Creative Loafing Tampa — May 22, 2025 by Chava Communications

PUBLISHER James Howard

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa

Editorial

MANAGING EDITOR Selene San Felice

FILM & TV CRITIC John W. Allman

IN-HOUSE WITCH Caroline DeBruhl

CONTRIBUTORS Josh Bradley, Kyla Fields, McKenna Schueler, Sofía García Vargas, David Warner

PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Decker

POLITICAL CARTOONIST Bob Whitmore

SUMMER INTERN Jani Burden (apply for fall by emailing clips and a resume to rroa@cltampa.com)

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MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Kristin Bowman

Circulation

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Chava Communications Group

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Michael Wagner

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EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay is a publication covering public issues, the arts and entertainment. In our pages appear views from across the political and social spectrum. They do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher.

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The newspaper is produced and printed on Indigenous land belonging to Tampa Bay’s Tocobaga and Seminole tribes.

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CURATOR OF: S moke Shop Festival Burn & Boom Tampa Bay

do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from May 22-29

Flower power

There’s a lot more to do at the Spring Sunflower Festival than take Instagram pics. Sweetfield Farms’ 17th annual celebration includes familyfriendly activities like “Florida’s only true sunflower maze,” hayrides, farm animals, crafts, U-pick gardens (when available), pedal tractors, veggie launchers and tree houses. Local vendors will sell food and wares at the Harvest Barn Market.

Sweetfields Farm’s 17th Annual Spring Sunflower Festival: Saturday-Sunday, May 24-25. 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday, May 26 10 a.m- 2 p.m. $13.28-$14. 17250 Benes Roush Rd., Brooksville. sweetfieldsfarm. com—Selene San Felice

Mx Cuntgeniality

The first official St. Pete Pride event is a pageant celebrating the best and boldest in local drag. Competing for the title of Mr., Mrs., and Mx. St. Pete Pride 2025, LGBTQ+ community members will be rated for their performances in the categories of Presentation, Pride Wear, Evening Wear, Q&A and Talent. Pageant titleholder and “Queen of the Universe” contestant Jazzell Barbie Royale joins the panel of judges. It’s a more-than-five-hour event, so eat before unless you’ve got RuPaul money to raid the Palladium’s snack bar.

2025 Mx SPP Pageant: Sunday, May 25. 5 p.m.-11 p.m. $20-$45. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, 253 5th Ave. N, St. Petersburg. stpetepride.org—Selene San Felice

| MAY 22-28, 2025 | cltampabay.com

Wheels on the bus

At its May 5 meeting, the board of Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) voted to amend its charter and clear the way for residents of the county to tax themselves to boost resources for public transit. The next step is for the board to ratify a millage increase from a half-mill to a full-mill—aka from 50 cents per $1,000 assessed property value, to $1 per $1,000. If that happens, voters could decide on the referendum on the November 2026 ballot. A new community group, Transit Now Tampa Bay (TNTB), pointed out that the millage has not increased since 1979. Without new funding, TNTB and HART staffers warned, the transit agency could face another round of drastic funding cuts resulting in service changes, layoffs and more. Next steps will be discussed during TNTB’s next meeting; also on the agenda for the open-invite meeting are short term goals for the group, updates on Tampa’s now-free-to-ride route one bus, and upcoming events.

Play it cool

Sunshine City is starting to get steamy as we head into another Tampa Bay summer. Even though it might be too hot to play outside, FloridaRAMA has family fun covered, literally. The spring ﬂing festival of play, a collaboration with Sunshine City With Kids, includes art, crafts, games, food, music, and market vendors. For those who haven’t seen FloridaRAMA’s immersive exhibit and done its scavenger hunts, it’s worth adding on a ticket.

Day of Play Spring Fling & Family Fun Day: Saturday, May 24. 10 a.m.-2

p.m.. $5-$20. FloridaRAMA, 2606 Fairﬁeld Ave. S Building 5, St. Petersburg. ﬂoridarama.art—Selene San Felice

Here comes the Sun

The Bay area’s first professional women’s soccer team is second in the USL Super League and has clinched a spot in the playoffs. But up first is the Tampa Bay Sun’s regular season closer against seventh-place D.C. Power FC. Sun strikers Cecilie Fløe Nielsen and Natasha Flint are in the running for the “Golden Boot,” which goes to the league’s top goal-scorer at the end of the season. Goalkeeper Ashley Orkus is up for the “Golden Glove,” which goes to the goalie with the lowest goals-against average (pictured is defender Paige Almendariz). The playoffs will take place in the respective teams’ stadiums, as long as the league approves of the venue, and will consist of two semifinal games on the weekend of June 7 and one final match on June 14.

