Creative Loafing Tampa — March 27, 2025 by Chava Communications

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TAMPA PRIDE GUIDE

Tampa Pride Diversity Parade & street festival

Saturday, March 29. 10:45 a.m.-11 p.m. Ybor City. tampapride.org

HISTORY EVENTS ENTERTAINMENT

Come on out

Tampa Pride returns to kicko a summer of love.

By Selene San Felice and Ray Roa

Tampa Pride 2025 kicked off this month with a proper introduction to this year’s grand marshalls and sponsors. It continued last Monday with an interfaith Pride service at The Portico—but the big party happens this weekend in historic Ybor City with a festival and parade that kicks off a busy summer of love. Keep reading for the rundown of everything you need to know to have a gay old time this weekend.

Tampa Pride 2025 street festival

Make a plan to wake up pretty and take it easy at breakfast because your long day at Tampa pride technically starts at 10:45 a.m. when gates open on a street festival that includes vendors on E 9th Avenue—in the Hillsborough Community College (HCC) parking lot, and in between N 13th and 15th streets—plus performances from the Tampa Bay Pride Band, guest speakers and featured entertainers on the main

stage located at the Cuban Club courtyard (1320 E 9th Ave.). The indoor Pride Lounge on the ﬁrst ﬂoor of the Cuban Club allows festival goers a chance to cool off, grab a drink at the bar and enjoy live entertainment on the second stage. Nearly two dozen drag queens appear on the event’s poster. While the festival closes at 4:15 p.m., the food truck alley—between the Cuban Club and HCC will be open until 11 p.m.

Tampa Pride 2025 diversity parade

The spirit of Gaybor reclaims 7th Avenue starting at 4 p.m. when ﬂoats head east from Nuccio Parkway on an almost one-mile parade route where revelers line streets and get peppered with beads and a whole lot of love. Keep an eye out for

Amari Lavish and Niomi Onassis Knight Long, aka Mr. and Ms. Tampa Pride. Natives know this, but newbs who want to really experience the pre-party before the parade takes off should always make a point to walk through the staging areas, this year housed in four sections between N Nebraska Avenue and both Nuccio Parkway and 7th Avenue. Bring ear protection for the little ones as some ﬂoats blast their music pretty loudly. If you’re staying home, Tampa’s ABC afﬁliate WFTS is streaming the parade via abcactionnews.com.

Grand marshals

Tampa Pride honors 10 locals as grand marshals for this year’s event. Among them are:

continued on page 23

Happy Tampa Pride!!

Medical | Pharmacy | Dental | Telehealth | Behavioral Health

LOCATIONS

CLEARWATER

2349 Sunset Point Road #405

Clearwater, FL 33765 (727) 216-6193

PALMETTO

408 7th Street West Palmetto, FL 34221 (941) 803-7939

NEW PORT RICHEY

4758 Rowan Road New Port Richey, FL 34653 (727) 312-2040

ST. PETERSBURG

3251 3rd Avenue North St. Petersburg, FL 33713 (727) 498-4969

TAMPA 2105 N Nebraska Avenue

Tampa, FL 33602 (813) 769-7207

ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

Thursday, March 27, 2025

The Emo Cabaret: Tampa Pre-Pride Edition

7:00PM - 10:30PM

Doors at 6:30PM https://bit.ly/EmoCabaret1920

Friday, March 28, 2025

Hillsborough LGBTQ+

Democratic Caucus Fundraiser

6:00PM

Tickets start at $25

https://bit.ly/HillsboroughLGBTQ

Friday, March 28, 2025

Lez Lips Live at Tampa Pride

8:00PM - 12:00AM

Tickets start at $12.50 https://bit.ly/LezLipsLive

Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025

Eden Tampa Queer Lifestyle & Music Festival

3:00PM - 3:00AM

Tickets start at $25 app.plots.events/event/edentampaqlmf

trailblazer couple David Warner and Larry Biddle (full disclosure: Warner is CL’s former Editor-In-Chief); community leader WFTS meteorologist Greg Dee; community ally Anne-Marie N. Hoeck, who leads Free Mom Hugs Florida, a nonprofit focused on supporting the LGBTQ+ community through visibility, education, and conversation; photographer Diane Haymes; and Luis Salazar, President of the Hillsborough County LGBTQ Democratic Caucus. Salazar has had a busy month, taking part in Pride at the Capitol in Tallahassee and telling WFTS about his vow to protect safe gay spaces in Ybor City. “We want to make sure people have a place to go to feel like they are part of a community and whenever that is threatened, we are here to protect it,” he added. Listen to him on WMNF’s public affairs radio show The Skinny, which airs from 11 a.m.-noon every Friday via 88.5-FM for locals and wmnf.org nationwide. The festival’s distinguished Grand Marshall is Stuart Milk, nephew of the late Harvey Milk who in 1977 became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California (Harvey was assassinated a year later). Stuart founded the Harvey Milk Foundation in 2009 in his honor.

Keynote speaker Stuart Milk headlines the event happening at 1920 Ybor (1920 E 7th Ave.) at 6 p.m.

Pride at Night

Chug a Red Bull and vodka and get your life together because the pride party doesn’t end with the parade. The Cuban Club and its courtyard hosts Pride at Night from 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Hosted by Imani Valentino and DJ Mike Sklarz, the night’s theme is “Community of Unity.” Here’s a breakdown of the lineup:

7 p.m. Miss Joey Brooks presents The Legends of Drag The First Lady of Ybor City leads this celebration of local icons Melissa Mason, Kori Stevens, Melanie Minyon, Aman da D’Rhod, Pheyonce Montrese and Alexis de la Mer.

TAMPA PRIDE GUIDE

8 p.m. Actual Bank Robbers Get ready to head bang and sing along to pride-ﬁlled pop and rock hits. This ﬁve-piece pop rock band keeps the energy high with covers from The Cranberries to Cher to Chappell Roan.

On Friday, March 28, Hillsborough County’s LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus wraps a busy week of activism by hosting a fundraiser where monies will go towards sending LGBTQ+ candidates to train at the Victory Institute, a 32-year-old organization with a mission to “build, train and support a diverse pipeline of LGBTQ+ leaders who can advance equality in public ofﬁce.”

9 p.m. Yummy Xclusive-Lanvin Presents: The Ballroom Exhibition! Why y’all gagging? She brings it to you every ball! Legendary ballroom performer and dancer Vivica Reed (AKA Yummy Xclusive-Lanvin) will showcase the face, runway, realness and performance categories before opening up the performance to a mini ball where individuals can compete to be the grand prize winner.

10 p.m. Sawmill Soundstage! Presented by Sawmill Camping Resort The Dade City gay camping resort brings its Award winning

PINK PONY CLUB: Mosey on down to 7th Avenue for the Tampa Pride diversity parade.

continued from page 09

LOVE LOUD 2025 PRIDE

NAMI Hillsborough

Working to educate, support, advocate, listen, and lead to improve the lives of people with mental illness and their loved ones.

At NAMI Hillsborough, we believe a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization is one where all volunteers and members, regardless of gender, race, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, education, disability, veteran status, or other dimension of diversity, feel valued and respected.

CONNECT WITH US

(813) 368-0813

https://linktr.ee/namihills

P.O. Box 17856, Tampa, FL 33682

support@namihillsborough.org

Mental Health Education

Peer-led programs that provide free education, skills training, and support.

Support Groups

Peer-led support groups offer participants an opportunity to share their experiences and gain support.

NAMI Helpline

One-on-One help, information, and resources.

Mon - Fri (10 AM - 10 PM EST)

1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

Text “HelpLine” to 62640

Teens & Young Adults

1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

Text “Friend” to 62640

"Self-care isn't selfish; it's essential. Prioritizing your mental wellness is the ultimate act of selflove, empowering you to shine brighter and thrive in every aspect of your life." an EST) life."

continued from page 23

weekend drag show to the Tampa Pride stage. The performance is led by Shanty Santos— Sawmill’s show director and Miss Latino 2024—and National Entertainer of the Year Twila Holiday.

Pre-and-post Pride action

As mentioned above, Tampa Pride’s been partying all month, and Showbar (1313 E 7th Ave.) hosts drag queens (Kiala Santi, Esme Russell, Shanty Santos, Amanda D’Rhod, and Niomi Onassis Knight) plus dueling pianos this Thursday, March 27 from 7 p.m.-11 p.m.

On the morning of Tampa Pride (Saturday, March 29) Showbar hosts the ofﬁcial 2025 Tampa Pride drag brunch at 11 a.m. Reservations are highly encouraged, and it’s $30 for all-you-can-drink and brunch buffet. Drag shows start at 1 p.m.

A sold-out Girl Pride concert is happening at Crowbar in Ybor City (1812 N 17th St.) (more information in Music Week on p. 69.

Volunteers

At the heart of Tampa Pride are community members who give up their time to support the city’s LGBTQ+ community. There are still open spots for this weekend’s festivities, but making Tampa Pride happen is a year-round effort.

Tampa Pride team

TAMPA PRIDE GUIDE

If you’re looking to stay out of Ybor City before the parade starts, then head to Water Street where Tampa Edition (510 Water St.) hosts a Pride edition of its Spill the Tea brunch starting at 11 a.m. The event happens 27 stories above street level, costs $75 and includes specialty tea (get it?), a welcome cocktail, DJs, and more.

Ybor City Society Wine Bar (1600 E 7th Ave.) is also offering $5 wine, beer, mimosa and drink specials at its Centro Ybor venue directly on the parade route.

All of it is put together by a dedicated board, which includes Deb Cano Ducko, who started as a volunteer before becoming more and more entrenched, on the way to presently serving as Tampa Pride’s Recording Secretary. Ducko is joined by Tampa Pride’s Director Joe Ebbing who came to the organization through his church, which had a ﬂoat in the parade from the very beginning, and Tampa Pride’s 5K and Family Youth Pride co-chair Elliot Wheeler, who also DJs and serves on several City of Tampa Boards. Tampa Pride’s Rainbow Run co-chair Vanessa Russell has served her kids’ schools on the PTA and brings her IT background to the nonproﬁt.Dr. Ru Ducko, Tampa Pride’s trans liaison, has a doctorate of pharmacy from Florida A&M University and has volunteered with the organization for six years, including two years leading Tampa Pride’s trans, family, friends, and allies parade unit.

ENJOY YOUR PRIDE

Drink

TRUE COLORS: The parade afterparty is at The Cuban Club.

IMPORTED BY: SANDALO ORGANIC ESTATES TAMPA, FL

Where there’s equality, there’s a way.

