswalks celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride, Black Lives Matter-painted pavement and other street murals to comply with FDOT’s new mandate threatening to withhold state transportation funding. St. Pete citizens aren’t having it. Brian Longstreth, a Realtor and gaystpete.com boss, is organizing protesters to “stand with our leaders against state overreach and anti-gay rhetoric” outside City Hall before Thursday’s city council meeting. St. Pete residents can also give public comment during the meeting’s open forum.
Save Our Street Murals: Thursday, Aug. 14. 2 p.m. No cover. St. Petersburg City Council, 175 5th St N, St. Petersburg. chng.it/ksVb2b799d—Selene San Felice
Sea-ze the day
Tampa Bay residents can do something good for their bodies and beaches this week at Fort DeSoto when The Body Electric Yoga Company and Tampa Bay Watch host a cleanup, potluck and meditation beach day. Attendees are expected to bring their own food and drink, and are recommended (but not required) to bring a potluck dish to share. Kids and beach toys are also welcome. The yoga and clean up event will be at the park’s Pavillion 3 access point. There is no cover, but online registration is recommended.
BE Beach Day: Saturday, Aug. 16. 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Fort De Soto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S, Tierra Verde. @TheBodyElectricYogaCompany on Facebook—Marleigh Brown
Spread your wings
It’s always cool, figuratively and literally, in college art galleries, and Hillsborough Community College’s back-to-school auction has really spread its wings. In its third year, the “Silent Hawktion” continues to give the community a chance to immerse themselves in Gallery114 (where the “In Case of Flood” exhibition is up), bid on oneof-a-kind pieces from Tampa artists (lowest bid is $25), and mingle with other art-loving locals (mocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served). Students get a free print, and the rest of us get to experience the magic of HCC (pictured is Mark Switzer performing at the Ukombozi and Facing the Music Reception last April).
Third Annual Silent Hawktion & Back to School Bash: Next Thursday, Aug. 21. 6 p.m. No cover. Gallery114@HCC Ybor City Campus, 1411 E 11th Ave., Ybor City. hccfl.edu—Ray Roa
“There are a lot of eyes on this process because of recent searches…”
Bullish
USF
committee wants a president that won’t ‘upset the apple cart’
By Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix
The people who’ll vet candidates for president at the University of South Florida hope their next leader will focus on academics and being accessible—and “not upset the apple cart.”
During a virtual morning presidential search committee meeting last Wednesday, its members, made up of university trustees, university foundation members, business leaders, professors, and a student, laid out what they hope for.
John Couris, committee member and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, laid out his priorities: academic output, community outreach, fundraising, and to be a “good partner with our state leaders and our federal leaders. And this, by the way, is not political, it is simply a matter of just good stewardship and leadership.”
community, central to the fundraising and across faculty and the administrators inside the university, the number one priority is someone who can support academic freedom,” Schneider said. “It’s a non-negotiable, because we have to have the environment of a university inside the university, and that’s what drives the academic enterprise.”
LOCAL NEWS
A survey of professors at Florida universities last year found that state government limits on tenure and academic freedom, along with the state’s political climate, have prompted many of them to apply for jobs out of state, the Phoenix reported. One declared, “Academic freedom is on life support.”
Follow advice
Couris made clear he wants a president interested in USF’s mission, not just their own.
“We want a leader who can continue the trajectory that the university is on,” Couris said.
“It’s important for the leader to understand that the university is in really good shape. It is a world-class research organization doing incredible work with incredible faculty and leaders and trustees, really making a difference. This person needs to come in and become part of that team and not upset the apple cart for the sake of making change.”
The University of West Florida, tied for third among public institutions in the state for performance this past year, has been promised to be made over in a more conservative light by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He started by overhauling its board of trustees, appointing conservative allies. Then President Martha Saunders resigned and the board tapped former education commissioner, GOP senator, and DeSantis ally Manny Diaz Jr. to be interim and potential official president.
Despite DeSantis’ promises, UWF trustees were unable this spring to identify major changes needed to be made in regards to administrative or political problems at the university.
Jennifer Schneider, an education professor and USF committee member, said her No. 1 priority is academic freedom.
“It’s really important to understand that academics is central to everything else the university wants. Central to athletics, central to the
The Florida A&M University presidential search, which ended recently and in controversy, included a Board of Governors inquiry to search
committee members after concerns surfaced that they may have violated the nondisclosure agreement they signed.
The committee picked Marva Johnson, a former Board of Education member and former lobbyist, over protests and widespread FAMU community pushback that her candidacy was inspired by political motives.
Ken Jones, the Board of Governors’ appointee to the USF committee, may have alluded to the hiccups in that search.
“There are a lot of eyes on this process because of recent searches, and so what I would say is, please, I implore you, whatever the guidance that you’ve been given from the chair and from the staff as a search committee member, please follow it,” Jones said. “It’s so important and some of the things that you’ll see might not seem consequential but they could end up being very, very consequential.”
Rhea Law announced in February she would step down as USF president once a replacement is named.
“Visibility and accessibility of the next president is really crucial to this position. I think it’s going to help build the community ties within the
student body and also with the community,” Alexa Grubbs, a student and committee member, said. Of note is Florida’s deviation from hiring career academics to be university president. Whoever becomes president will take over from Law, an attorney and longtime member of USF’s board of trustees.
Oscar Horton, a USF trustee and CEO of Sun State International Trucks, called for “integrity and inclusion.”
“I’ve been around long enough, I’ve been in and out of enough organizations. You can walk in the room and just by the demeanor of the person, you know who you’re dealing with,” Horton said.
The University of Florida has not made any public announcements about its presidential search, which failed after the Board of Governors rejected UF trustees’ choice Santa Ono because he used to support diversity and inclusion policies.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
PATH LESS TAKEN: USF Park on the Tampa Riverwalk.
Work it
City council and mayor’s staff discuss $30 million increase in salaries, more.
By Michael Bishop/Tampa Monitor
The importance of the workshops isn’t to provide a dialogue between the admin and council; a council member can have as many private discussions with staff and the mayor they want. But because of Florida’s Sunshine Laws, they can’t have conversations between themselves outside of public.
They aren’t sitting in smoke filled back rooms hashing out their own budget, they are in little bubbles and can only discuss priorities amongst themselves in publicly noticed meetings. And I think that’s where the disconnect starts.
The majority approached this process not as a negotiation between themselves, but with the mayor. Ignoring that the mayor has already weighed priorities and made a call. Now’s it is council’s turn.
There were a few items I’d classify as news in the four hour workshop.
First, a clarification on the funding of HART’s Route 1. The mayor and admin presented a slide showing increases in spending for FY26. It included $400,000 for the route. I interpreted that to mean the mayor was proposing to spend $400K more than what was spent in FY25. Not what she was proposing. That slide inexplicably shows that some of the spending approved in FY25 carries over into FY26. Not additional spending or an increase.
million. It was included in the 2022 reimbursement resolution. By FY24 it ballooned to $33.5 million and in the FY25 5 year CIP approved at an anticipated $41.2 million (source). It was part of a $50 million reimbursement resolution approved last year.
COLUMN
To hear it today, those numbers mean nothing and this project could either be much larger or fall through if it doesn’t meet some benchmark for a project no one can clearly define. One of the selling points of the Hanna Ave project was the centralized fleet maintenance element. Now to hear what has been called a TFR project for 4 years is a Logistics and Asset Management project that will service TFR and other departments is news. And that’s a big deal because for 3 years the Fire Chief has said that all of the other fire station projects planned hinge on this new facility being built. The entire price tag has been characterized by the administration as part of TFR budget demonstrating the mayor’s commitment to fire and public safety. A contract for consulting on this project will be before council on Thursday. I think it would benefit everyone for the admin to clarify what their intentions are and how all of this relates to TFR before the next council and mayor wind up with a boondoggle on their plate.
Council member Hurtak indicated however she intends to motion to fund the route again considering the success of the pilot. Ridership has exceeded the free trolley downtown.
Another bit of news is that there’s a total of $41 million earmarked for paving in FY26. It includes:
• $4.5 million in unspent funds in this fiscal year.
• $5 million from the FY24 carry over.
• $9 million in FY26 budget.
• $21 million from the All for Transportation disbursement.
The disbursement funds are earmarked for specific streets. When asked by Council member Hurtak if the mobility department can spend all of those funds in FY26, the interim director hedged and said they’d try.
The last bit of news out of the day was the city hasn’t closed on the property for the Tampa Fire Rescue fleet maintenance and supply project and that the price tag is absolutely arbitrary. For the first time I can recall, there is now discussion about this being a city wide fleet maintenance facility focused on fire rescue but not limited to. That they are exploring maximizing its use. This project started out at in the FY22 budget at $6.5
One question that was asked—also by Council member Hurtak—that wasn’t answered was for an explanation for the $30 million increase in salaries. Instead, Chief of Staff John Bennett presented a defense for how the admin determines salaries and compared Tampa to other municipalities in per capita spending and a couple of other data points showing Tampa in line or better with other cities in how much they spend on people. This is one of those friction points in the charter. The mayor has full authority over personnel, but the council is ultimately responsible for the budget. If they can’t set caps on personnel costs at the department level, then how can they truly be responsible for the budget? What check does the public have on a mayor from overpaying political appointees? Negotiating salaries and raises before a budget is set seems backwards.