Tampa Bay Sun FC v DC Power FC: Saturday, May 24. 7:30 p.m. $23 & up. Riverfront Stadium at Blake High School, 1701 N Blvd., Tampa. tampabaysunfc.com—Jani Burden

RYAN KERN

AARON COFFEY THE LIVING ROOM

CLAYTON PARRETT HEW PARLOR & CHOPHOUSE

FELICIA LACALLE TEAK

NITIN BALI LATITUDE 28 AT THE JW MARRIOTT CLEARWATER BEACH RESORT & SPA

TONY BRUNO THE BRINEHOUSE

CHARLES BANDEL CAFE GALA AT THE DALI MUSEUM

DAVID REYES ST. PETE DISTILLERY

LEE AQUINO BIRCH & VINE

ROSS DALTON HIGHLAND HOUSE

Bright ideas

By Jani Burden

Hillsborough County wants residents to weigh in on whether a high-speed train is worth shorter commutes. The county’s Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) is conducting a study to see what Tampeños and their neighbors think about Brightline service in their area.

Brightline is a Florida-based high-speed rail service with stations in Orlando, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Downtown Tampa is among proposed new locations along with Lakeland, Disney/International Drive and Treasure Coast. A Space Coast station is planned for late next year.

The survey— which is offered in both English and Spanish—looks to see how people would use Brightline. In addition, TPO wants to ﬁnd out who would be using it, how people would like to access the station and what connections and features matter most to them. Those who complete the survey and enter an email before it closes on May 31 are entered to win a $100 grocery gift card.

The convenience of a cushy, shorter trip to Orlando has been accompanied in the news by Brightline’s reputation for train-related fatalities.

The railway is the nation’s deadliest per mile, according to WPBF, which said that 127 people have been killed by Brightline trains since 2018 with 41 of those deaths happening in 2024. The Miami New Times recently tracked incidents of pedestrians being struck by the train while crossing or walking along the tracks, sometimes intentionally—its report “logged more than 50 pedestrian and motorist deaths caused by collisions with the company’s trains since January 2022.”

In spite of these deaths related to Brightline, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) says that none have actually been attributed to Brightline itself. The FRA has run national campaigns warning drivers and pedestrians not to try and beat trains, but Brightline tracks are especially risky since the train goes about 125 mph.

Activists in Tampa post signs over I-4 equating ICE to German secret police

Tampa Light Brigade posted signs over Interstate-4 last Friday morning comparing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

(ICE) to one of the world’s most repressive police forces.

Signs reading “ICE = STASI” (referring to the secret police of East Germany that used torture and intimidation to crush dissent from 1950-1990), “FK ICE,” and “CRUSH ICE” were posted on the U.S.-Hwy 301 overpass of I-4.

Tampa Light Brigade has been posting signs on streets across Tampa Bay for more than 10 years, but had been inactive for the last year. Previous signs supported Palestine and Medicare for all.

Last month, ICE deported Heidy Sánchez, the mother of a 17-month-old, to Cuba when she went to an appointment to get a green card in Tampa. Protestors gathered outside local ICE ofﬁces in April to demand the return of Frengel Reyes Luis Marcano Silva (a cause U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor has thrown her weight behind).—Selene San Felice

Disaster Clean-Up & Restoration Company, Doula, Pickleball Group/League, Cat

The nomination period opened May 15 and runs through June 11 at 11:59 p.m.

Nominations can be made once per day within each speciﬁc category—People, Places, Food & Drink, Arts, Entertainment, Beauty and Wellness, Goods, and Services—and only the top 10 nominees will move into the voting phase, which happens between July 17-Aug. 20.

The Best of the Bay party goes down Wednesday, Sept. 24 party at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino before the issue hits stands the next day.

LOCAL NEWS

Nominate your local favorites at vote.cltampa.com. Tickets for Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay’s Best of the Bay party happening Thursday, June 26 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa and will start at $60

Nominations are open for Creative Loaﬁng’s Best of the Bay 2025

It’s time to nominate your local business, band, bartender, politician, stripper, and everything in between for Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay’s annual Best of the Bay awards.

There are more than 500 categories available, with a whopping 63 new categories this year including: Boba/Tea, Hot Pot/Korean BBQ,

“Of all the amazing things about this job, getting to see the community rally behind their favorite people and businesses every year always leaves me in awe,” said Ray Roa, Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay’s Editor in Chief. “Life seems to get harder every day, but so many of our neighbors are out there pouring every ounce of themselves into the work they love—and there’s nothing better than getting to see them celebrated as being among the Best of the Bay.”

For more info, visit botbtampabay.com.

WHERE TAMPA COMES TO

Heed the call

Here’s who’s applied for Hillsborough County’s DOGE committee.

By Selene San Felice

Hillsborough County residents—including career Republicans, entrepreneurs, and a guy who sued the county—want to help audit its spending as part of a local DOGE committee.

As previously reported, the county opened applications last month for the board that would collaborate with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “EOG DOGE” team.

Anyone selected for the Hillsborough DOGE Liaison Committee will serve “an advisory role to the Board and County Administrator” in working with DeSantis’ team, according to the application.

Only one Democrat on county commission— Harry Cohen, who has represented District 1 since 2020—voted against the creation of the county’s DOGE effort last month, noting that “in the past, this board has not had any difﬁculty voting on and making decisions on spending allocations.”