First Horizon is proud to celebrate Pride Month and to recognize how the achievements, resilience and vibrancy of the LGBTQ+ community promote individuality while strengthening unity across all communities.

Zeroed in

Photos by Dave Decker

The Florida Legislature has been not been friendly to the LGTBQ community during the DeSantis era, and last week Democratic lawmakers and LGTBQ advocates said that same playbook has now been adopted by Trump's administration. “Florida has been ground zero in a national escalation of attacks against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially the transgender community,” Stratton Pollitzer, co-founder and deputy director of Equality Florida said during a news conference the activist group held in the rotunda in the Capitol in Tallahassee. Read more on p. 47. See all the photos via cltampa.com/slideshows.—Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix

Adult Egg Hunt & Craft Beer Festival!

• Cash Prizes • Craft Beer • Egg Hunt • Games • Live Music • Food Trucks

Pre-Party: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Egg Hunt & Beer Fest: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Buccaneers & Ballgowns FinalWeekend!

do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from March 27 - April 02

Pro tip

Next weekend, downtown Tampa welcomes the NCAA Women’s Final Four, celebrating some of the best amateur athletes in the world. At the same time, a few pros will take a different stage less than five miles away, in another sport altogether. The Skatepark of Tampa (an institution known as well for launching the careers of quite a few amateurs) kicks off the 31st rendition of its pro competition on Wednesday when the venue opens for practice for registered pros only. The public is welcome to watch for free that day, but tickets are required next Thursday-Friday, April 3-4 when practice continues ahead of next Saturday qualifiers, plus semis and finals on Sunday, April 6. Florida’s own Olympian Jake Ilardi (who no longer has to toe the line of amateur-pro) is scheduled to compete along with Trasher’s 2024 skater of the year Jamie Foy (pictured) for this intimate contest uniquely juxtaposed to the glitz and arena-scale sterility of Street League Skateboarding. As usual, Tampa Pro’s weekend nightlife includes afterparties at The Bricks in Ybor City and a concert (this year the show features Zinnia’s Garden, a band that includes Orlando-originating pro Evan Smith). Tampa Pro 2025: Wednesday-next Sunday, April 2-6. $15 & up. Skatepark of Tampa, 4215 E Columbus Dr., Tampa. skateparkoftampa.com Ray Roa

Get a taste

In its 40th year, Taste at The Straz promises to be bigger and more ﬂavorful than ever, with an event that stretches from Tyler Street to the venue’s arrival plaza and its theater lobbies. Tickets raise funds for Straz Center’s arts, education and community outreach programs and include unlimited sampling of food from 41 Tampa Bay eateries ranging from swanky tastes like Timpano to humble comforts from Village Inn. Stay thirsty, too, for bottomless craft beer, cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages from 14 local drinkeries. Frequency Band, N-Fusion, Jarrod Barefoot, Taylor Reed and Jaquay Pearce set the tone with live music.

Taste at The Straz: Saturday, March 29. 7 p.m. $98 & up. David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N Macinnes Pl, Tampa. strazcenter.org—Selene San Felice

Tiger’s hood

Watching TV can be good for kids if you believe researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). In an independent study commissioned by the show’s producer Fred Rogers Productions, UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers surveyed 150 teenagers who were toddlers when “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) nearly 13 years ago—and found that they “retained significant memories of the show’s lessons about social-emotional and life skills” such as empathy. For one of its most popular events, Tampa’s PBS affiliate WEDU welcomes Daniel Tiger and Katerina Kittycat to its studio for a four-hour party. Gently-used books will be collected as families mingle with community helpers (cops, firefighters, paramedics), listen to music, complete meet-and-greets, get trolley rides, take station tours and more. Free parking is available at nearby Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, Beulah Baptist Church, and Tampa Preparatory School.

Be My Neighbor Day: Saturday, March 29. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. No cover, registration requested. WEDU, 1300 N Blvd., Tampa. wedu.org—Ray Roa

ANTHONY ACOSTA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

Tiger’s years lessons Katerina as listen to more. Baptist regis-

scissors

The St. Petersburg chapter of Sapphic Social Meetups invites WLW, trans and nonbinary folks to get creative and cozy at Beach House 5317. Attendees can bring their own crafts for free or learn how to make a mosaic ($55, supplies included). Snacks, drinks, and 420 welcome at this laid back hang. Beach House 5317 and Art Wizards Workshops owner Jamie Edwards launched the Facebook-based group last month for trans-inclusive sapphics to meet each other without the pressure of a dating scene in the hopes of building community with casual gatherings including poker games, beach days, crafting, and board game battles.

Sapphic Craft & Chill Meetup: Sunday, March 30. 1 p.m.-4 p.m. No cover. Beach House 5317, 2135 3rd Ave. S, Studio 6, St. Petersburg. Find the ‘Sapphic Social Meetups - St. Pete’ group on Facebook.—Selene San Felice

Fool’s rush in New York Times bestselling author Kristen Arnett knows the contradictions of Florida all too well. Her latest novel, “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One,” follows Cherry Hendricks, a struggling clown and aquarium store employee relentlessly pursuing art (and hot closeted Central Florida married women). Cherry drags her makeup out of a garbage can to make it to a gig, tunnel-visioned on her dream even as life, capitalism, and the absurdity of Orlando try to shake her off course. That is until, of course, she meets the one named Margot the Magniﬁcent. Cue George Michael’s “Father Figure.” It’s a novel about ambition, queerness, and the weird, messy reality of creating something when the world keeps telling you not to bother—and she’s coming to talk about it in a chat with her wife, author Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya. Read our Q&A with Arnett via cltampa. com/arts

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One— An Evening with Kristen Arnett: Tuesday, April 1. 7 p.m.-8 p.m. $5. Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg. tombolobooks.com —Arielle Stevenson

Born again

It’s the year of the snake, which sets the table for Ouroboros, an interactive, evening-length solo dance show coming to the theater stage in Tampa for just three performances (Friday night and two weekend matinees). Featuring Guggenheim Award-winning choreographer and performer Nejla Yatkin, the show channels feminine wisdom in its blending of a handful of cultures and languages—English, German, Turkish, and ASL—set to the music of Persian composer Shamou performed by multi-instrumentalist Sathapat Sangsuwan. A disclaimer for the run of shows says, “Please be aware that this performance incorporates rose water, and audience members may be offered Turkish coffee and delights, which contain nuts.”

Ouroboros by Nejla Yatkin: Friday, March 28 (8 p.m.) and Saturday-Sunday, March 2930 (2 p.m). $15-$50. Stageworks Theatre, 1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Suite 151, Tampa. stageworkstheatre.org—Ray Roa

Grab the

Emboldened

Workers

at another Tampa Starbucks store vote to unionize.

By McKenna Schueler

Joining a growing movement of organizing baristas across the country, workers at a second Starbucks location in Tampa—at 1300 S Dale Mabry Hwy.—recently voted to join the labor union Starbucks Workers United.

According to the National Labor Relations Board, the vote was 11-2 in favor of unionization, out of 18 total eligible voters. Since December 2021, more than 550 corporateowned Starbucks cafes in nearly all states across the U.S. have unionized, including workers at nearly a dozen other Starbucks locations in Florida alone.

formally known as Twitter, referencing its latest victory in the Sunshine State. “Not only that - baristas at 23 MORE stores are announcing organizing efforts today! When we ﬁght together, we WIN together. We’re NOT slowing down.”

LABOR

Workers at the 10002 N Dale Mabry Hwy location also in Tampa voted to unionize last May.

“BREAKING: Starbucks workers at the Dale Mabry & Neptune location in Tampa, FL just WON the 550th union Starbucks in the US!” the union shared in a post on the social network

Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors first launched an organizing campaign with Starbucks Workers United, affiliated with the labor union Workers United, in 2021, scoring their first victory in Buffalo, New York. The Seattle-based coffee chain initially fought the national unionization effort, running its own anti-union messaging campaign with the help of the notorious antiunion law firm Littler Mendelson.

The company, led by former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol since just this last September, has racked up hundreds of unfair labor practice charges along the way, alleging violations of

labor law that range from unlawful fi rings of pro-union workers to withholding raises and other benefits specifi cally from workers that have voted to unionize. Former CEO Howard Schultz repeatedly dismissed the union as a “third party” and vocally opposed unionization efforts.

Facing pressure from company shareholders, Starbucks reached a foundational framework for bargaining an initial contract with the union last year. Contract talks have continued to drag on, however, with economic proposals such as wage increases remaining a major sticking point at the bargaining table. According to the New York Times, the two parties recently brought in a third-party mediator to assist.

“We’re not slowing down.”

“We are optimistic that Starbucks will move off of their ﬁ xed position on wage and beneﬁts improvements in this next phase of negotiations,” Michelle Eisen, a longtime Starbucks worker from Buffalo, told the Times in a statement.

Starbucks, for its part, has also publicly adopted an optimistic tone. “We have made

progress over the last nine months of bargaining, and we are committed to continuing to work together—with a mediator’s assistance—to navigate complex issues and reach fair contracts,” Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee told Creative Loafi ng Tampa Bay in an email.“We respect our partners right to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union and will continue to work together to make Starbucks the best job in retail,” Gee added, in response to the recent election results in Tampa.Starbucks posted more than $7 billion in net revenues for the fi rst quarter of the 2025 fi scal year in its North America segment alone, and an operating income of $1.2 billion.

The largely progressive, young workforce of Starbucks employees organizing with the union are ﬁghting for improvements to worker pay, better job beneﬁts, more predictable scheduling, and to address other workplace concerns such as anti-discrimination policies, disciplinary issues and broken cafe equipment.

STANDING GROUNDS: Tampa Starbucks workers on Dec. 24, 2024.

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WUSF presents the Longest Table. Join us on April 3rd for an epicurean experience right down the middle of Bayshore Drive in St. Petersburg. Details available online at wusﬂongesttable.org or by calling (800) 741-9090.

Proceed with caution

Equality

Florida

warns of Trump copying DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ tactics in Tallahassee.

By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix

The Florida Legislature has not been a friendly environment for the LGTBQ community during the Ron DeSantis era, and on March 19, some Democratic lawmakers and LGTBQ advocates said that same playbook has now been adopted by the Trump administration.

“Florida has been ground zero in a national escalation of attacks against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially the transgender community,” declared Stratton Pollitzer, co-founder and deputy director of Equality Florida during a news conference the activist group held in the rotunda in the Capitol in Tallahassee on Wednesday

“We’ve been the canary in the coal mine, and that canary is dead,” added Orlando area Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani. “And it’s really, really important for states across the union and for leaders in Congress to look at Florida, not just for the attacks that we’ve faced but how we have fought back together.