Beyond that the rest of the day was spent airing old grievances, making suggestions for what roads to fix and council maybe, finally getting that the mayor isn’t horse trading the budget during public meetings with council. That they are only there to answer questions, not as facilitators of council’s workshops.
I was curious how council perceived the effectiveness of the workshop and reached out asking if anyone wanted to give the day a letter grade.
I got one response: Council member Hurtak gave the day a C-/D+ [correction: I misquoted her grade initially as C-/B+], having hoped they would have had more time to discuss capital improvement projects. Which is a big improvement over the F she felt they earned last year in their workshops.
That’s probably a fair assessment for someone who understood the assignment and did their homework. She came prepared with specific questions for the admin. She was also the one who drove home the point to her fellow council
members that the mayor’s role is done for now. Council has one more bite at the apple this week with a workshop double header. After that, there are no more scheduled discussions of the budget until the first public hearing September 4th. One month before they vote to adopt a budget as theirs.
This post first appeared on the Tampa Monitor and is used under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Support Tampa Monitor by making a donation or buying Michael Bishop a coffee.
HALL PASS: Council gets one more bite of the budget apple next week.
RAMUNAS BRUZAS/SHUTTERSTOCK
Open minds
Term-limited Sen. Darryl Rouson mulls running for House seat.
By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix
Tampa Bay-area Democratic state Sen. Darryl Rouson says he is open-minded about whether he’ll try to stay in the Florida Legislature next year by making a run for a Florida House seat.
Rouson, who turned 70 last month, has served in the Legislature since 2008 but is termlimited from running again for his District 16 state Senate seat in 2026.
He says he is seriously considering filing to run for the House District 62 seat in Pinellas County, which will be open next year because Democratic incumbent Michele Rayner is departing to run for Rouson’s Senate seat.
Ingoglia filed a resolution during the 2025 session (SJR 536) to clarify that the Constitution imposes a lifetime limit of 16 years in state legislative office—eight years max in the House, eight years max in the Senate.
ELECTIONS
“Well, it’s good to have two options, and I believe in experience plus relationship-building equals success. And I’ve been able to have great success, both in the House and the Senate, and things will take care of themselves,” he told this reporter while speaking on WMNF-88.5 FM radio in Tampa last Friday.
So does that mean he is running? “Well, I’m weighing options, and it’s nice to have options,” he said.
Although it’s more common for state representatives term-limited out of office to run for the more select state Senate (where there are just 40 members compared to 120 in the House), it’s not unprecedented by any means.
Last year, Melbourne Republican Debbie Mayfield won a seat in the House after being term-limited from her Senate seat (she ultimately won back that seat after it became open again when Randy Fine departed for Congress).
Brevard County Republican Thad Altman served in the House, the Senate, and then back in the House before being term-limited from office last year.
Pasco County Property Tax Collector Mike Fasano is another prominent legislator who couldn’t stay away from Tallahassee. The New Port Richey Republican served in the House from 1994 to 2002; in the Senate from 2002 to 2012; and returned to the House in 2012.
He departed from that seat a year later, when Gov. Rick Scott appointed him as tax collector, a job he’s held ever since.
Subverting term limits?
Florida voters approved eight-year term limits for members of the Florida Legislature in 1992. Some senators (like Rouson now) have been allowed to serve an additional two years due to a quirk in state law regarding redistricting.
In an apparent response to legislators who switch legislative chambers after completing their terms, now-Chief Financial Officer Blaise
There was a caveat for senators who serve reduced two-year terms due to redistricting. The measure would have gone to the voters as a proposed constitutional amendment in 2026, but stalled after being approved in one committee stop.
“Let’s stop the practice of people continually running for the same office and bouncing back and forth between chambers,” Ingoglia said on X. “Serving the people of Florida should be a privilege, and an honor, not a career.”
Redistricting issues
The configuration of Rouson’s Senate District 16 seat is being challenged in federal court by a group of voters living in both Pinellas and Hillsborough County who are represented by the ACLU of Florida and the Civil Rights & Racial
Justice Clinic at New York University School of Law. They contend its design since 2022, including parts of St. Petersburg but moving across Tampa Bay into Hillsborough County, was the result of illegal racial gerrymandering.
During the trial, voters who live in Hillsborough County argued they weren’t being fairly represented because Rouson lives in St. Petersburg.
“I’ve done my level best to represent both sides of the Bay efficiently and effectively, and I think that I’ve done a pretty good job at that,” he said.
Three Democrats have already entered the race for House District 62: Kyandra Darling, Upton Fisher, and former state legislator Wengay Newton.
Darling addressed the rumors about Rouson’s potential entry into the race on Friday, issuing a statement on X saying, “I remain as committed to running and winning this race as I was on the day I declared my candidacy.” (That statement was first reported by Florida Politics).
Among the other topics Rouson discussed Friday were House Speaker Danny Perez’ memo to members calling for a select committee on redistricting congressional districts. Notably, Senate President Ben Albritton has yet to publicly comment about the idea.
“I think the Senate President is being very thoughtful and deliberate about his actions,
and there’s no urgency to do this now,” Rouson said.
“We’ve got a lifetime between now and November, when we get back for committee weeks, and we should study what’s happening in Texas and in California and the other states like New York that are intending to do some things. We shouldn’t be knee-jerk reactors to what other states are doing. We need to do what’s good for Florida.”
Published reports indicate Florida Republicans are considering a redrawing of the congressional map that could net them three additional congressional seats. Rouson is skeptical. They already control 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional districts.
“I think that the GOP should tread very carefully, because if they try to stretch their advantage too thin, it could backfire in ways that they don’t foresee right now,” Rouson said.
“For example, if they diminish the margins for incumbent Republicans, thinking that they are safe, small shifts in the future could make districts competitive and give an advantage to the Democrats to gain more seats.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@ floridaphoenix.com.
“Well, it’s good to have options…”
Deep thoughts
Florida Democrats react to memo about congressional redistricting.
By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix
The Florida Legislature appears to be on board with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stated desire to convene a mid-decade redistricting process this year. House Speaker Daniel Perez announced last Thursday that he is creating a Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting, with the goal of conducting hearings when the Legislature returns this fall for their already scheduled committee meetings.
“As many of you are aware, there are national conversations ongoing in other states related to midterm redistricting,” Perez wrote in a memo to members of the Florida House.
“Here in Florida, our state supreme court’s recent decision in Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute Inc. v. Secretary, Florida Department of State, raises important and distinct questions about the applicability and interpretation of certain provisions of the so-called “Fair Districts” provisions of the Florida Constitution and their intersection with Federal law.
“Redrawing Congressional maps outside of the standard post-census cycle threatens fair representation, undermines the intent of our democratic system, and risks silencing our diverse communities,” she said in a written statement. “We will do everything in our power to fight back on these efforts, reject partisan gerrymandering, and uphold the principles of transparency and equal justice for Florida voters.”
The idea of redistricting congressional seats in Florida was not on the minds of Florida legislators nor DeSantis when the legislative session took place this year, or even as recently as when the governor signed the budget at the end of June.
Texas begins the arms race
ELECTIONS
“Exploring these questions now, at the middecade point, would potentially allow us to seek legal guidance from our supreme court without the uncertainty associated with deferring those questions until after the next decennial census and reapportionment.”
Republicans hold 20 of the 28 congressional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives following the latest reapportionment in 2022. The Florida Supreme Court last month upheld DeSantis’ hand-crafted map that ultimately netted Florida four additional GOP seats and eliminated Black representation in North Florida.
But that all changed after President Donald Trump, concerned Republicans could lose control of the House of Representatives after next year’s midterm elections, called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month to add new GOP seats in his state in a rare mid-decade redistricting, which Abbott was initially opposed to doing, according to reporting by the Texas Tribune.
Once Abbott agreed to do that, however, the gears began working in other states—blue and red—to follow suit.
“We will do everything in our power to fight back on these efforts…”
DeSantis publicly discussed the idea for the first time on July 22, saying during a press conference in Bradenton that he believes the state was “malapportioned.”
Writing for the majority in that case, Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz concluded that legislators had a “superior” obligation to follow federal equal-protection law, and not the Fair Districts Amendments, which say districts can’t be drawn in a way that diminishes the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”
The Fair Districts Amendments were approved by 63% of the voters in 2010. (There were two separate amendments on the ballot—one regarding legislative redistricting and one for congressional redistricting). Moreover, a reapportionment plan or individual district cannot be drawn “with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.”
Orlando Democratic House Rep. Anna Eskamani called Perez’ memo “deeply troubling.”
“So, I do think it would be appropriate to do a redistricting in the mid-decade,” he wondered aloud. “So, we’re working through what that would look like, but I can tell you, just look at how the population has shifted in different parts of the state over a four-to-five year period. It’s been really significant.”
DeSantis said the following week that the U.S. Department of Commerce had considering doing a mid-decade new Census count, something President Trump called for Thursday.
“I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures, and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024, Trump wrote on Truth Social. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the president added.
Genesis Robinson, executive director of Equal Ground, a Black-led voting organization, said the U.S. Census is “not a political tool for any administration to manipulate for partisan advantage.”