On Donald Trump’s ﬁrst day back in ofﬁce in January, the president made it clear what his policies were in this regard when he issued sweeping executive orders proclaiming that

the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes, male and female, and that it was ending “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs inside federal agencies.

A couple of bills attacking DEI are moving in the Florida Legislature this year, such as a measure to prohibit local governments from enacting DEI-related policies, ordinances, or resolutions. It would subject local ofﬁcials who previously voted for them to removal from ofﬁce.

Another measure sponsored in the Senate by Pinellas Republican Nick DiCeglie (SB 1710) would ban state agencies from appropriating or using otherwise acquired money to fund a DEI ofﬁce or ofﬁcer, as well ban them from applying for federal health care-related grants relating to DEI.

Legislative onslaught

signed into law that year, more than the last seven years combined), Equality Florida ofﬁcials boasted last week that of nearly two dozen such bills that targeted the gay and trans community in the 2024 session, all but one failed to pass, and they expressed optimism that there weren’t that many ﬁled so far this year.

“We see it as a hopeful sign that far fewer bills speciﬁcally targeting the LGTBQ community have been ﬁled this year,” said Politizer.

STATE NEWS

“Maybe, just maybe, more legislators are growing tired of the cruelty, the distractions and the endless culture wars pushed by these extremists. Maybe they’re ready to focus on the real challenges that Floridians are facing. But make no mistake, the bills that have been ﬁled are still extraordinarily dangerous, and as long as they’re on the agenda, we will be here to ﬁght them.”

“We’ve been the canary in the coal mine, and that canary is dead.”

representing political viewpoints, such as the Pride ﬂag.

Another measure—which was temporarily postponed on March 18 with a large contingent present in the committee meeting—is what Equality Florida has dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans at work 2.0.” bill.

This measure, sponsored in the Senate by Ocala Republican Stan McClain (SB 440) and in the House (HB 1495) by Seminole County Republican Rachel Plakon, would enact regulations on use of pronouns in private companies and shield employees from being penalized for intentionally misgendering colleagues. It would prohibit inclusion of a transgender or nonbinary gender option on any job application or related employment form as well as LGBTQ-related cultural competency training requirements for government workers.

After a ﬂood of anti-LGBTQ bills passed in the 2023 session (the LGBTQ national advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign said that there were six “expressly anti-LGBTQ+ bills”

Those bills include measures (SB 100/HB 75) sponsored by Brevard County Republican Randy Fine in the Senate and Republicans David Borrero from Miami-Dade and Berny Jacques from Pinellas that would ban ﬂags

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.

STANDING TOGETHER: Pinellas and Hillsborough Rep. Michele Rayner in Tallahassee on March 19, 2025.

Crashing down

Construction cranes among issues in bill addressing state approach to hurricane prep and response.

By Jim Turner/News Service of Florida

From holding down property taxes on homes rebuilt after hurricanes to new post-storm rules for elections supervisors, the Florida House on Tuesday, March 18 started moving forward with a proposal to address issues whipped up during the damaging 2024 hurricane season.

The House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee unanimously approved a wide-ranging bill (HB 1535) that also seeks to look at shelter regulations, address debris cleanup in rural “ﬁscally constrained” counties and direct how cranes are positioned when storms approach landfall.

locations of early voting sites, expand the early voting period to the day before an election and request approval from the secretary of state that early voting locations be used on election day.

STATE NEWS

Supervisors could also take steps such as sending vote-by-mail ballots to displaced people. Contingency plans would need to be set in case elections are suspended, delayed or rescheduled due to an emergency.

Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, called the proposal a “step in the right direction” for voters and a “strong start” for elections supervisors.

Milton slammed St. Petersburg last year. The crane collapsed into an ofﬁce building.

The bill would require that 24 hours before anticipated hurricane impacts, all hoisting equipment would have to be secured to comply with manufacturer recommendations, which could include removing advertising, laying down ﬁxed booms where feasible and setting towers in a “weathervane position.”

to coordinate debris removal with ﬁscally constrained counties in areas where emergencies have been declared.

Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Helene made landfall last year in rural Taylor County, while Hurricane Milton made landfall in Sarasota County.

Bill sponsor Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, said the proposal is the product of “feedback from our local governments. It’s feedback from the Realtors. It’s feedback from homeowners associations, from builders, from environmentalists, emergency managers, and all of that is boiled into this bill.”

Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, suggested more clarity for long-term local government plans.

“The time after a storm is maybe one of the only opportunities when communities can look at being more resilient or being more proactive, when residents ﬁnally understand what it means to be impacted and how this could not only happen in the future but be worse,” Cross said.

The bill would prohibit counties under federal disaster declarations from Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton from imposing moratoriums that affect rebuilding storm-damaged properties through Oct. 1, 2027.

Local governments, school districts and special districts would also be prohibited from imposing impact fees when post-storm rebuilding doesn’t change previous land-use designations.

Also, residents would be allowed to rebuild homesteaded property up to 130 percent larger than the pre-hurricane “footprint” without facing increases in their appraised property values.

“Many of our residents that are in the coastal area had to lift as they had to elevate as they rebuild,” McFarland said. “And it’s almost impossible to lift your home and not have the footprint increase, whether it’s adding an external stairway or, you know, more provisions for your utilities. Almost everyone who is lifting their home to rebuild has to increase their footprint.”

The proposal also calls for state agencies to work with local governments to streamline permitting to repair and rebuild damaged structures.

Also under the proposal, if an emergency is declared by the governor within 60 days of an election, county elections supervisors could change

“No disaster-affected voters should be forced to submit more paperwork or drive across the county just to cast their ballot,” Keith said. “What they need is accessible voting options and easy access to information about those options.”

The legislation also addresses a construction crane that wasn’t taken down before Hurricane

The legislation also would require the Florida Division of Emergency Management to conduct a study on the statewide needs of emergency shelters, including accommodations for people with developmental disabilities and the availability of space for pets. The division would also be directed

“The time after a storm is maybe one of the only opportunities when communities can look at being more resilient or being more proactive…”

Rep. Jason Shoaf, a Port St. Joe Republican whose district includes Taylor County, described the bill as “much needed” for North Florida’s Big Bend region. Shoaf added he looked forward to “getting a grip on the ﬁscal” impacts.

McFarland said she “cherry picked’ ideas from other bills in the House and Senate and intends to continue revising the bill. It needs to clear two more House panels before it could go to the full House.

CRANE IN THE NECK: A downed crane in St. Petersburg, Florida on Oct. 11, 2024.

“ …to

make such a statement ignores recent inﬂation and the current economic instability caused by President Trump’s policies”

RESTAURANTS RECIPES DINING GUIDES

Adjust the tip

Lobbyist for hospitality industry blames restaurant service charges on minimum wage increase.

By McKenna Schueler

Achief lobbyist for Florida’s restaurant and tourism industries, during a legislative hearing last week, blamed service charges that restaurant customers are now seeing more often on their bills on recent increases to Florida’s minimum wage.

Under Florida’s Amendment 2, a ballot measure approved by 61% of voters in 2020, Florida’s minimum wage is set to hit $15 an hour for nontipped workers by Sept. 30, 2026, and $11.98 an hour for workers who earn tips. Today, the minimum wage is $13 an hour in Florida—a ﬁgure that falls far short of what experts estimate to be a “living wage” in the Sunshine State, what it takes to afford housing and food. Ahead of the 2020 election, Florida’s minimum wage was just $8.56 an hour.

Worker advocates have celebrated the pay increase, meant to help everyday working Floridians afford Florida’s higher cost of living. But some businesses have made controversial adjustments to their pay practices, including the addition of questionable service charges, in order to unload their own labor costs onto customers.

Samantha Padgett, a lobbyist for the politically inﬂuential Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, admitted to state representatives during a Florida House committee meeting on Wednesday, March 19 that “many” of her group’s 10,000 members in the hospitality industry have switched to what’s known as a commission-style pay system, where new service charges now serve as the “basis of [servers’] pay.”

“Following the passage of Amendment 2 and the increase of the minimum wage, this hit the restaurant industry especially hard, and following that, many of our members in the restaurant industry have moved to a commission-based pay model,” Padgett told lawmakers, in response to a Republican legislator’s voiced complaints about service charges that have shown up on her own bills at restaurants.

The commission-based model, which recently became the subject of a protest by workers at Orlando’s Hampton Social, represents an effort by restaurant owners to pay “good,” “competitive” pay, Padgett claimed.

What it also means, she explained in a rather mask-off moment, is that the new service charge

that consumers are seeing on their bill represents the “basis of their [workers’] income and their wages.”

“Some of our members have applied a service charge so that they can provide health beneﬁts and additional income for their back-of-house staff that continue to work very hard to provide service to customers,” Padgett explained.

But the transparency of the practice, according to some, has been questionable in its rollout.

“Most customers might presume that service fees go to a server, but what’s really happening is that service fees are going to restaurants to meet overhead costs,” State Rep. Demi Busatta,

price increases,” when looking at the impact on local supermarkets, speciﬁcally.

In the food and restaurant industries— which see one of the highest rates of minimum wage violations, as it is—there have been mixed ﬁndings. Research from the aughts found that restaurants may increase prices to offset labor costs, but a 2021 working paper that looked at restaurant food pricing from 1978 to 2015 found that prices rose just 0.36% for every 10% increase in the minimum wage.

“Workers deserve fair wages and stable pay—and studies show that raising wages leads to lower staff turnover and greater economic stability,” she argued.

LABOR

Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who sits on the House committee Padgett addressed

R-Coral Gables, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after the hearing. “This confusion is what’s frustrating to the customer and frustrating from an employee standpoint.”

The idea that higher wages will directly and unilaterally cause steeper prices for everyday consumers, in the absence of other factors, hasn’t been borne out through research. In Seattle, Washington, for instance, a city that led the country in enacting the very ﬁrst $15 minimum wage ordinance over a decade ago, researchers found “no evidence of signiﬁcant

last week, blasted Padgett’s insinuation that minimum wage hikes are the cause of some restaurant owners’ decision to charge customers more.

“The claim that Florida’s $15 minimum wage is to blame for new service charges at restaurants is misleading and inaccurate,” Eskamani told Orlando Weekly in an emailed statement. Service fees and commission-based pay models “are not new,” she added, “and to make such a statement ignores recent inﬂation and the current economic instability caused by President Trump’s policies.”

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, an afﬁliate of the National Restaurant Association, is not an unbiased party. The group led an aggressive campaign against Florida’s $15 minimum wage ballot measure in 2020, joined at the time by other business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Home Builders Association and the Florida Retail Federation.

The FRLA, which boasts high-proﬁle members such as the Walt Disney Co. and Universal Orlando, also lobbied last year in favor of weakening Florida’s child labor laws, as part of a national movement by business groups desperate to ease labor shortages in low-wage industries.

“Following COVID, the service industry experienced a mass exodus of our labor force from the service industry, especially restaurants,” Padgett told lawmakers. “Slowly, that is coming back, but we still continue to suffer labor issues and labor shortages, which does impact the service that you experience as customers.”

Restaurants around the state have faced criticism, even protests, from some of their workers over their decision since 2020 to adopt a commission-based pay system for workers.

This system, which originates from out of state, can differ some from one establishment to the next. But for some, including for workers at Hampton Social in Orlando and the Living Room in the Tampa Bay region, this looks like drastically reducing workers’ hourly pay to as little as $1 or $2 an hour, while adding an automatic service charge onto customers’ checks.

The model, which restaurant owners say will ultimately boost pay for workers, has been pushed by industry professionals across the country as an option for “managing minimum wage increases.” But this doesn’t sit well with everyone directly affected.

“We do love this job and there’s a nice community we’ve created here, but seeing that this company doesn’t care about us even though we’re putting in countless hours and effort, is

continued on page 59

WHAT’S THE POINT? Florida’s current minimum wage falls short of a ‘living wage.’

TURN THE WAGE: Orlando Rep. Anna Eskamani said raising wages leads to lower staff turnover and greater economic stability.

continued from page 57

disheartening,” Justin Castillo, a manager of four years at Hampton Social, told the Orlando Sentinel during a protest of their commission-based pay structure last October. “Especially when it’s just for greed and just for money,” he added.

The idea that minimum wage increases will force companies to hike the price of goods and services, regardless of whether their bottom line is actually hurting or not, is a key argument of the National Restaurant Association, a group that has lobbied against minimum wage increases across the country, while simultaneously forcing restaurant workers to pay for the group to lobby to keep their wages low.

since 2020, including Jared Meyers, owner of Legacy Vacation Resorts in Orlando.

“Our belief system is that employees that are, you know, are respected and appreciated in a ﬁnancial way, as well as in how we interact with them on a daily basis, perform better. They feel better engaged. They take better care of our guests and customers,” said Meyers, who as of last year, paid his Orange County employees a base wage of $24 an hour.

LABOR

“There’s been efforts, multiple efforts across the country, led by the National Restaurant Association, to essentially undo the will of the voters who have voted to pass higher statewide minimum wages,”

Nina Mast, an economic analyst for the progressive-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told Orlando Weekly in a phone call.

The NRA and its afﬁliates have also, like the FRLA, lobbied in recent years to weaken protections for young workers on the job, who are more vulnerable to exploitation.

“When we raise the wage above a minimum wage, that money goes right back out to the local economy,” he added in an interview with Orlando Weekly. “So it’s important to us that the state of Florida is resilient and strong ﬁnancially speaking. In order for that to be the case, we have to have people who can afford to live here, and that actually will circulate the funds that they receive by way of salary back into the economy.”

“Still, not all Florida businesses believe that making a minimum wage something closer to a living wage is bad for business.”

Still, not all Florida businesses believe that making a minimum wage something closer to a living wage is bad for business, or for working people who are just trying to provide for themselves and their families. Over 100 Florida business owners have signed on in support of a “fair minimum wage” of at least $15 an hour

Some of what Padgett, the lobbyist, shared last Wednesday, however, may have stuck.

Later in the same committee meeting, Florida Republicans conveniently advanced a different bill (HB 541) that would allow employers in Florida to pay interns and apprentices less than minimum wage. That bill, which still has to clear two more committees before heading to full ﬂoor votes, is opposed by the Florida NAACP, Florida Student Power, the Florida AFL-CIO and the Florida Council of Churches, among others.

This post originally appeared at our sibling publication Orlando Weekly.

Reasons We Lack Flexibility

• Inactivity reduces flexibility.

• Repetitive muscle overuse in sports like tennis, golf, and running also decreases flexibility.

• Accidents, injuries, or surgery can lead to loss of mobility.

Why Stretching?

• Stretching helps to enhance mobility and range of motion, speed up recovery, and improve posture and circulation.

• Top athletes regularly incorporate stretching into their lives.

• Stretching improves your general wellbeing.

Noodling around

Pasta Packs’ new Water Street pop-up, King of the Coop’s return to the Heights, and more.

By Kyla Fields

In the space that formerly housed fast-casual concept Crisp & Green are brothers bringing fresh pastas and laidback lunches to Tampa’s bustling Water Street. Out of its new temporary location at 1055 E Cumberland Ave. in one of Tampa Bay’s fastest-growing districts, Pasta Packs offers “an ever-evolving lineup of immersive food events for locals and visitors.”

Owners Nic and Greg Bryon are still operating Pasta Packs out of their South Tampa headquarters at 4334 S Manhattan Ave., but are able to serve a wider clientele out of the large Water Street space.

“A lot of people on this side of town maybe haven’t experienced what we do, so it’s cool to have a new audience of sorts,” Greg tells Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay. “The walk-up factor is completely different from our other location, and so far, I think the Water Street residents really like the convenience of the take-home pasta packs.”

The brothers describe their temporary popup as a “unique space that blends delicious food, engaging classes and creative collaborations in a lively setting.”

In addition to its weekend lunch services and regular cooking classes, folks can pick up freshly-made pastas that Chef Nic makes on a daily basis. These packs contain pasta, sauces, garnishes and heating instructions and come in a variety of ﬂavors and styles that can change with the seasons.

Some of Chef Nic’s classic dishes that will always be a constant on the Pasta Packs lunch menu—and available inside of its grab-and-go cooler—include the best-selling pappardelle bolognese, aglio e olio, cacio e pepe, short rib tagliatelle and spaghetti pomodoro.

Lunch service at the Water Street pop-up happens every weekend from noon-4 p.m., featuring a menu stacked with Pasta Packs staples and seasonal dishes. The former Crisp & Green space can hold up to 50 customers, an almost 50% increase from Pasta Packs’ ﬂagship South Tampa location.

Owners Nic and Greg Byron launched their new Water Street pop-up in late-2024 after the landlord of the parcel reached out to them about ﬁlling in the vacant space.

“It’s a really beautiful, built out restaurant space. I think its owner reached out to us because Pasta Packs is kind of a different food concept here in Tampa—we’re part retail part restaurant. They really loved the activation stuff we do in town, like the pop-ups markets and workshops.”

The monthly pasta-making classes at the Water Street pop-up have been steadily selling out, too. At the new temporary location, Chef Nic is able to host larger, more specialized

pasting-making classes, with March’s installment focusing on ravioli.

The brothers signed a six-month contract in fall 24’, but the Water Street pop-up may continue into the spring and summer of this year.

“I think that’s the main point of the Water Street pop-up is just to have some fun,” Greg says. “We’re having great conversations with our new customers, hosting bigger pasta classes and deﬁnitely want to do more fun, local collaborations in the future.”

Head to @pastapacks on Instagram for the latest news on its weekend lunch service, pastamaking classes, menu changes and more.

The space is also available for event rentals and private pasta classes; head to pastapacks. com for further information.

from naked all the way to the habanero-powered Coop’s Fury.

Dodd told CL that he signed the lease last Monday, March 17 after Proper House Group, which opened Nebraska Mini-Mart more than six years ago, told him about plans to close the burger-centric concept. Mini-Mart’s last day on the block is Sunday, March 30; Dodd said he’s currently hiring and pushing to open King of the Coop in the middle of April.

Dodd isn’t concrete on the dates yet, but he thinks that his operation at Ybor City’s Cigar City Cider & Mead—where King of the Coop has been operating a small location since 2021—will close in the ﬁrst week of April.

“...we’ve been ﬂying under the radar—ﬁnding ourselves, perfecting our craft, and getting in the

Tampa hot chicken restaurant King of the Coop is taking over Seminole Heights’ Nebraska MiniMart space

Tampa Bay’s King of Nashville hot chicken is coming home to roost. On March 17, King of the Coop announced plans to move into the space where Nebraska Mini-Mart is closing this weekend. In a social media post, King of the Coop founder and chef Joe Dodd called the move a homecoming. “Seminole Heights is where our community fell in love with great food and each other in 2019 and we look forward to revitalizing the spirit that brought us all together… through GOOD CHICKEN,” Dodd wrote.

Dodd ﬁrst opened, and expanded, his hot chicken concept in Seminole Heights nearly six years ago, bringing to the neighborhood his famous ﬁrearchy of hot chicken that goes

best place possible. And let’s be real… our food has never been better!,” Dodd wrote, expressing gratitude to Joey and Jennifer Redner who welcomed him into their bar after the closure of King of the Coop’s Flocale food hall. The timing is pretty good for Dodd, who’s been wrestling with the fallout of the closing of Flocale and other King of the Coop locations.

“I’m in a much better place personally and mentally. I was in a dark place for a long time, dude. It was of my own doing. I had to get out of my own way to make anything happen,” he told CL. “Ybor was a breath of fresh air for us, being able to do that.”

The transition between Nebraska MiniMart and the new King of the Coop should be relatively easy, too, since Dodd is buying everything from the equipment, to the outside games.

Signage and painting is all that’s really left to ﬁnish thanks in part to the care Proper House Group took with its facility. “Those guys took very great care of that place. The kitchen, for as small as it is and as busy as they were, is absolutely immaculate,” Dodd said.

He anticipates launching a “Thirsty Thursday” beer special, and keeping the space as kid-and-dog-friendly as Mini-Mart did. “Seminole Heights has a lot of families, and we need more places, especially outdoor places, where families can go and enjoy,” he said.

The menu at the new location will focus on King of the Coop’s main hitters, like tenders and sandwiches, but the expanded kitchen means diners will eventually be able to get their chicken grilled instead of fried. The oxymoronic vegetarian chicken will also probably make it to the offerings, along with salad and even a select day for buckets of bone-in-chicken. Wings, he said, will only be available one day a week so he does not step on the toes of Saucin’ Wings, which runs its concept next door.

“I am so excited,” Dodd told CL about the opening, admitting to some nerves, too. “I’m just so happy that mentally, I’m in a great spot.”