“For conservative states like Florida and Texas to stand by, waiting to seize on this unlawful order from their authoritarian-in-chief to upend our democracy, is shameful,” he added.
Governors in blue states such as California and New York have said they may call for their own redistricting to keep up with Republicans, creating an arms race of sorts when it comes to the mid-decade redistricting plans across the country.
Members considering a run for Congress need not apply
In his memo, Perez said he would not appoint to the select committee any member of the
Florida House who has expressed an interest in running for Congress.
He added that while they are free to express their opinions on the issue, “statements about redistricting that suggest an intent to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party, which is currently prohibited by the Florida Constitution, will also disqualify you from consideration.”
Members of the Florida House have until next Friday, Aug. 15, to email Perez indicating their interest in serving on the select committee. There has been no word from the Florida Senate about a similar panel being convened there. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
THROW SOME D’S ON IT: Rep. Anna Eskamani says her party will reject partisan gerrymandering.
One of Tampa’s hardest tables to get is at Bern’s.
Drink the Kool-Aid
27 Tampa Bay restaurants with cult followings
By Jani Burden and Marleigh Brown
Tampa Bay residents are serious about their restaurants, whether it takes standing in a line out the door for “the best breakfast sandwich ever,” or fighting Rob Gronkowski for reservations months ahead for to-die-for pasta. Since we first posted this list, the Michelin Guide has given infamous stars to some, one has closed (RIP King State), and a few have changed ownership.
3 Daughters Brewing Since starting in Downtown St. Pete’s warehouse district in 2013, 3 Daughters has opened locations on Clearwater beach and downtown St.Pete. With 40 handcrafted beers on tap, food trucks and vendors regularly feeding hungry drinkers, and a family-friendly atmosphere, it has become a classic Tampa Bay hang. Multiple locations, 3dbrewing.com
Bake’n Babes Julie Curry’s salted chocolate chip cookie consistently wins “Best Cookie” in Best of the Bay, and its other colorful baked goods don’t fall behind. Indulgent creations include the Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookie and sparkler-topped freak shake at its locations
at Armature Works and on Davis Islands. Bake’n Babes is on DoorDash and Uber, though you may have to light your own sparkler at home. 231 E Davis Blvd., Tampa, bakenbabes.com
Bascom’s Chop House A little less exclusive than its competition, Bern’s, Bascom’s is ideal for a spontaneous upscale evening. The pecancrusted grouper and 38-oz. tomahawk ribeye is just the tip of the iceberg for its eclectic menu. 3665 Ulmerton Rd. Clearwater, bascoms.com
Bella’s Italian Cafe This South Tampa stronghold of handmade pasta marks 40 years in the neighborhood next year, and it’s easy to taste why multiple generations of Tampeños consider Bella’s a family-favorite. Founded by Joanie Corneil and the late Bill Shumate, Bella’s has handfuls of menu must-haves (chopped salad, Nate’s chicken) along with cult-favorite seasonal specials (butternut mezzaluna) and a killer happy hour. 1413 S Howard Ave. #100 , Tampa. bellasitaliancafe.com
Bern’s Steak House One of Tampa Bay’s hardest tables to get is at Bern’s, but you could always try to sneak a spot at the bar. The
household name is known for its dry-aged steaks, one of the world’s largest private wine collections, and a famously decadent dessert room. 1208 S Howard Ave., Tampa, bernssteakhouse.com
Casa Tina Mexican Located in the heart of Downtown Dunedin, Casa Tina perennially tops the Best of The Bay awards, and for good reason. Known for top-notch margaritas, tacos and burritos, the local fav also is a well-known vegan bright spot in Pinellas County. With dazzling dancers every weekend, you can get dinner and a show for the price of one. 365 Main St., Dunedin, casatinas.com
Columbia Restaurant
Florida’s oldest restaurant is right here in Tampa. Covering an entire Ybor City block, the 120-year-old Columbia Restaurant spans all the bases of Spanish and Cuban-inspired dishes, like classic Cubans and massive plates of paella. Don’t skip the Spanish bean soup or Columbia’s main crowd pleaser, the 1905 salad. 2117 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. columbiarestaurant.com
El Cap Restaurant Located on busy 4th Street N in St. Pete, El Cap’s “World Champ Burger” is an institution in itself. Served with crispy onion rings or fries, this makes El Cap one of the most iconic spots in the Bay Area. In early 2023, the restaurant changed hands, but so far the new owners have kept the St. Pete staple intact. 3500 4th St. N, St. Petersburg, @ ElCapStPete on Facebook
DINING GUIDE
Frenchy’s It’s hard to spend a day at Clearwater Beach and not walk past at least one Frenchy’s. The seafood joint has six different locations spread across Clearwater Beach and Dunedin Causeway, serving fan-favorite dishes like its Cajun grouper sandwich, island shrimp tacos and seafood pot pie as well as local craft beers and frozen rum runners. 7 Rockaway St., Clearwater, frenchysonline.com
Craft Kafe This artisan bakery provides goodies without gluten from daily quiches to mediterranean toast. Popular offerings also include The Craft sandwich (eggs, chicken sausage, avocado cream, pepper jack) and Ed’s Vegan Burger. Seasonal coffee flavors like lavender and blueberry. Multiple locations, craftkafe.com
Kissin’ Cuzzins Kissin’ Cuzzins is known to generations of St. Pete locals as a go-to spot for breakfast and lunch serving classic, homestyle dishes and twists on diner favorites, including stacks of thick and fluffy pancakes (get the chocolate chip or sweet potato), egg benedicts and perfectly crispy and greasy hash browns. In 2023, the iconic resto changed hands, but is still the greasy spoon institution locals have
come to love over the years. 951 34th St N, St. Petersburg, @Kissin’ Cuzzins on Facebook
Koya There’s high demand for seats at the sushi counter of this Hyde Park fine dining restaurant. The owners of Noble Rice started Koya —an intimate eight-seat tasting-menuonly experience—2020. Since earning one of Tampa’s first Michelin stars in 2023, Eric Fralik have kept standards high. Diners can expect seven to nine raw and cooked courses, including luxuries like bluefin tuna and uni that are flown in weekly from a market in Kagoshima, Japan. Plan to be there for at least two hours. 807 W Platt St., Tampa, koyatampa.com
La Segunda Central Bakery Pretty much all of Tampa is connected to La Segunda’s bread in one way or another. The flagship location in one of V.M. Ybor’s coveted landmark buildings represents the Cuban-American community in a town founded on Spanish culture. For at least 30 years its bread was made with Palmetto leaves, putting a signature twist on its famous Cuban sandwiches and toast—which always pair perfectly with a cafe con leche. Even with multiple locations, don’t be surprised to see a line out the door. 2512 N 15th St., Tampa, lasegundabakery.com
La Teresita The two-story Cuban restaurant serving traditional Latin dishes landed on Food and Wine’s “Best Diners in Every State” in 2023. Catch the Tuesday special for the crowd favorite “ropa vieja” (shredded beef). Bonus points if you can find where Anthony Bourdain sat during his 2002 visit. 23248 W Columbus Dr., Tampa, lateresitarestaurant.com
MaMa G’S German Bakery and Coffeehouse The Bay area’s hotspot for authentic German pastries and coffee is perfect for the earlymorning sweet tooth. Run entirely by Mama G’s family, its four locations also offer German classics like schnitzel, bratwurst and Frühstuck (a traditional German breakfast that consists of ham, cheese, a hard boiled egg and two rolls). The place is usually packed, so wurst case-scenario you’ll have to wait, but it’s totally worth it. 6114 54th Ave. N, Kenneth City. mamagsbakery.com
Mazzaro’s Italian Market One of Tampa Bay’s most popular markets, Mazzaro’s has won a slew of Best of the Bay awards over the years, and is known, in part, for its dramatic unveilings of comically-sized foods—including a 40-foot loaf of bread it donated to the Dalí Museum in 2021 and its 854-pound hunk of provolone it sliced into in 2022. Be prepared for crowds and for the love of gabagool, be ready when your number is called at the deli counter. 2909 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg, mazzarosmarket.com
Mel’s Hot Dogs Easily one of the best places to get a glizzy in the Bay, Mel’s has been serving up Vienna beef dogs since 1973. It’s best known for Chicago-style hot dogs served on a steamed poppy seed bun with all the fixins’. In
2024, the eatery started serving ice cream to cool down that hot dog breath. 4136 E Busch Blvd., Tampa, melshotdogs.com
Mise en Place There is a rhythm to every service in the Mise en Place dining room, and the ritual has happened pretty much nightly since Maryann Ferenc and Chef Marty Blitz first opened the staple Tampa restaurant in 1986. On any given evening, the bar is packed with regulars. Some make it to tables, joining business diners and others who recognize the spot as a destination. There are staples, like the rack of lamb, on Blitz’s menu, but the best bet is to follow the lead of the staff who’ve curated a top-notch cocktail and wine program to complement the offerings from one of the most celebrated chefs in Bay area history. 442 W Grand Central Ave., Tampa, miseonline.com
Mykonos Walk into the bright blue doors of Mykonos and be immersed in Greek flavors with
DINING GUIDE
at least a week in advance or expect to wait a while for first-come-first-serve at the Veranda. 3054 Beach Blvd. S, Gulfport, piastrattoria.com
Rocca Good luck getting a table at Gronk’s favorite restaurant. Last May, the Tampa Heights Italian fine dining spot and its chef Bryce Bonsack earned another Michelin star for innovative takes on Squid ink octopus pasta and dry aged Rohan duck. The waiting list has only grown since Gronk and Tom Brady started talking about the spot on Sundays. If you eventually do get a table, don’t skip the mozzarella cart or a pre-dinner ricotta melone (vodka sour) at the bar. 323 W Palm Ave., Tampa, roccatampa.com
Saigon Deli Saigon Deli is the place to go for classic Vietnamese meals like pho and vermicelli. The no-frills spot also offers four varieties of Banh Mi, including meatballs, roast beef, pate liver and grilled pork. The Banh Mi
Supernatural Food and Wine For a small hole-in-the-wall, Supernatural has a big reputation. Celebrity chef Alton Brown ate the best breakfast sandwich he’s ever had there in 2022. You’ll want to grab a famous cider sourdoughnut while shopping the wine selection. Weekly specials include vegan options. 305 E Polk St., Tampa, supernaturaltpa.com
Ulele Located on the Tampa Riverwalk, Ulele opened in 2014 out of a historic steampowered pumphouse and is easily one of the best places to slurp on oysters (or crunch into the fire-grilled ones) or grab a cocktail outside near the natural spring. 1819 N Highland Ave., Tampa, ulele.com
West Tampa Sandwich Shop After President Barack Obama at West Tampa Sandwich Shop visited in 2012, the restaurant kept the spirit of hope and change alive
dishes like the restaurant’s lamb shank with a light onion gravy. The late founder,Andreas Salivara, is considered the “unofficial mayor of Tarpon Springs,” and has served tourists and locals for over 30 years. 628 Dodecanese Blvd., Tarpon Springs, mykonos.res-menu.com
Pia’s Trattoria One of the best reasons to make the hike to Gulfport, Pia’s Trattoria describes itself as “a romantic, cozy Old Italy atmosphere” with a green garden ambiance, and that’s the truth. A perennial Best of the Baywinnie, Pia’s is a local favorite for Italian fare, and offers cakes and desserts, all made from scratch. Even after expanding into the former Tutto Bene next door for Pia’s Veranda in 2021, both spots are famously always packed. Make reservations
is packed perfectly inside the French baguette and, and for $5.50 you might want to order two. Keep the high going with a sugar rush from the Vietnamese coffee. 3858 W Waters Ave., Tampa, @saigondeli on Facebook
Skipper’s Smokehouse Under a thick canopy of large oak trees called the Skipperdome, Skipper’s is the perfect place for a cold one in the shade, at the oyster bar, or during an evening blues set. This iconic 45-year-old live music venue serves an assortment of “Floribbean” dishes like its award-winning blackened grouper reuben. During happy hour on Thursdays and Fridays from 4 p.m.-8 p.m., be sure to grab $1 oysters or a rum bucket if you’re feeling wild. 910 Skipper Rd., Tampa, skipperssmokehouse.com
(and at 2012 prices) with its $5.90 honey Cuban ($8.50 for a large!) named after him. The cheap breakfasts earns West Tampa Sandwich Shop one of the largest “cult-like” followings around the Bay. 3904 N Armenia Ave., Tampa, westtampasandwichshoprestaurant.com
Wright’s Gourmet House Now under new ownership which says it will remain true to what founders built, Wright’s is a South Tampa institution that’s served popular sandwiches, salads and cakes for more than 60 years. Lines are standard, and there’s no online ordering, so don’t come in a hurry. A second location is in the works at Tampa General Hospital. 1200 S Dale Mabry Hwy. Tampa, wrightsgourmet.com
BIG FANS: Diners have flocked to the patio at Ulele since it opened in 2014.
KIER MAGOULAS
August 23, 2025
MOVIES THEATER ART CULTURE
Mirror, mirror
It’s easy to forget that Mirror Lake was the city’s first municipal water supply.
By Dr. Amanda Hagood
It’s a cool spring morning in St. Petersburg, and I’m up to my chest-wadered knees in the cola-colored waters of Mirror Lake. Behind me, I can feel the sun lifting over the city skyline, weaving through an eclectic mixture of historic buildings, modern high-rises, and cranes-building-more-high rises to cast its welcome warmth on my back. In front of me lies a three-foot patch of scraped earth, where I’ve been shoveling and raking away the tough roots of St. Augustine grass that once grew right up to the water’s edge, preparing the ground for pollinator-friendly native plants. All around me a large band of volunteers pulls roots, drops Black and Mild tops into garbage bags with mechanical claws, and patrols the shoreline in canoes to snatch stray plastic bags and snack wrappers out of the bullrushes that fringe the lake. We are a stalwart troop of ecowarriors, battling what Jim Bays, President of Stewards of our Urban Lakes (SoUL) refers to as “the continuing inflow of new debris”—a whole lot of litter—and “the invasion of aquatic emergent plants.” Weeds. As we do, we’re trudging and squelching through hallowed ground. Pausing to catch my
breath, I glance across the parkway that runs along the lake’s edge and spot the pebbly gray facade of the Tomlinson building, dedicated in 1924 as St. Petersburg Junior High School (funded by Edwin High Tomlinson, the same city booster that developed St. Pete’s bygone Fountain of Youth attraction). After years of serving as a vocational training center, the old landmark is now being redeveloped as affordable housing for Pinellas County’s educators. Along the same winding road lies a cavalcade of St. Pete’s centenarian structures: a 1915 Carnegie Library, the 1920 founding site of St. Petersburg High School (now also converted to apartments), St. Pete’s iconic 1924 Shuffleboard Club, and even its 1937 City Hall. It’s no wonder—especially with new developments like the 18-story Reflection condo tower shouldering in nearby—that the city chose to declare Mirror Lake its newest historic district last December.
But notably absent from the line-up of Mirror Lakes’ historic structures is the city’s first waterworks. A water tower and pumphose were constructed on the lake’s southeastern shore in 1899, the same year the city passed an
ordinance forbidding cows to graze freely along its newly paved Central Avenue. While the site has given way to many other worthy edifices— including the Bernie McCabe Second District Court of Appeal Courthouse currently under construction—the absence of the waterworks makes it easy to forget a very salient fact: Mirror Lake was the city’s first municipal water supply.
A shriek snaps me out of my reverie. A runaway beach wagon filled with pulled weeds and gardening equipment barrels down the sloping grass, heading for a gaggle of screaming teens at the waterline. A gallant young man swoops in to intercept, his long dreads swinging behind him. “Just doing my part,” he says, flashing a winning smile as he pulls the offending cart up the hill.
NEW DEVELOPMENT:
flannel swimsuits lined up on a rustic dock, ready to take a plunge (alligators be damned!).
The lake appears again on the 1888 plat of the City, but this time with a new name: Reservoir Lake. At this point, St. Petersburgers were still gathering their water from wells and cisterns, but it was clear that the city’s developers had an important supporting role in mind for the erstwhile swimming hole.
“Today, nobody would dream of drinking Mirror Lake’s waters.”
Teen hijinks are nothing new here. Early photographs of Mirror Lake (then called Weir Lake) date from the 1870s, when H. A. Weir acquired 40 acres along its shore. They show a broad, shallow waterway bordered by tall pines and a troop of teens and tweens in long
It would be the War Department, rather than the City, that would first tap the Reservoir: in 1898, in the midst of the SpanishAmerican war, the city permitted the federal government to pipe Mirror Lake’s flow down to its Railroad Pier for transport to serve troops in Tampa, where water supplies were brackish and unpalatable. The following year, the city switched on its first municipal supply, serving hotels and businesses along Central Avenue and First Avenue North. Only six years later, Reservoir Lake’s supply began to run short. The city was forced to look elsewhere,
continued on page 40
Mirror Lake is St. Pete’s latest historic district.
continued from page 39
drilling deep wells around the lake—and later, around nearby Crescent Lake—to keep the waterworks humming and the tap water flowing.
Reservoir Lake then began its shift away from its role as water resource and entered a more genteel phase of its existence: a central city park. The marshes along its edge were dredged to give the lake a more uniform shape; the roadway around it paved and trimmed with elegant gas street lights; the ubiquitous St. Augustine grass planted in a green swathe around its shore. By 1915, the St. Petersburg Daily Times felt compelled to explain to the growing number of tourists in St. Pete that “there is no longer any connection” between Reservoir lake at the city’s water supply. This transformation was soon made official by the city park board’s decision—spurred on by pioneer conservationist and St. Pete Audubon founder Katherine Bell Tippets—to change the waterway’s name again, this time to something a little more (if you’ll pardon the pun) polished: Mirror Lake. Today, nobody would dream of drinking Mirror Lake’s waters.