The Coop’s return to the Heights is bittersweet, too, as it means the neighborhood will have to ﬁnd a new place to get its burger ﬁx. In a social media post featuring a tearful burger and milkshake, Nebraska Mini-Mart parent company Proper House Group (PHG) called the closing a tough business decision

PHG’s Chon Nguyen, Ferrell Alvarez, Myles Gallagher and Ty Rodriguez expressed gratitude for the love and support from the surrounding neighborhood and said the Mini-Mart may return one day. “...or maybe you’ll see our beloved burgers pop up at one of our other concepts,” they added.

Through a spokesperson, PHG said Nebraska Mini-Mart operations will continue as usual. “As they approach their ﬁnal days, they invite guests to help 86 menu items and enjoy their favorites one last time,” they added.

Employees, they said, are at the heart of the hospitality group and have been offered opportunities to transition to PHG’s other concepts. The group also operates neighborhood staple Rooster & the Till, Ash and Alter Ego in Water Street, plus multiple locations of Gallito’s taqueria, Dang Dude Asian street food, and Gordito’s empanada and shaved ice.

Before it was a burger shack, Nebraska Mini-Mart was a drive-thru convenience store. It underwent heavy renovations on the way to becoming a largely outdoor concept known for its continued on page 65

SAUCED UP: Pasta Packs’ spaghetti pomodoro.

continued from page 61 family-friendly atmosphere and good music, complete with shufﬂeboard courts and outdoor games.

Opened in 2018 and known for burgers, Nebraska Mini-Mart’s menu also launched with one of Tampa’s all-time greatest sandwiches, a Korean cheesesteak with kimchi and gochujang mayo.—Ray Roa

Downtown Tampa’s Melting Pot Social has closed

Less than two years after debuting in downtown Tampa, Melting Pot Social has closed and retired the concept all together. The last day of service was Sunday, March 2, said the company in a statement, adding that it already closed the only other Melting Pot Social restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina.

“Melting Pot Social was created to bring a fresh and playful twist to the fondue experience in a bar-centric casual setting,” says the press release. “Learnings from the pilot will beneﬁt the continued expansion of the traditional Melting Pot fondue restaurant, which currently has seven locations in development across the U.S.”

The company says its other more traditional Melting Pot brand locations will remain open, including the new outpost opening in St. Petersburg this April. Melting Pot Social also stated that its 40 employees have been invited to apply for positions at the company’s new St. Pete location.—Colin Wolf

Lutz’s Rock & Brews will soon be replaced by a Portillo’s

KISS-themed chain restaurant Rock & Brews debuted in Lutz back in 2020, and since then you could argue that it has indeed rock and rolled all night (well, until midnight on Saturdays) and partied every day (even on Sundays). But those Crazy Crazy Nights have come to an end. The last day of service for the music-themed location, at 26000 SR-56, was Saturday, March 23.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

The downtown Tampa location opened in May of 2023, focused on a more bar-centric dining experience, and featured a new menu with modern fondue classics, plus a variety of American classics and shareables.

“We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Tampa community for their support over the past two years,” said Dan Stone, Chief Melting Ofﬁcer, Melting Pot Social in the statement. “We have cherished every moment spent serving you and thank you so much for being a part of our journey. We served over 49,000 guests last year and wanted our fans to have the opportunity to dine with us one more time. While not the outcome we hoped, this experience has only reinforced our passion for bringing people together over fondue.”

“It has been a great honor & privilege to serve the Wesley Chapel & Tampa community,” said the restaurant in the post. “Our team is thankful for everyone’s support over the past 4 1/2 years. We look forward to serving those who rock in the future at our other Florida locations in Oviedo, Orlando, & Kissimmee.”

Rock & Brews, which was co-founded by KISS legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, ﬁrst opened the 7,900 square-foot spot in the Wesley Chapel Town Center back in 2020.

Now, the Rock & Brews building will be demolished to make way for hot dogs. According to Pasco County records, Chicago-based glizzy chain Portillo’s ﬁled preliminary plans on Feb. 20 to take over the lot. The chain initially announced the opening of the Lutz location in December of 2024.

The new building will be slightly smaller, at 6,250 square feet, and include both indoor and outdoor seating, says the company. “We’re bunbelieveably thrilled to announce that our newest Tampa-area restaurant is planned for Lutz.”

Portillo’s, which already has three locations in the Tampa Bay area, did not say exactly when the new Lutz outpost plans to debut.—CW

FLYING THE COOP: Joe Dodd said being able to reset in Ybor City was Ybor was ‘a breath of fresh air.’

Friday, Mar 28, 2025 • 3:00 PM - 3:00 AM

Lez Lips Live at Tampa Pride @ 1920 Ybor

1920 East 7th Avenue Tampa

Tickets $12.50 - $300 bit.ly/4kSuEsN

Friday, Mar. 28 - Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025, • Doors at 5:45

PM, Show at 7:00 PM

Damon Williams @ The Funny Bone

1600 E 8th Ave C-112, Tampa

Tickets start at $20 tampa.funnybone.com

Saturday, Mar 29, 2025 • 3:00 PM - 3:00 AM

Eden Tampa Queer Lifestyle + Music Festival @ 1920 Ybor

1920 East 7th Avenue Tampa

Waitlist Availalbe 1920yborcity.com

Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025 • Show at 9:00 PM

Girl Pride Tampa @ Crowbar

1812 N 17th St Tampa

$10 Cover crowbarybor.com

Monday, Mar. 31, 2025 • Doors at 6:00 PM, Show at 9:00 PM

Art Raffle @ Crowbar

1812 N 17th St Tampa

Thursday, April 3, 2025 • 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Hill Family Estate Wine Dinner w/ Proprietor Ryan Hill @ Chateau Cellars Ybor

2009 N. 22nd St. Tampa

$125 General Admission bit.ly/41Xy0Cl

Friday, April 4, 2025 • 9:00 PM - 2:00 AM

Reggaeton Rave @ The Ritz Ybor

1503 E. 7th Ave – Tampa

$25 - $60 tickets bit.ly/reggaeton0404rave

Friday, April. 4 - Saturday, April 5, 2025

Doors at 5:45 PM

Damon Williams @ The Funny Bone

1600 E 8th Ave C-112, Tampa

Tickets start at $29 tampa.funnybone.com

Thursday April 10, 2025 • 7:00 PM

Bodegaz Manzanos Wine Dinner @ Columbia Restaurant Ybor City

2117 E. 7th Ave. Tampa

$235 per seat bit.ly/4kSvA0h

Friday, April 11, 2025 • 9:00 PM - 2:00 AM

AWOLNATION • The Phantom Five Tour

@ The Ritz Ybor

$45 - Tickets available through Venmo & CashApp crowbarybor.com

1503 E. 7th Ave – Tampa

See site for ticketing details bit.ly/awolnation0411

Tampa Pickleball Crew

THU 27

Chops Jam Session: Rod Alnord Quartet

After bouncing around a bit, drummer Rod Alnord has found a new home for his jazz jam session, which along with the DI Jazz Nights and In The Pocket at Corner Club, is one of just a few opportunities for local jazz musicians to get onstage and improvise. There’s no cover as Alnord and whoever makes it to the mic start a new chapter. (Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa)

FRI 28

AlexSucks w/Rehash/Pet Lizard If you couldn’t bring yourself to leave the house in November 2024 when this alt-rock quartet opened for idkHOW at Jannus Live, Alex Alvarez & co. kickoff the weekend by ﬁnally playing a local headlining gig. The current “Dance Punch Cry” tour kicked off earlier in the month at West Hollywood’s legendary Troubadour, with a setlist that starts with the guys’ latest single “Worm In The Sun,” a song that depicts a shitty mental health state (still, it's one of the greatest show openers to release as a single this decade). There’s just something about a full band being quiet for a few seconds to let a crisp guitar kick things off, you know? (Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg)—Josh Bradley

C The Hails w/Never Ending Fall It’s pretty hard to shit on Costco right now, and the members of Never Ending Fall—an L.A.based rock group that redeﬁned itself on its latest, multifaceted album American Disco remind us of that through a TikTok series.

“Can It Kirkland,” which put the group and its music on the map in the ﬁrst place, sees band members taste name-brand liquor and Kirkland (Costco brand) liquor back to back, trying to determine which one is which. And there have been plenty of times where nobody can tell the difference, so if Johnny Hohman and friends—who open for The Hails at Crowbar on Friday—show up to the room for an early soundcheck, it may not be the worst idea to ﬁlm an episode with the room’s own Michelle Zack (an Ybor City bartending legend in her own right) making a guest appearance. (Crowbar, Ybor City)—JB

Have Gun, Will Travel w/Shawn Kyle Bay area Americana hero Have Gun, Will Travel probably never intended for a new EP about space to speak to society’s newfound obsession with getting the fuck off this planet, but here we are. Coming on the heels of the rocking Voyager Golden EP’s lead single, “Gravity Blues,” the band splashes down in Dunedin for the release of a new single and music video for “Mission to Nowhere,” after an opening set from longtime homegrown troubadour Shawn Kyle. (Woodwright Brewing Co., Dunedin)

C Murs w/Platinum Max/Sam E. Hues/ Perception He has a bunch of kids that need raising, a podcast that needs content, and a seven-decades running family dry cleaning business that might need a new caretaker, so Murs is leaving the road and rap music for now. Before that, however, the 47-year-old, Guinness World Record holder born Nicholas Carter is doing one last tour to share his heady brand of hip-hop with fans. AEW wrestler and rapper Max Caster opens the show. (Music hall at New World Brewery, Tampa)

C The Space Between: Gina Chavez Known for her distinctive sound, innovative style, and philanthropic efforts, folk songwriter and vocalist Gina Chavez blends

THU MARCH 27–THU APRIL 03

experimental vocals with diverse instrumentals that seamlessly enhance every genre. A 16-time Austin Music Award winner, the 42-year-old has also been nominated for the Best Pop/Rock Album Latin Grammy. In addition to music, Chavez and her wife founded the college fund, Niñas Arriba, to help educate young women in El Salvador, where she taught English at Maria Auxiliadora, a Catholic all-girls school. She plays this concert series holding its second event ever. (Via Corazon at Water Street, Tampa)—Grace Stoler