Like most urban lakes, its serene beauty masks a less visible function as a sink for all kinds of pollutants, byproducts of the city’s development. Decades of trash washed into the lake have sunk to the bottom. At the same time, fertilizers, animal wastes, petrochemicals, and even human waste—the area is home to a significant population of unhoused folks who lack good bathroom options a lot of the time—have drained into the lake as runoff. Together, all these elements have contaminated the lake’s sediment, forming a muddy archive of the city’s history and development (and, of course, sending excess nutrients downstream to the bay). By the eco-conscious 1970s, piled-up litter and repeated fish kills led one concerned neighbor to post a sign in the park reading: “In memory of Mirror Lake. Not Gone, but going. Rest in peace.”
Reports of the lake’s demise were somewhat exaggerated. It survived well into the 1990s, when the city began to treat it with an alum injection system, which adds aluminum sulfate salt to incoming stormwater. The alum combines with heavy metals and phosphates in the water to form heavy “floc” molecules which sink to the bottom, keeping the water above relatively clean. Bays notes that, despite the litter, Mirror Lake is, water quality-wise, one of the cleanest urban lakes in St. Petersburg.
Still, I’m not exactly reaching for my ecofriendly metal straw.
But I am thirsty. So I perch on a low wall above the embankment to take a water break. Before long, an older man in a broad straw hat approaches, takes a seat nearby. I’d noticed him circling the lake earlier, chatting with some of the other volunteers. From the confident way he’d smiled and gestured out over the lake, I’d assumed he was one of the team leaders. Up
close, that same grin reveals damaged teeth, some missing altogether; his eyes have a friendly sparkle, but one is clouded over, like a cataract. His broad hat and clothes are threadbare and pungent. We chat a little about the weather, about the new plantings that will come in around the lake, before the conversation drifts to his church, which he kindly and repeatedly invites me to join. I thank him, explaining that I’m already spiritually affiliated. As I return to my shoveling and raking, I wonder if, perhaps, he lives out here by the lake.
CITY WILDS
By 1930, St. Pete’s thirst had outstripped local waterways’ ability to supply it. So the city, together with the newly formed Pinellas Water Company, invested in a new supply system that could pump up to 14 million gallons of ground water per day from the Cosme well field (located northwest Hillsborough County).
And ironically, this colossal infrastructural achievement, which brought high quality water to taps, tubs, and toilets throughout the city at the turn of a handle (almost as easily as simply wishing for it!) may be part of the reason why. After 95 years of conjuring plentiful potable water from wellfields most of us have never seen and couldn’t locate without Google Maps, it might be fair to say we’ve lost our appreciation for the everyday miracle of having enough—really, more than enough—water.
In her book “Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis,” renowned Florida journalist Cynthia Barnett explores both the origins and the consequences of this curious condition of having all the water we want, whenever we want it. For too long, she argues, water has been treated as a commodity—and a very cheap one, at that—rather
TIME FOR REFLECTION: St. Pete’s own water history bears out the old municipal approach to water.
The new system required 26 miles of 36-inch pipe, a portion of it sunk into the bottom of Old Tampa Bay, to deliver water to a newly constructed pumping station in the north St. Pete neighborhood of Washington Terrace. This massive undertaking—heralded by the St. Petersburg Times as “the very latest development in hydraulic engineering”—was celebrated with an elaborate Soft Water Carnival attended by 10,000 thirsty citizens, featuring a barbecue in Williams Park, a formal ball at the Coliseum, an old-timey nail-driving contest, and a “water carnival” of 100 gushing sprinklers for the city’s children. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting that excited about drinking water now.
“ ...we’ve long since ceased to recognize that water is life.”
than the critical ecological actor that it is. “Big pipe” projects that characterize 20th century water development have focused on moving and treating the millions of gallons per day that cities require. But they’ve also shifted our collective focus toward meeting an everincreasing demand, rather than considering its environmental consequences. Barnett writes: “The old path—finding a pristine new source of water, conveying it with pumps, using it once, cleaning it up, then flushing it away—has led us to insufficient water supplies, unsustainable consumption of energy to move water around and chemicals to treat it, dispersion of nutrients, particularly phosphorous, into our waters, and financially unstable utilities.”
St. Petersburg’s own water history bears out this idea. By the mid-1990s, the Sunshine City’s water needs, coupled with those of surrounding cities and counties, had grown to an insupportable demand on the region’s groundwater. Decades of population growth, drought, and over-permitting pulled water out of the aquifer faster than seasonal rains could recharge it, and lakes and wetlands were beginning to dry up. Tampa Bay municipalities and counties traded lawsuits in what would become known as the region’s “water wars,” leading to the foundation of Tampa Bay Water. This utility currently supplies Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties along with St. Petersburg, New Port Richey, and Tampa with a mixture of groundwater, river water, and desalinated seawater. Our “big straw” is really more of a carefully operated skill crane, balancing the pressures of demand against drought, water quality, and the energy cost of preparing and moving water. It’s a calculation very few of us are privy to, and yet one on which everyday life depends.
Standing knee-deep in St. Pete’s first official reservoir, watching my fellow volunteers swig ice-cold water from Nalgenes, Hydro Flasks, and other highly specialized and expensive water drinking equipment, I’m struck by the irony of cleaning up a polluted lake in a city where good drinking water is so cheap it’s practically free. In a neighborhood where luxury high rises overshadow homeless shelters, a historic district where unsheltered residents seek shade and cooling by the edge of a once celebrated lake. In a state, no less, where it is not really legal to live outside if you have no other options. But it is definitely legal for Nestle to siphon off millions of gallons of water from our aquifer to sell for $2 a bottle.
There’s something in all of this that doesn’t quite add up, something important that’s been forgotten. Here in Florida, we may build our lifestyle and our identity around the water, but we’ve long since ceased to recognize that water is life.
Maybe that’s what brought me out here today, pushed me to wiggle into these sweaty frog pants to pull weeds for two hours. Maybe that’s what drives some of us to harvest rain in barrels, or shelve our fertilizers for the rainy summer months—or even rip out our lawns entirely to replace with native plants or xeriscape. Maybe that’s what motivates folks to actually read those periodic water quality reports that come to our mailboxes, or to spend hours studying the former courses of urban waterways on old maps. It’s a longing to recognize, to respect the water that flows through our city and gives life to our bay. To somehow just do our part.
Maybe. As I pile up my tools and peel the sodden work gloves from my hands, I take in the glassy sweep of the lake, the green shade of trees along the shoreline, the glittering skyline beyond. I wonder what picture these waters will reflect in the next 50 years.
VIEW NOW THROUGH SEPTEMBER 21
UPCOMING RELATED EVENTS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 | 10 AM-1 PM HAND-BUILDING CLAY WITH ST. PETE CERAMICS AT THE MFA
Unleash your creativity in a hands-on ceramic workshop led by the talented artists of St. Pete Ceramics. Designed for adults, this immersive experience invites participants to explore the art of tile-making and hand-building with clay, drawing inspiration from Nina Yankowitz’s evocative installation, Hell’s Breath – A Vision of the Sounds of Falling
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29 | 6-9 PM
THE INS AND OUTS
VOL. 2 WITH ART2ACTION
Join us for the second event in our the ins and the outs series exploring the boundary-breaking legacy of Nina Yankowitz. This 21+ evening invites guests to connect over food, drink, and dialogue with Art2Action—an artist-led collective producing innovative, interdisciplinary performance and community-centered art.
Nina Yankowitz, Draped Impotent Squares, c. 1969, Acrylic spray on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and Eric Firestone Gallery.
Nicky Gonzalez talk tops list of best literary events this week.
By Maroon Stranger
From “Mexican Gothic” to “Goddess of Filth” to “Sundown in San Ojuela,” Gothic literature by Latina authors is on the rise. Defined by dark, moody landscapes and eerie, macabre explorations of the human psyche, typically to a backdrop of decaying colonial grandiosity, the genre is ripe for a re-exploration.
“Mayra” (stylized in all-caps), the eerie, beguiling debut novel of Florida’s own Nicky Gonzalez, looks to be the next great entry to this list. Set in the Everglades, this mesmerizing tale follows the descent of Hialeah-born Ingrid into the hypnotic clutches of her recently-resurfaced childhood friend, Mayra. Old tensions arise, as the lines are blurred between friendship and identity.
In the world of the Gothic, the past creeps into the present, love sours to obsession, and even the buildings are supernatural, trapping you within their looming walls. This haunting allure is captured in the novel’s lurid, Lynchian cover art of a halfopen door in a dark wood, created by surrealist Andreea Dumuta.
Lit, 2832 S MacDill Ave. Unit C, Tampa. steamylit.com
DJ’s Publishing: ‘Books, Brews, & Breakthroughs’ Aspiring author night Saturday, Aug. 16. 6 p.m.-9 p.m. No cover. Ybor Coffee and Tea Co. 1907 N 19th St., Ybor City. yborcitycoffeetea.com
Trope Book Club: ‘Teacher of the Year’ by M.A. Wardell Sunday, Aug. 17. 4 p.m. No cover. Steamy Lit, 2832 S MacDill Ave. Unit C, Tampa. steamylit.com
Middle Grade Book Club: ‘Vanya and the Wild Hunt” by Sangu Mandanna (kids + parents event) Monday, Aug. 18. 6:15 p.m.-7:15 p.m. No cover. Tombolo Books courtyard. 2153 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
BOOKS
‘Mayra’: An evening with Nicky Gonzales Next Thursday, Aug. 21. 7 p.m. Free with RSVP. Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave S., St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
The call of the open door harkens to the core questions of every horror plot: why do we answer that call, step into that basement, go back to that haunted house? Because it’s beautiful, Gonzalez’ tale answers. Despite its danger, or perhaps because of it.
Gonzalez is in conversation with author Ryan Rivas, at Tombolo Books in St. Pete, Thursday, Aug. 21, to discuss more about the making and meaning of this moody tale of friendship, memory, and desire, set to the backdrop of Florida’s sultry swamplands. Check out more upcoming bookish events below.
‘Florida Palms’: An Evening with Joe Pan Monday, Aug. 18. 7 p.m.-8 p.m. RSVP requested. Tombolo Books. 2153 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Writer happy hour (optional workshop, writing time, and wine) Tuesday, Aug. 19. 4 p.m.-5 p.m. No cover. Book + Bottle, 17 6th St. N, St. Petersburg. bookandbottlestpete.com
‘Slip’: An Evening with Mallary Tenore Tarpley Tuesday, Aug. 19. 7 p.m.-8 p.m. RSVP requested. Tombolo Books. 2153 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
“Gothic literature by Latina authors is on the rise.”
Tombolo Books: St. Pete Sapphic Book Club reading ‘Mostly Dead Things’ by Kristen Arnett Wednesday, Aug. 20. 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. No cover. Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe. 2927 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Bookends Ybor Silent Book Club: Pop-up shop and introvert social Thursday, Aug. 14. 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. No cover. Magnanimous Brewing, 6809 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa. @ bookendsybor on Instagram
Crime Travel Book Club: ‘Museum Detective’ by Maha Khan Phillips Thursday, Aug. 14. 7 p.m.-8 p.m. No cover. Tombolo Books. 2153 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Bookends Ybor @ Ybor Saturday Market Saturday, Aug. 16. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. No cover. Centennial Park, 1800 E 8th Ave., Ybor City. ybormarket.com
Fancy Leaf Plant Co. @ Steamy Lit Saturday, Aug. 16. 10 a.m. No cover. Steamy
Release celebration for ‘Love Arranged’ by Lauren Asher Friday, Aug. 22. 7 p.m.-9 p.m. $35. Steamy Lit, 2832 S MacDill Ave. Unit C, Tampa. steamylitbookstore.com
Fantasy Book Club: ‘A Palace Near the Wind’ by Ai Jiang Saturday, Aug. 23. 9 a.m.10 a.m. No cover. Tombolo Books. 2153 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Arts Passport Book Club: ‘The Argonauts’ by Maggie Nelson Saturday, Aug. 23. Noon-2 p.m. Registration requested. MFA St. Pete, 255 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com
Maroon Stranger is the pen name of Yasmin Adams, a Tampa Bay-based reader, writer and maker. See more bookish listings via cltampa. com/slideshows.
HIALEAH YEAH: Nicky Gonzalez’s beguiling debut novel is out now.
Saturday, Aug 16, 2025 • 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Bordeaux + BBQ | Wine Tasting Event
@ Chateau Cellars
2009 North 22nd Street
$88.02 General Admission bit.ly/BordeauxBBQYbor
Saturday, August 16 • 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Elton John Tribute Band @ 1920 Ybor
Tickets start at $20 1920 E 7th Ave bit.ly/EltonJohnYbor
Saturday, Aug 16, 2025
Doors @ 8:00 PM, Show @ 9:00 PM
Mobb Deep w/ Big Noyd & DJ L.E.S. @ Crowbar 1812 N 17th Street
Tickets start at $28.44 crowbarybor.com
Saturday, Aug 16, 2025 • 6:00 PM - 6:00 PM
BOOKS, BREWS, & BREAKTHROUGHS
@ Ybor City Coffee and Tea Co
1907 North 19th Street
Open to the public bit.ly/BooksBrewsBreakthroughs
Sunday, August 17, 2025 • 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Chicken Yoga w/ Yoga Loft Tampa & Ybor Misfits
@ Hotel Haya 1412 East 7th Avenue
$14.64 General Admission bit.ly/ChickenYoga
Thursday, August 21, 2025 • 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Papa’s Pilar Rum Dinner
@ Columbia Restaurant- Ybor City 2117 East 7th Avenue
$190.04 General Admission bit.ly/PapaPilarYbor
Saturday, August 23, 2025 • 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tampa Brushes and Bubbles
@ Ybor City Society Wine Bar
1600 East 7th Avenue
Tickets from $46.21 bit.ly/BrushesAndBubbles
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 • 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Girls Night Out the Show® @ Showbar Ybor
1613 East 7th Avenue
Tickets start at $19.12 bit.ly/GirlsNightOutYbor
Friday, August 29, 2025 • 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Ybor Fiesta Community Event @ Ybor Square
1300 East 8th Avenue
On Sale August 21 bit.ly/YborFiesta
Saturday, August 30, 2025 • 9:00 PM - 3:00 AM
Retro Warehouse Party (feat. Minimalistuk + Thirsty Turtle)
@ 1920 Ybor
1920 East 7th Avenue
Tickets start at $30.66
bit.ly/RetroWarehouseParty
(Don’t forget to VOTE for your favorite Ybor City restaurants @ vote.cltampa.com)
Where to Live:
Casa Ybor • casaybor.com
Casa Ybor offers unique retail spaces, office spaces, and apartment homes for rent or lease in both newly constructed and lovingly restored historic buildings throughout the vibrant National Historic Landmark District of Ybor City near Downtown Tampa, Florida.
La Union • bit.ly/LaUnionYbor
Community, connection, and culture come together at La Unión Apartments, where Tampa’s rich history and vibrant future unite. Inspired by the historic social hall once on this site, our Ybor City apartments honor that legacy by fostering bonds among residents, the neighborhood, and the area’s deep-rooted heritage.
Miles at Ybor • milesatybor.com
Step into the pulse of Tampa’s most vibrant neighborhood at Miles at Ybor, where modern luxury apartments in Tampa blend seamlessly with the rich cultural tapestry of historic Ybor City. These aren’t just furnished apartments in Ybor City – they’re your gateway to an elevated urban lifestyle that celebrates both heritage and innovation.
La Segunda Bakery 2512 North 15th Street
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By Ray Roa C CL Recommends
THU 14
Ego Likeness Absolution Fest is almost back, but fans of trance and industrial body music don’t have to wait. Communion After Dark continues to book acts from that spectrum and does it again with a Baltimore outfit fronted by Donna Lynch, who’s also doing a spoken word set. (Music hall at New World Brewery, Tampa)
FRI 15
Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters Thornton more or less keeps his head down when it comes to Hollywood, and the 69-year-old won’t sling some kind of vodka or crypto scheme at this local appearance. Thornton’s band, the Boxmasters—which includes J.D. Andrew, Kirk McKim, Raymond Hardy, and Nick Davidson—released Pepper Tree Hill , its 19th album, in July. Expect the group, which has opened for Willie Nelson and ZZ Top in its nearly 20 year history, to showcase its love for 60s power-pop (think The Kinks, Beatles, Badfinger) using jangly guitars, Mellotron, and a whole lot of nostalgia. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Clockwork X w/WSAB/Golden Tree Hours/Miguel Mokabee Gen-Z loves old music, and this show will prove it. Miguel Mokabee shreds with fresh-faced, classic blues outfit R.M Johnson & The Tomcats, while WSAB and Clockwork X both do fun versions of tried-and-true hits by James Brown, Stevie Wonder and more. (Shuffle, Tampa)
SAT 16
C Choking On The Revelry (album release) w/Tiger 54/Shower Beers/DJ Cub Jeff Brawer’s uniform—black tee, backwards black ball cap and scruffy beard—can lend itself to blending in with the crowd, and listeners will undoubtedly hear a lot of themselves in his band’s new album out this week. The album art for Burn The Minutes. Burn The Hours. Burn the Days. is nihilistic, featuring a crudely-illustrated bed on fire in front of the bill for a funeral. The themes on the 10-track rock album follow in the same vein, tracing what it’s like to deal with anxiety, depression and insomnia. The album’s title is lifted from the lyrics of “All My Best Friends Sing,” a track that Brawer (a member of beloved hardcore band Dukes of Hillsborough) wrote on the New Year’s Eve after his mom died, when all he wanted to do was go back to a better days. “A comfortable place, with people I love,” Brawer told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, explaining that the world seems to be a nonstop place. “Sometimes it seems like
we’re just kind of running towards a damnnear paid off grave.” There’s light on the record, if you look really close, and you’ll see it on display when Choking on the Revelry— featuring Melissa Grady on strings, Sean Pomeroy on bass, Adam Revak on drums and guitarist-album producer Mike Ingold—takes the stage. Electro-punk band Tiger 54, Shae Krispinsky’s Shower Beers jank-pop outfit, and DJ Cub play support. (Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa)
C George Pennington album release The word prodigy gets tossed around quite a bit, but George Pennington almost fits the bill. A 2018 graduate of the University of South Florida, the guitarist has had the instrument in his hand since he was 10 years old, and even did a stint with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. Pennington’s last two albums, Strength and Song and Daydream Sequence , showcased his electric and acoustic styles, respectively, and his chops once found him jamming with bassists Victor Wooten and John Ferrera at the 2020 NAMM conference. Pennington even does a mean Jim Morrison. The music educator releases his latest LP, American Odyssey, promising songs featuring some of the best musicians he’s ever worked with along with new synths, deeper lyrics, vocal harmonies and more. Two of the Bay area’s sharpest rhythmic minds— drummer Rod Alnord and bassist Sebastian Siaca—lead Pennington’s five piece band, The Odyssey, for this intimate gig in the Palladium basement. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