C Spring Beer Jam 11: Sauce Pocket w/Ajeva/Brain Emoji/Skallop/Stick & Ditty (Freestyle rap jam)/Mike Garulli & the Floating Brains.Lazy Swing/ Tiny.Blips/The Family Funk Someone at Dunedin Brewery must have connections to the Farmer’s Almanac because the weather is always perfect for the venue’s Spring Beer Jam. Starting Friday, and through the weekend lows in the Pinellas beach town are in the 60s, with highs barely cracking 80 for this no-cover three-day throwdown built around experimental and jam-centric composition that dances around rock, electro, funk and hip-hop. Artists at large for Spring Beer Jam 11 include guitarist Joe Marcinek, dynamic and in-demand bassist Vinny Svoboda, and emcee/former candidate for Mayor of Dunedin, Jon Ditty. The oldest microbrewery breaks out new beers for occasion and welcomes a pop-up from Hazmat Hotdogs, too. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)

Trey Anastasio Phish hasn’t played in Tampa Bay since November 1995, but its eclectic frontman has been to the area as recently as 2019. The 60-year-old is currently on a solo, acoustic run (which may have been partially inspired by one of his COVID masterpieces, 2022’s Mercy ), but he still brings the spirit of the ever-eccentric jam band with his ever-changing setlists, outlandish guitar skills, and pedalboards to make it feel like you’re with the band at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve again (unless you prefer Billy Joel, which is cool too.) (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)—JB

C Work Stress w/Dagger/Razor & The Boogiemen The album art for Work Stress’s 2024 album, Sever, features a broken computer screen and a dagger cutting an electrical cord. That image and the quartet’s moniker are great clues to how the collective of St. Pete DIY heroes sees quality of life issues. The record could’ve soundtracked the “Severance” ﬁnale, honestly. The group— whose “Building Form Abject Failure” opens with the lyrics “Starving and getting sick for a purpose/A purpose for the few and they’re winning/How can we resist and destroy them?/We can build a better world based on sharing,” brings its hardcore brand of bluecollar peace-punk to this bill that includes hard-rock outﬁt dagger.v(The Nest at St. Pete Brewing Co., St. Petersburg)

SAT 29

C Becky’s Bash for Education: Honey Hounds w/Doug South/Ed John Trio/ Lou’s Lips First established after the 2019 passing of Spoto High School’s head of science, the nonproﬁt organization provides three The Becky Walker Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement per school year to at two Title I schools in Hillsborough County. While Spoto and Leto High School are the only schools on the foundation’s list at the moment, its long-term goal is to raise enough funding so graduating seniors at all Title I schools in Tampa Bay can have the same opportunity. Funds mostly come in from events like this bash at one of Tampa Bay’s best wedding spots. The lineup is all-Floridian, too, headlined by Jacksonvillebased “booty shakin’ blues” band Honey Hounds, which spent bits and pieces of last year touring the U.S. pushing its latest album Close To Me . Joining in are St. Pete singer-songwriter Doug South, the ever-soulful Ed John Trio, and blues-rock collective Lou’s Lips, featuring Walker’s eldest son Thompson Brandes. (Tabella’s at Delaney Creek, Tampa)—JB

Chmura w/Rafeeki/Shakes/Yung Sacred/ more Bayboro has pretty much abolished any rules on what kind of genres it’ll host in its pristine listening room. This EDM show ﬁnds the headliner, Chmura, ditching the aggressive wubs and drops that propel a lot of bass music in favor of down-to-midtempo, almost meditative, compositions ﬁt to zone out to. (Bayboro Brewing Co., St. Petersburg)

Edwin McCain Ahead of a summer tour supporting Train, the 55-year-old singersongwriter is out pushing his first album of new material in 15 years. In 34 minutes, McCain recalls helping his late mother fulfill her final bucket list item (“Helicopter”), ponders the death of the old world (“Empire”), and even pokes fun at the nastiness of Kool Mild cigarettes, with a very obscure mention of former Sting saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The show is free with admission to Busch Gardens, and is part of its Food & Wine Festival concert series, because what’s better than snacking on theme park albondigas while watching a singer-songwriter reminisce about the last decade and a half of his life? (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Tampa)—JB

Girl Pride Tampa: DJ Ace Vedo w/Kristy Lee/Shevonne/The Cheaters/Dirty Dolls/ Mister E/Ivy Les Vixens The Cheaters ﬂy under the radar in the middle of this lineup, but the St. Pete cover band undeniably rocks. Singer Stephanie Callahan, guitarist Chrissy Derado and keys player Tonya Floyd put a hard rock spin on hits from Nirvana to Lady Gaga. If you can’t sweet talk your way into the sold-out Girl Pride show, catch one of their high energy sets year-round at The Salty Nun. (Crowbar, Ybor City)—Selene San Felice

continued on page 71

By Ray Roa

C CL Recommends

Little River Band w/John Waite Former Babys frontman John Waite recently took part in a documentary on his life, and while watching it took him back, it wasn’t necessarily to his heyday. Bits and pieces of “John Waite: The Hard Way” were put together during COVID-19, and as a result, the 72-year-old Englishman was taken back to “really strange times” earlier in the decade. These days, he’s constantly touring and has been in Tampa Bay to open for the likes of Men At Work, Pat Benatar and Styx. Ahead of his opening slot for Little River band, Waite told Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay about prog-rock outﬁt Family being the best gig he ever saw. Read his full quote at cltampa.com/music. (The BayCare Sound, Clearwater)—JB

Noche Latina: Tito Puente Jr. The mambo percussionist carries on his father’s name and legacy with shows sure to get people smiling and dancing at this shipping container park. Wesley Chapel is the start of his 2025 tour, where the Puerto Rican prince of Latin jazz brings mambo around the world. Oh, and you’ll probably be able to get a bottle of his Puente Piña hot sauce at the merch stand. (Krate at The Grove, Wesley Chapel)—SFF

C Wolf-Face w/Virginity/Jon Snodgrass/Debt Neglector For as ballsy as Michael J. Wolf can be, the frontman of St. Pete punk band Wolf-Face rarely makes it across the bridge for a show in Tampa. Not sure how they’ll cram fans into the venue for this one, but expect pubes to ﬂy when Wolf & Co. bring revered Drag the River songwriter Jon Snodgrass to Ybor Heights along with two Orlando favorites: emo quartet Virginity and Debt Neglector, the latter of which is gearing up for the release of a new album, Kinda Rips . (Deviant Libation, St. Petersburg)

SUN 30

C Ben Katzman’s Degreaser w/Driver Unknown/Diver Down After playing the comparative tin can that is The Bends last summer, Miami shredder (and “Survivor 46” ﬁnalist) Katzman is back in the Bay area to headline a slightly-larger club gig. Two Tampa alt-rock trios—Driver Unknown and Diver Down—open the show. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

C Lakeland Punk Rock Flea Market: Vol. 10 w/The Whyioughtas/The Cutoffs/Bully For You/Forsaken Profits/ Dial Drive/Pet Lizard/You Vandal/Low Season It’s no secret that dozens of vendors from across central Florida make the trek to Lakeland to peddle their DIY wares at this market, but this gig also includes a reunion of sorts for The Whyioughtas. Introduced to many via 1999’s So What? split with California band Nothing Substantial, The Whyioughtas emerged with a pair of early cassettes that are pretty-much collectors items for anyone who adored Warped Tour. The band closes the show with its set just before 6 p.m., but music kicks off at noon with a pair of beloved Bay area bands (Low Season, Pet Lizard) who’re part of an eightoutfit bill that includes Atlanta’s Forsaken Profits, along with other Florida heavy-hitters. (Swan Brewing, Lakeland)

MON 31

Roger Day There are sure to be some ﬁeld trips in place for Monday morning, as the children’s musician—described as “the Schoolhouse Rock for the 21st century”— heads to downtown Clearwater for this free, family-friendly “SchoolTime Series” gig. (The BayCare Sound, Clearwater)—JB

C St. Pete Jazz Festival: Tal Cohen Trio There’s always a vocal minority on the internet clamoring for “a real jazz festival” in the Bay area, and we hope they are carving out time for this one. The four-day agenda kicks off Monday with Grammy-winning pianist Tal Cohen who peppers his traditional offerings with hints of melodies from the Middle East. The party stays parked at Palladium Theater on nights two and three with vocalist Alexis Cole joining the 18-piece Helio Jazz Orchestra, then a quartet featuring globallyinﬂuenced saxophonist Uri Gurvich and his longtime collaborator, drummer, Rodolfo Zuniga. St. Pete Jazz Festival wraps on the road, in a way, with a special concert happening inside the gorgeous Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement where University of Florida bassist Dr. Alexander Pershounin brings along a quartet that will help him explore not just jazz, but its connections to all music including baroque and experimental composition. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)

C Violent Femmes We still can’t thank The Pretenders enough for discovering the folk-punk outfit on the streets of New York City in the early-‘80s. In honor of the belated (thanks a lot, hurricane Helene) 40th anniversary of its sophomore album Hallowed Ground —which had Christian lyrics that were supposed to be defiant towards The Violent Femmes’ original sound, but ended up turning some fans away—Gordon Gano and friends will play the record all the way through. Following an intermission, they’ll come back and play the band’s eponymous debut album—which celebrated its own 40th anniversary two years ago—and then some. It’ll be the Femmes’ first time in the area since a 2014 gig at the much-missed Big Guava Music Festival, where it shared a bill with Grouplove, ZZ Ward, and Chance The Rapper, so of course it’s a two-night affair. If you had tickets to the pre-hurricane gig, Monday’s your night. Dance, motherfucker. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)—JB

TUE 01

Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo: Tyler

Hubbard w/Uncle Kracker A little bit of Florida Georgia Line comes to the airfield near Orlampa to headline the Sun ‘N Fun Aerospace Expo. Tyler Hubbard has never shied away from playing the Bay area (either with his since-broken-up band or solo in arenas and clubs), but this gig that’s part of a weeklong fly-in and airshow may be a first for the 38-year-old. (Sun ‘n Fun Expo Campus, Lakeland)

Rick Wakeman The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted Yes keyboardist is ﬁnally ready to hang up the touring cape and focus on studio projects. Wakeman’s “Final Solo Tour” includes anecdotes about his fabled

career, along with the instrumentals he both admired and created along the way. Knowing his sense of humor and memories of prostate exams and candied apple Halloween costumes, no wonder his last show in Tampa Bay is gonna be on April Fool’s Day. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)—JB

Urban Heat w/Blaklight Post-punk is nothing new, but Urban Heat does a lot to shake it up. The Austin lords of darkwave lay down heavy bass and synth on a 2024 album, The Tower, which is both an homage to the genre’s 80s forefathers and a kaleidoscopic peek into what electronic body music might feel like in the future. Adam Collier’s Los Angeles-based synthpop trio Blaklight opens. (Music hall at New World Brewery, Tampa)

C Your Arms Are My Cocoon w/ Feardorian/more Chicago's leader of ﬁfth wave emo puts 8-bit bedroom-pop and screamo in a bloody blender. Your Arms Are My Cocoon is fairly young, starting as Tyler Odom's 2020 solo project before maturing into a foursome. After a studio debut, Death of a Rabbit , dropped in August, Boolin Tunes blog hailed it as an “intricately crafted masterpiece showcasing the band’s tightly controlled chaos.” The raw heartbreak is sure to be even more powerful in the pit.—SFF

WED 02

C Houndmouth Almost a decade-and-ahalf after formation, Indiana rock and roll trio Houndmouth has endured lineup changes to stay on the road. Still touring behind its pandemic-written album Good For You, guitarist Matt Myers & co. continue sharpening a gift for harmony and storytelling that’s made the band a festival favorite. With songs that often evoke places across the U.S. (“Las Vegas,” “Ohio,” “Sedona”) Houndmouth is back in one of its favorite Floridian cities this time for its biggest Bay area headlining gig to date. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

THU 03

C Rock The Park: Gringo Star w/ The Stone City/June Bunch Downtown Tampa’s no-cover, pet-and-family-friendly Rock the Park concert series returns to The Curt after last month’s temporary move to Water Works Park, and brings with it a touring band. On the road for what feels like forever, Gringo Star has repped Atlanta since 2007 when it released a self-titled six-track debut. A dozen releases later, the quartet is still on the road, this time just a month in front of a new, 11-track album, Sweethearts , led by the galloping indie-pop single, “Blood Moon,” which sounds like a lost artifact from the golden days of Athens, Georgia’s Elephant 6 Recording Co. (Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa)

Tatsuya Nakatani w/Jonas Van Den Bossche/Zack Hickerson/Thomas Milovac/Tuesday Villanei/Harrowing Industries Ybor Heights brewery and distillery Deviant Libation has always been a place to let your freak flag fly, and the venue’s concert calendar gets really weird when it welcomes Tatsuya Nakatani. The NewEngland-by-way-of-Japan percussionist has been somewhat of a fixture in the Bay area music scene, regularly bringing avant-garde jazzisms to shows booked by David Manson’s EMIT adventurous music series or St. Pete’s long-shuttered Warehouse Arts District venue Venture Compound. Nakatani, who’s worked in the indie-rock field with bands like Akron/Family is known for his hand-crafted rig, which includes a drumkit, cymbals, bowed gongs, singing bowls, metal objects, bells, and various sticks and bows. Jonas Van Den Bossche, a Belgian guitarist now based in Florida, opens the show in support of a 2024 album, Are You Free Now. (Deviant Libation, Tampa)

See an extended version of this listing via cltampa.com/music. Submit your gig via CL's user-driven event calendar.

PRESS HANDOUT

Gina Chavez

Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett go back about a decade, and now the totems of Black, Texas excellence are bringing their dreams to Tampa Bay this fall. The songwriters announced a summer-fall tour today, and it features two stops in Florida, including one in Clearwater.

“We grew up in this thing together. From the smallest clubs you can imagine—places where you could hear a pin drop, or sometimes, folks talkin’ over the music. But we kept on grinding!,” the pair wrote on social media. “Now, to be able to share a stage together and bring this tour to big rooms and amphitheaters… man, it feels full circle.”

The bill featuring full sets from each artist brings together Grammy-nominated Crockett, a bonaﬁde cowboy who’s no stranger to the Bay area, and Grammy-winning Bridges, one of this generation’s foremost crooners. “Two Texas boys bringing you the songs that got us here,” the post added. While Crockett has visited the Bay area frequently since his 2022 debut at Tampa Theatre, Bridges has not stopped by since 2019 when he headlined Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Reyna Tropical, the Los Angeles-based band founded by Rabiola Reyna of She Shreds Media, opens with a sound the mines that tropical diaspora. The only other Florida date on the tour is on Sept. 14 in St. Augustine.

Art Rafﬂe: Javier Solaris w/Ari Chi/ Johnny Champagne Monday, March 31. 6 p.m. $10. Crowbar, Ybor City

Judge w/Hold My Own/Miracle/Drawn Out/Wasted Life Friday, April 4. 7 p.m.

$30. Brass Mug, Tampa

Tantric w/Lydia Can’t Breathe/ The D.O.O.D./Re-Birth/Red Calling/ Skinharvest Saturday, April 5. 6:30 p.m. $20. Brass Mug, Tampa

Ronnie Dee and the Superstars w/ Mia Marlene Sunday, April 6. 5 p.m. $15. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Animal Prince w/Seafoam Walls/Katara Friday, April 11. 8 p.m. $20. Crowbar, Ybor City

Kill Devil Hill w/Sister Killcycle/Deth FX/Silverbullet Smile Wednesday, April 9. 7 p.m. $20. Brass Mug, Tampa

Dirty Crubmums w/Turbo Kid/Altered Mental Status Monday, April 14. 7 p.m.

$10. Brass Mug, Tampa

Cardiac Arrest w/Vacuous Depths/ Xtinguished/Grave Filth/Undercrypt/ Othalan Friday, April 25. 7 p.m. $20. Brass Mug, Tampa

The Grass Is Dead Friday, April 25. 7 p.m. $20. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Tickets to see Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett play the BayCare Sound in Clearwater on Monday, Sept. 16 go on sale Friday, March. 28 and start at $40.50.

See Josh Bradley’s weekly roundup of new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below. Ray Roa

Sway Wild (opening for Amos Lee) Wednesday, April 30. 7:30 p.m. $65 & up. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tampa

Space Laces Friday, May 16. 10 p.m. $15 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City

EXTC Thursday, May 22. 7 p.m. $20. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Face To Face Thursday, May 22. 7 p.m. $30. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Night Ranger Friday, June 6. 7:30 p.m. $69 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Smokey Jones and the 3 Dollar Pistols Friday, June 13. 8 p.m. $15. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Damon Fowler Saturday, June 14. 8 p.m. $15. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Authority Zero Wednesday, June 18. 7 p.m. $25. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Drivin N Cryin Thursday, June 26. 8 p.m. $20. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Billy Woods Saturday, June 28. 7 p.m. $25. Crowbar, Ybor City

Counting Crows w/The Gaslight Anthem Sunday, July 20. 6:30 p.m. $39.50 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater

Ready to learn

By Caroline DeBruhl

Dear Oracle, I used to be very close friends with “Roxanne” in college. We drifted apart, but I know a lot about her life because she posts obsessively on social media. Recently she just blew up another romantic relationship. From what she’s written, it seems like the reasons for the failure are also the same reasons I stopped hanging out with her. (Incredibly egocentric, always the victim, a sociopathic lack of empathy.) I know she just started therapy. Should I reach out to her and let her know that this is actually a pattern? I don’t think she deserves to be alone, but I don’t think she’s self-aware.—Old-pal Observations

Cards: Page of Pentacles (reversed), Temperance (reversed), The High Priestess (reversed), Queen of Pentacles

Dear OPO, I am not an absolutist when it comes to commenting on a friend’s relationship. I think it’s something that should be treated on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, it’s best to let them have fun with that walking disaster; sometimes, it’s best to be that voice that cuts through the toxic love fog. It can be a precarious place for a friendship, but a strong one can survive the yucking of almost any yum—if it comes from a place of love and concern.

However, with three of the cards reversed, I don’t think you’re the person to address her behavior, my dear. That’s what she’s paying her therapist for.

You’re probably right about Roxanne’s behavior. If she’s posting so much of it online, in detail, that you can watch a pattern emerge in real time, she probably isn’t that self-aware (or cares about the privacy of her partners.) As the Queen of Pentacles, you’ve probably “done the work” of growth when it comes to friendships/relationships, and I’m sure you can offer her some kind, thoughtful “I” statements about your past relationship and why you chose to let distance grow.

But let’s go over the facts that you stated: Roxanne is an ex-friend who compulsively airs out her dirty laundry on social media for the world to see, has a victim complex, and lacks all empathy. On paper, this does not seem like someone who would appreciate notes regarding their past and present behavior. So, why don’t we let that sleeping dog lie?

If you are actually concerned for her, I think she might improve. The Page of Pentacles is an eager student ready to learn. Temperance and High Priestess would suggest her learning patience, moderating her behavior, and diving into the subconscious to address the heart of the matter. It seems like a good path forward for her.

However, if you want to send her a note just to get involved with this little soap opera or to be mean to her, don’t. The latter is an asshole move, and the former is an impulse that should be tempered. Hopefully, Roxanne will address her behavior and move forward, creating a life that

inspires joy and, if she wants it, a loving partnership that feels fulﬁlling. And, hopefully for you, she’ll keep broadcasting every twist and turn so you can follow along from the comfort of your own lane.

Dear Oracle, I was visiting a longtime friend at her home for a week. I thought everything was going well, but on my last day, something turned, and she said that I was a “toxic person” and that “everyone who has ever met you says you’re toxic.” This came out of nowhere! We were looking at her family photos, and she brought up that her dad was toxic. I have no idea what to do. Any advice?—Non-toxic?

Cards: The Devil, Six of Wands (reversed), Knight of Pentacles, Full Moon

Dear NT, psychoanalyst

whatever negative feelings to amplify and fester, probably allowing them to spiral out of control, and the reverse Six of Wands shows that it is not going to resolve peacefully any time soon. The Devil can also feel like a trap, that you’re chained to this cycle but that is, of course, a lie.

Right now, I think removing yourself from the situation is the way to go. The Knight of Pentacles is a calm presence in a state of chaos and drives forward without any distractions. Some distance right now is what you need because it’s time for deep contemplation.

your questions to oracle@cltampa.com or DM @theyboracle on Instagram

Carl Jung described humans as having a psychological “shadow.” This is in our unconscious and where we put behaviors that we’re ashamed of, things unacceptable in society, negative feelings, etc. It’s a secret we try to keep from ourselves and can burst out of us at times, seemingly out of character. He also wrote that oftentimes, we will be highly critical of a person for a negative trait because we, ourselves, have that trait. We’re projecting what we hate about ourselves onto others.

So, you know. Perhaps your friend doth protest too much.