C Grumptronix w/Karl Jaims/Christian Parchuke A couple months after an appearance at the Trip Magazeen revival show, 52-year-old statesmen of the electro scene Wayne Consiglio is back on the decks for a no-cover gig alongside other producers of out-of-the-box dance music. Fans of Japan’s Takkyu Ishino, Cari Lekebusch from Sweden, or Canadian DJ Richie Hawtin will want to check this dive bar show out. (The Bends, St. Petersburg)
C Mobb Deep w/Big Noyd/DJ L.E.S. Eight years after the death of its co-founder Prodigy, revered rap group Mobb Deep is still on the road with Havoc carrying the torch alongside Big Noyd, who was a major presence on the duo’s breakthrough 1995 album The Infamous . Mobb Deep c. 2025 can still rap ferociously over boom-bap drums as evidenced by recent performances where Havoc and Noyd perform Prodigy’s verses together. Expect this show to pay tribute to the 30th anniversary of The Infamous and perhaps tease tracks from a new Mobb Deep album—produced by Havoc and The Alchemist, featuring posthumous, unreleased, vocals from Prodigy himself. Nas collaborator Leshan Lewis— aka DJ L.E.S., who's worked with the creme de la creme of New York hip-hop, including Big Pun, LL Cool J, Norega and Fat Joe— plays selector. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
THU AUGUST 14–THU AUGUST 21
C Summer Sweat Down: Row Jomah w/DJ Backbone/The Headtones/Full Fledged Unit/Chulismo/Mulligan Road/ GoldenEra/Jon Ditty/more If you’ve been, then you know that it’s warm at The Moon Tower. Dunedin Brewery’s almostnot-nascent warehouse-ish venue doesn’t have air conditioning, but that could change after this show. Nearly a dozen bands that regularly play the Douglas Avenue watering hole are on the bill, including rock outfit Row Jomah, which is playing two sets. Mike Bryant, General Manager at the Tower and Dunedin Brewery, told CL that he’ll offer a pay-what-you-want custom concert sticker to help raise funds—and that a $6,000 contribution from the community could be combined with previously-committed resources to get the spot cooled down. (Moon Tower at Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
SUN 17
C Aaron Irwin Trio w/Arenas Lasky & Nash Almost two decades after landing on The New Yorker’s Best of 2006 jazz list, Aaron Irwin is still at it. The composer, saxophonist, and multi-woodwind instrumentalist is still supporting (After), a 2024 collection of music and poetry that is the kind of introspective and direct album that Smithsonian Folkways nerds might salivate over. All the detail and texture on the record should play well inside one of the best small rooms in Tampa. In the support slot for this intimate living roomstyle show is Arenas Lasky & Nash, a trio featuring musicians from Colombia, the U.K. and Nebraska; the band recently dove head first into the music of Burt Bacharach, so expect some “This Girl’s In Love With You” and more. (The Far Forest, Tampa)
Abrevity w/Pilot Jonezz/Just Courtesy/ The Maryn Alyse Band Abrevity took four years between albums, but drummer Dylan LaFong recently told Charleston City Paper that his post-grunge band wasn’t just sitting around. “We decided as a band to take a break from shows to focus on everything else happening behind the scenes. Not just for us, but also the people that listen to our music and come out to our shows,” he added. The new Era EP is the fruit of that time away and packs solid, radio-ready rock into 19 tight minutes of songs the run the gamut from emo to pop-punk. (Orpheum, Tampa)
C Ednita Nazario You might not be able to make it to Bad Bunny’s summer residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, but Ednita Nazario could give you a taste. In 2005, the revered Boricua pop singer became the first woman to sing at “El Choli,” and currently holds the record for most sold-out shows at the venue. Nazario was a guest at the sixth show of Mr. Bunny’s residency (they sang “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii”), but gets the headliner treatment this weekend. (Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)
Spike and the Gimme Gimmes Fat Mike is done touring, which is sad for NOFX fans, but folks with a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes shirts in the drawer will be happ that they can still see that band on the road. Armed with a new moniker acknowledging lead singer Spike Slawson, the punk cover band still has a revolving door of collaborators so it’ll be interesting to see who’s in there for two Florida shows. (The Ritz, Ybor City)
See a full listing of Bay area concerts happening Aug. 14-21 via cltampa.com/music.
DAVE DECKER
Choking On the Revelry
Tampa’s getting another helping of Alfredo this fall. Four years after rocking the same room, Freddie Gibbs is headed back to The Ritz Ybor for an October concert.
The 43-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper is on the road fresh off the release of Alfredo 2 , the sequel to his 2020 album (which lost two Nas’ King’s Disease for Best Rap Album in 2021). The 14-track album includes guest spots from Anderson .Paak, JID, and Larry June.
Gibbs announced the gig this month in a joint tour announcement with Alfredo 2 producer the Alchemist. The Alchemist, unfortunately, is not part of the tour’s three Florida shows which North Carolina rapper Mavi opens.
Tickets to see Freddie Gibbs play The Ritz in Ybor City on Friday, Oct. 3 are still available and start at $50.25. See Josh Bradley’s latest roundup of the best new concerts coming to Tampa Bay—below.—Ray Roa
WyndRider Sunday, Aug. 24. 8 p.m. $12. Brass Mug, Tampa
WMNF Save Our Sound-Waves: Mestaurant w/Lychee Camp/Shelby Sol & Jinx/Pet Lizard Thursday, Aug. 28. 8 p.m. $10. Crowbar, Ybor City
Damag3 w/Figgy Baby/$leazy Ez/Shno Xavier/K-Presto Saturday, Aug. 30. 9 p.m. $19.99. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg
Roxx Revolt w/Persephone’s Choice/ Hibiscus Friday, Aug. 29. 8 p.m. $12.49. Crowbar, Ybor City
This Is How We Do It (‘80s and ‘90s R&B and Hip Hop Party) Thursday, Sept. 4. 9 p.m. $17.67. Crowbar, Ybor City
Mossheads (Single release) w/Trainier/ Memory Well/Area of Refuge Friday, Sept. 5. 7 p.m. $14.56. Crowbar, Ybor City
United Forces Friday, Sept. 12. 6 p.m. $22.56. Brass Mug, Tampa
Daily Bread w/Parkbreezy b2b Thought Process/Bad Snacks Saturday, Nov. 22. 7 p.m. $41.93. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
Brandy & Monica w/Kelly Rowland/ Muni Long/Jamal Roberts Friday, Dec. 12. 8 p.m. $94.75 & up. Amalie Arena, Tampa
Rusko & Subdocta Friday, Dec. 12. 10 p.m. $20.77 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City
Joe Bonamassa Saturday, March 21. 7
p.m. $95.75 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater
Dark times
By Caroline DeBruhl
Dear Oracle, with so much injustice in the world, I am filled with rage. I am so angry at so many people (politicians/other people in power), and I don’t know what to do with it. I feel it just eats away at me, and part of me is actually scared of how dark I feel. I’m trying to channel my anger towards something more productive, but it’s not working. I see a genocide happening, and children starving, and people being snatched off the streets, and I want the people in power to suffer. Do the cards have any advice?—Rage Against Everything
Cards: Seven of Swords, The Tower (reversed), The Magician, Queen of Cups
Dear Rage, the first thing I consulted when I read your question was not my Tarot deck but my dictionary. You mention “anger,” which can be a useful emotion. Anger can be channeled into positive change, it can galvanize you on a path towards justice, or motivate you in other, healthy ways. Rage is something deeper; if anger is a flame, rage is a field on fire, consuming all. But rage, too, can be quelled, redirected if allowed to be tamped down.
What I think you are feeling, though, is not anger or rage but wrath.
Wrath is rage that demands vengeance. It is divine in stature, as smooth and sharp as an obsidian blade, and can consume every part of you. Wrath is rage channeled; it is the end
stage that demands hurt to be returned tenfold, your enemy vanquished. Wrath is to be both savior and punisher; it is to imagine yourself as Michael the Archangel, defeater of the devil and handler of the holy flame.
But we, my dear, are not archangels. We cannot hold a flaming sword for eternity. It will burn us to ash, too.
While we might feel righteous, wrath is tied to annihilation. It is at the bottom of terrorist attacks, assassinations, mass shootings. It is destructive and never-ending because vengeance will always expand. Someone else will always need to be punished.
You know that this feeling inside of you is destructive. The Seven of Swords is often a card of our darkest impulses and urges. But therapist and Tarot reader Jessica Dore writes about how the Seven of Swords can also be a card of unresolved trauma. It is something that requires careful excavation as layer after layer is uncovered.
I don’t think you need to have a traumatic past to be brutally angry at a genocide, but vengeance is often personal. Do you want those inflicting the suffering to simply be punished, or do you want to be the one holding the sword? If the latter, where does that come from? Is this wrath rooted in something deeper that is coming to the surface now in the face of everything? It’s easy to feel helpless as people in power commit mass atrocities and feel like they can
only be stopped by a greater force. While I’ve often described The Tower as a card of chaos or great change, the image on the card is lightning striking the Tower of Babel and people falling to their deaths. It is a literal depiction of God’s wrath on arrogant mankind. The Tower can be a prayer to God or St. Michael or Nemesis Adrasteia to step in, stop the suffering, and strike down those who should be smited.
But The Tower is also a card of legacy—and legacy can be combated by human effort alone.
The Magician is a card that reminds us of our own power. The Magician rules all elements: your emotions (cups), your material reality (pentacles), your thoughts (swords), and your passionate soul (wands). You possess this great power and control. You have power over your darkest impulses and the ability to generate hope. You are not helpless in the face of this great suffering.
One act of magick for you to do is to transform your destructive wrath into something productive or creative. (This you might do on your own or-—strongly recommended--with a therapist.) The Queen of Wands is a passionate, warm, creative force that is also fiercely protective. She does not suffer fools. If you want to destroy the legacy of those you find evil, how can you do so in a productive way? Is it helping elect different people into office? Is it writing blistering op-eds? Making a documentary? Becoming a paralegal? Showing up to city council meetings, town halls, any place you can be heard? Joining an organization already making inroads or starting a grassroots campaign yourself?
ORACLE OF YBOR
Send your questions to oracle@cltampa. com or DM @theyboracle on Instagram
You have both power and will. It might be difficult but you can create change.
To truly understand The Magician, you also have to understand how magick works. Occultist Alister Crowley defined magick as “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will” and that “every intentional act is a Magickal Act.” While I am FAR from a fan of The Beast, I do like this definition because it’s so simple. You can intentionally change things. Literally. You can make real, measurable changes in the world by showing up with a plan and doing something. You can even become a powerful force if you’re working with others with the same intention or goal.
A final note: in magick, there is often an exchange of power. To take something requires you to give something. To destroy requires creation. There must be balance for it to stick. If you want to tear down a legacy of terror and suffering, make sure you have a replacement of peace and healing at the ready. Vengeance can and will hollow you out and leave you with nothing. But the flame of fierce hope can be kept burning far after you leave this world. Cultivating that is far more powerful than any destruction that can be wrought.
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Blood sport
By Dan Savage
Dear Readers: I’m away on my last reconnecting-with-family trip of the summer. This column originally appeared in 2018. Back with an all-new, action-packed Savage Love Quickies column next week. —Dan
I’m a professional dominatrix, and I thought I’d seen everything in the last five years. But this situation completely baffled the entire dungeon. This middle-aged guy, seemingly in fine health, booked an appointment with me and my colleague for one hour of some very light play and a golden shower to finish. We did no CBT (cock and ball torture), no cock rings, no trauma to the dick area at all, no ass play, no sounding or catheters, no turbulent masturbation, nothing that could have caused this reaction. We brought him into the bathroom, and he laid down on his back, jerking off with a condom on his penis as my buddy was standing over him and peeing, and I was saying all kinds of mean/ encouraging sentiments and closely observing his progress. He came and... it was entirely blood. It looked like he shat into his condom, through his penis. He did not seem alarmed or in pain. He took off his condom himself, so he was aware of the situation. He did not remark on it to either of us! He made ZERO effort to prepare us, either. And it was not a little blood in his ejaculate—it was entirely blood. He has never returned. Is this person a monster or a vampire? Is he dying?
Seriously. —Mistress Echo
glands) store up the fluids and can become overdistended with long periods of abstinence, and are prone to micro-tearing and bleeding in this circumstance.”
Blowing regular loads doesn’t just lower your risk for prostate cancer, as multiple studies have shown, it also lowers your risk for filling condoms with blood and alarming your friendly neighborhood pro-Dom. Two good reasons for draining those balls, guys—and other people with balls because, as the Book of Tumblr teaches us, not all guys have balls and not all balls have guys.
SAVAGE LOVE
that as I got older, my horniness would lessen, and I could think about something other than pussy. Trouble is, I don’t seem to be less horny. I find myself attracted to women in their 30s or 40s, but I wonder how I appear to them. I don’t want to make an utter fool of myself by making an unwanted advance— but the truth is, I’m still pretty hot to trot. What do I do? —Not Ready For The Nursing Home
P.S. I went back to the bathroom with gloves on and removed the used condom from the trash, and took a photo. It’s the only way to communicate just how much blood there was.
“You can tell Mistress Echo that her client was not a monster or a vampire, and he is likely not dying anytime soon,” said Dr. Stephen H. King, a board-certified urologist. “What she observed is a person with hematospermia, meaning blood in the semen.”
While the sight is alarming — I’ll never be able to scrape that photo off the back of my eyeballs, thanks — Dr. King assures me that it’s nothing to worry about, as hematospermia is almost always benign. And even if you had done ball play or rough CBT, or if he engaged in solo CBT prior to the session, it’s unlikely that kind of play would result in a condom full of blood.
“The vast majority of the semen actually comes from the prostate and the seminal vesicles, which are located deep in the pelvis just behind and below the bladder, respectively,” said Dr. King. “Very little of the ejaculate fluid actually originates from the testicles,” which primarily pump out hormones and sperm cells. “The prostate gland and seminal vesicles (also
“Also, these glands are lined by smooth muscle that contracts to force out the fluid [during ejaculation],” Dr. King continued.
“If the force of contraction is excessive—a fucking great orgasm—this may lead toward rupture of some of the surrounding blood vessels, and blood will enter the semen.”
Your client’s blasé reaction is a good indication that he’s experienced this previously, ME, because most guys who see blood in their semen — or only blood when they expected to see semen —freak the fuck out.
“In my practice, most guys who see blood in their ejaculate the first time are sufficiently freaked out to seek immediate medical attention, and their doctors usually tell them this isn’t something to worry about — unless it persists,” said Dr. King. “In cases where the hematospermia persists, gets worse, or is associated with other symptoms such as pain, difficulty urinating, or general health decline, medical attention is definitely recommended.”
Back to your client, ME: If blood loads have happened to him before (hence the blasé reaction), proper etiquette dictates that he should have said something to you about it afterward (“I’m fine, no biggie”). If it happens to him regularly, he should have warned you in advance — at least that’s what it says in my imaginary edition of Emily Post’s BDSM Etiquette.
I’m an old guy, 68 years old to be exact. (Also a Scorpio, if that matters.) I’ve always been a pretty horny person, and I had a lot of fun from the 1960s through the 1980s with a number of lovers. I figured
You could see sex workers (quickest fix), you could look for women in their 30s or 40s who are attracted to guys pushing 70 (gerontophilia is a thing), you could date women in their 50s or 60s with a youthful appearance and/or attitude (there are lots out there, NRFTNH, and they often gather in groups to complain about how men their age are only interested in much younger women), or you could do all of the above. But you shouldn’t regard moving into a nursing home as the end of your sex life, NRFTNH. I’m constantly reading news reports about sexually transmitted disease epidemics in nursing homes and retirement communities.
People may not like to think about the elderly having sex, and the elderly apparently don’t think about protection (or they’re denied access to it)—but lots of old fuckers are still fucking. (And, as astrology is bullshit, NRFTNH, being a Scorpio doesn’t matter. It never has and it never will.)
My partner does phone sex work. A lot of the calls are from “straight” guys who ask to be “forced” to suck cock. (We assume the forced part is because they think there’s something wrong with being gay.) We’re wondering if there is a sex-positive word we should be using to describe these guys. If not, your readers should coin one, so all of us straight dudes who love dick can take pride in our desires. Fill in the blank: “_______: a 100 percent straight guy who also loves sucking dick (and perhaps taking it in the ass).” —Cocksuckers Need Noun
The kink you describe already has a name — forced bi — and a forced bi scene usually goes something like this: A guy who would never, ever suck a cock because he’s totally straight gets down on his knees and sucks cocks on the orders of his female dominant. Since this totally straight guy sucks cock only to please a woman, there’s nothing gay and/or bi about all the cocks he puts in his mouth. It’s one very particular way in which male bisexuality is expressed—think of it as male bisexual desire after hetero fragility, gay panic, denial, religion, gender norms, and football get through kicking the shit out of it.
Paradoxically, CNN, by the time a guy asks a woman to force him to suck a cock, he’s allowing himself to suck a cock and therefore no longer in denial. (And, yes, guys into forced bi are free to identify as straight — indeed, they have to keep identifying as straight, since identifying as bi would fatally undermine the transgression that makes their perfectly legitimate kink arousing.)
But what to call these guys? Well, CNN, some people into BDSM call themselves “BDSMers.” But “forcedbi’ers” doesn’t trip quite so easily off the tongue. So, maybe we go with “cocksuckers” instead? Straight guys (and straight-identified guys) consider it an emasculating slur, which is why straight-identified men throw around to get, um, a rise out of each other. (Call an out-and-over-it gay man a cocksucker, and all you’ll get in return is a “no shit.”) But while “You’re a cocksucker” may be fighting words for a straight guy, I imagine they would be highly arousing ones for a straight-identified guy who was into forced bi.
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love
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