I don’t know the details of the dynamic, what was said, or who (if anyone) was at fault, but this is not a good situation. The Devil is causing

The Full Moon card in my deck (Uusi’s “Pagan Otherworlds”) is a card for clarity, action, and ampliﬁed emotions. You’re going to be feeling a lot right now. Sift through it. What is true? What is projection? Do you feel like you are toxic? Do you feel like your friend is? Is it dynamic? What has led you both down the path to The Devil? Is there a way to correct course? Or is this a ‘cut and run’ situation?

Generally, I do believe that friendships are foundational to a joyful life, so I encourage you to repair ruptures when possible. But like all relationships, some friendships can turn, well, toxic. Sometimes, it’s a break that’s necessary; sometimes, it’s an ending.

Whatever path you take, I do hope that both of you can ﬁnd peace—either in a repaired and stronger friendship or on your own. Take care, my dear.

See more of Caroline and learn about her services via carolinedebruhl.com.

Runaway, bride!

By Dan Savage

I’m a 28-year-old woman married to my husband, a 29-year-old man, for almost two years, and we still haven’t had sex. We met through mutual friends, dated for less than a year, and we knew pretty quickly that we wanted to get married. Things between us felt right. We genuinely liked each other, and everything felt pretty great. On our wedding night, we decided to leave the hotel early to spend time with family since many had traveled far for the wedding. After the wedding, life got hectic. Before we realized it, months had passed. I initiated intimacy a few times, but we never followed through. I’ve brought it up multiple times, and he always says he feels self-conscious about his body but promises to try harder. We even scheduled times for intimacy, but when the time came, he was either too busy or he would ask if we could try tomorrow instead. I’ve given him oral sex and a handjob but other than that nothing. Yes, we were both virgins on our wedding night, and I guess we still are. Every time we have a heart-to-heart, he promises to do better but nothing changes. I’ve stopped bringing it up because I feel like I’m nagging, but it’s breaking me inside. We’ve talked about wanting children and when we should start trying, but it feels so painful to have those conversations when we haven’t even had sex yet. I feel heartbroken watching our friends start families while we’re stuck in this place. I don’t know if therapy would help, or if I should involve his parents, or if I need to worry about something/someone else or if I should accept that this might never change. I feel lost. Has anyone else been through something like this? What would you do?—Married In Name Only

second appointment with this miracle-working therapist, MINO, your husband tells you that thing you had a right to know before you married him and it turns out to be something silly and trivial and your husband is in such a hurry to fuck you now after that silly and trivial thing is out in the open that you wind up having PIV sex for the ﬁrst time in the parking garage of your therapist’s ofﬁce building.

SAVAGE LOVE

Worst-case scenario: Your husband agrees to therapy, MINO, but years go by before your husband ﬁnally levels with you about that thing you had a right to know before you married him and it’s not something silly or trivial and saying it out loud doesn’t make it go away and you have to live with the realization that you didn’t just waste years of your life on a man who couldn’t love you the way you deserved to be loved, but you wasted them on a man who could see that sexual rejection was breaking you and he didn’t love you enough to let you go. P.S. Don’t involve his parents.

What do you recommend doing if you have a good friend who is dizzyingly hot, totally off limits, and has been ﬂirting with you for two years?

I am conﬂicted because I ﬁnd it pretty fun, but I periodically feel guilty because he is in a monogamous relationship and has a new baby.

look at him—and then cries herself to sleep at night from the humiliation of it all. Or Mrs. Hot Tattoos is a cuckquean and, although their marriage is monogamous, she encourages her husband to ﬂirt with other women in front of other people and comes extra hard from the humiliation of it all. Or Mr. and Mrs. Hot Tattoos are monogamish; for some couples “being monogamish” means there’s some allowance for outside sexual contract, FLIRT, for others it means they don’t have to hide evidence they’re attracted to someone else. So long as crushes remain crushes—so long as ﬂirtations don’t become action plans—they’re allowed.

I recommend putting the dread direct question (DDQ) to this Mr. Hot Tattoos: “Does it bother your wife when we ﬂirt? I know it can’t go any further than ﬂirting—because your marriage is monogamous and I respect that—but if what we are doing is hurting your wife’s feelings, we should stop. So, does this bother her?”

Even if you put , “NO TRUMP VOTERS, NO MAGA IDIOTS,” in all caps on your ads, MAGATS, you’re still gonna have to do your screw diligence before meeting up with other couples. Research into online dating/hookups has shown that many people don’t read the text of a personal ad—people send messages to people whose photos they like—which means we can’t assume the person we’re talking to is aware of our interests, limits, boundaries, etc., just because we listed them in the text of our personal ad. Additionally, there’s nothing MAGA motherfuckers enjoy more than inﬂicting themselves on people who want nothing to do with them—bone the libs to own the libs—which means you’ll have to ask one or two pointed/ trick questions at some point between exchanging messages and swapping partners even if it seems like they read your ad.

I would leave. Zooming out for a second: Anyone out there who wants to be sexually active in the context of a sexually exclusive relationship needs to establish sexual compatibility before the wedding. If a good sex life isn’t important to you—if you don’t just wanna be married for the companionship and/or the tax break—don’t wait until after the wedding to see if the sex works. Fuck ﬁrst—before you get married, before you get engaged, before you go steady.

Alright, MINO, there’s clearly something your husband isn’t telling you—something you had a right to know before you married him— but you need to ask yourself how much more time you’re willing to waste before you ﬁnd out what that thing is.

Best-case scenario: Your husband agrees to therapy, MINO, and you somehow manage to ﬁnd the perfect therapist right away, i.e. the kind of therapist with the power to heal their clients in one or two visits. And then at your

On the other hand, it’s limited to him making sorta mild flirtatious comments and sending occasional (fully clothed!) selfies. I don’t think I’m misreading the situation here, as I’ve spoken at length with friends and my partner, all of whom all joke about his glances and body language around me. I have pretty good self-control, and I don’t want to be party to him blowing up his life because he is my friend, first and foremost, and I don’t think he wants to blow up his life, seeing as flirting hasn’t escalated over time. And despite the chemistry that’s obvious to the people around us, I don’t get any sense that it pisses off his partner when the three of us hang out.

However, I’m writing to you for a gut check. The photos feel like a little step over the line, and I redirect the conversation when he sends them and don’t send any photos in return, but I’ve never shut him down explicitly. Should I? I’m trying to be a good, if horny, friend, but I worry that I’m enjoying this hot, funny, tattooed guy’s ridiculous teasing too much. What are the ethics here, Dan? Do I need to shut this down entirely or lay down clear boundaries?—Friendly Lad Is Really Tempting

For all you know, FLIRT, Mrs. Hot Tattoos puts on a brave face when her husband ﬂirts with you in front of a room full of people—she clocks how he looks at you, she clocks how you

If Mr. Hot Tattoos says it’s killing his wife— if he admits she’s crying herself to sleep at night from the humiliation of it all—then you can bet he’s telling the truth. On the other hand, FLIRT, if he tells you his wife is fine with it… or that she likes it… there’s a somewhat decent chance he’s telling the truth… given as his wife seems unbothered by it… but “she’s fine with it” is exactly the sort of lie a married man might tell when asked whether his behavior is hurting his wife. So, if you get the first response—it’s killing his wife—stop flirting with him. If he tells you his wife is fine with it, FLIRT, and you want to make sure he’s not lying to you, then you’ll need to ask him the OFQ (obvious followup question): “Can I check with Mrs. Hot Tattoos about that?”

My husband and I have been together for a long time and we are still massively in love with each other! A few years ago, we dipped our toes into “The Lifestyle.” We felt like teenagers again, inside and outside of the bedroom. The experience brought us closer, our communication became stronger, and the experience encouraged a deeper, more honest form of conversation. Then COVID happened, and we closed things back up. Recently, we’ve begun discussing signing up on a few swinging apps and getting back into this. But I hesitate due to the political climate. I cannot fathom giving a piece of myself to a Trump supporter. It literally gives me an all-body ick to think about it. My husband feels the same way. Even though we still feel somewhat new to the lifestyle, we understand the difference between a sexy conversation and a non-sexy conversation, and we don’t think politics makes for a sexy conversation. Is it appropriate to share on our proﬁles that we are not interested in meeting anyone who is any way MAGA? We don’t feel a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is a strong enough stance to take, what with everything being taken from so many during this reign of terror.—Must Avoid Grinding Against Trump Supporters

Every year I make pin-on buttons for Pride and give them away leading up to and throughout the month of June. I like to stick to a theme. Last year I still had hope for the U.S. and tried to appeal to people’s humanity: “Hello, Neighbor” “It’s OK to love people” and “It’s just ME.” This year I’m struggling for ideas; and as I cast about for inspiration, I keep getting bogged down in the moment. This big, ugly, scary moment. Or, maybe I should embrace the tone. Maybe it’s less celebratory this year than protest-y. Some of my first pins included “The first pride was a RIOT!” Maybe “The next pride will be a RIOT!” would fit the bill.—Pride Is Now Needed Every Day While many other demographic groups moved toward Trump in 2024—while Harris still won majorities of urban voters, Black and Latino voters, and younger voters, Trump gained significant ground with all of these groups (WTF Gen Z?)—LGBT voters decisively rejected Trump and Trumpism: 88% of LGBT voters rejected Trump in 2024 compared to just 73% in 2020. (If straight people voted like LGBT voters do, there wouldn’t be a single Republican in Washington) So, when I read your letter, PINNED, my first thought was, “You know what would be cool? Buttons with ‘88’ on them! It would make a statement about how unified we are as a community against Trump and anyone who didn’t know what it meant would have to ask and that could start some great conversations and inspire solidarity!”

But “88” is code for “Heil Hitler" and neoNazis are already out there wearing “88” buttons and tattoos. Don’t make “88” buttons, PINNED, as they’re not going to start any conversations worth having. Suggestions off the top of my head: “WE’RE STILL HERE,” “TRANS PEOPLE EXIST,” “DO NOT COMPLY,” and “FUCK THIS SHIT.”

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Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www.storagetreasures.com. ending

on April 11, 2025 at 10:00 am for units located at Compass Self Storage 1685 Hwy 17 N Eagle Lake Florida

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All Goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase.

Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sale is subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. UNIT 3194 Richie Hamrick. Run dates 3/27/25 and 4/3/25.

Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www.storagetreasures.com ending on April 11th, 2025 at 10:00 am for units located at: Compass Self Storage 2291 S. Frontage Rd, Plant City, Florida 33563 Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the time of sale. All goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase.

Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sale is subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. Unit 1047 Kalvysha McCormick Unit 208 Isaac Santana Unit 3130-3156 Lisa Long Run Dates: 03/27/2025 & 04/03/2025