While these positions are nonpartisan, the idea of DOGE was borne from the Trump administration’s “Dark MAGA” leader, Elon Musk. Hillsborough’s board of county commissioners includes ﬁve Republicans and just two Democrats.

Fourteen people applied before applications closed May 2, according to a public records request by Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay.

All applicants are registered to vote in Hillsborough County, but three have no party afﬁliation. Some participate in partisan politics.

Catherine F. James is a longtime member of the Hillsborough County LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus.

Clifton C. Curry, a former regional counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign, lists Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister, State Attorney Suzy Lopez and Chief Judge Christopher Sabella as “friends” in his references.

In 2023, one applicant—Robert Emerson of Apollo Beach—led a class-action lawsuit against the county over the voter-approved county transportation tax known as “All For Transportation.”

The 1% sales tax collected roughly $569 million between 2019-2021, according to WUSF. Road and safety projects were to get 54% of the tax revenue while 45% was earmarked for expanding public transportation in the county.

But the tax was deemed unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court in 2021. As a result, $256 million of the collected tax was redirected towards road improvements in the county—the rest is being spent on legal fees and being distributed as part of a refund program for anyone who ﬁlled out an application saying they spent money on the tax. Only ﬁve DOGE applicants—who were supposed to list their credentials in accounting,

economics, ﬁnance, auditing, IT or human resources—will be selected for the unpaid positions.

County staff is still ﬁguring out how and when the applications will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners for a decision, county spokesperson Todd Pratt told CL.

Have a look at all the applicants below.

Krystyna Berger

Profession: Director of Ambulatory Healthcare Technologies and Informatics at TGH

Other boards: MHA Advisory Board Member for the USF College of Public Health

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2002

Lived in Hillsborough since: 1972

Notable references: Three friends

Registered party: Republican Biggers’ application—the only one redacted— says they, “Strategically reduced FTE counts for the Information Technology Department each ﬁscal year while improving technical outcomes and employee morale.”

Maurice V. de Castro

Profession: Compliance ofﬁcer at Citibank

Other boards: Member of the Association of Certiﬁed Anti-Money Laundering Specialists since 2021

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2020

Notable references: His ex-wife

State Attorney Susan Lopez, Chief Judge Christopher Sabella—all listed as “friend.”

Registered party: Republican Curry’s application touts his work with foster kids and a three-decades long involvement in Republican politics, including work as regional counsel with the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 and during 2000’s “hanging chad” debacle.

Danielle Ellis

Profession: SVP of Regulatory Risks and Controls for Citigroup Financial Services

LOCAL NEWS

Registered party: No party afﬁliation

Castro touted 21 years in IT and said their role at Citibank is to mitigate risk for the bank in the form of ad-hoc complex, high-risk ﬁnancial investigations and relationship audits, identifying behavioral patterns, systemic weaknesses,

Notable references: Supervisor at TGH, a friend and co-worker.

Registered party: No party afﬁliation Berger’s applications said, “In my current role as TGH IT Director, I have to maintain knowledge of federal, state and local healthcare regulations, budgeting and negotiation.”

Jason Biggers

Profession: Director of Technology for Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners

Other boards/organizations:

and directly collaborating with law enforcement and other banks.

Clifton C. Curry

Profession: President/owner and attorney, Curry Law Group, P.A. Specializes in civil trials involving commercial, personal injury, family issues and general business litigation

Other boards/organizations: Numerous Brandon-based charities and community organizations.

Lived in Hillsborough since: 1957

Notable references: Sheriff Chad Chronister,

Other boards/organizations: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority member since 2007

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2002

Notable references: Friends and colleagues. Registered party: Democrat Ellis’ application touts work managing “complex, error-prone systems while developing sustainable workarounds to meet deliverables and stakeholder expectations” as qualiﬁcations for the committee.

Robert Emerson

Profession: Self-employed private investor/ ﬁnancial consultant

Other boards/organizations: Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee member 2012-2025

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2012

Notable references: Rep. Mike Owen (R-Apollo Beach), 2024 Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 4 Republican candidate and real estate broker Cody Powell, real estate broker Mike Greer

Registered party: Republican In the application, Emerson wrote that they have deep experience in ﬁnancial analysis, budgeting, planning economics, investments and insurance risk management at several Fortune 100 companies over many years.

Catherine F. James

Profession: Finance manager for Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative (THHI), former CPA. Will retire from THHI on June 27. Other boards/organizations: A 15-year member of Hillsborough County LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus and Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, plus work on various Hillsborough County Schools councils and committees.

Lived in Hillsborough since: 1985

Notable references: Pastor Jakob Hero-Shaw at Seminole Heights’ Metropolitan Community Church, former Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners Chairwoman Sandy Murman

Registered party: Democrat

James’ applications says their 40 years working in accounting for national and smallmedium sized companies makes them qualiﬁed for the committee.

continued on page 16

OBEY YOUR MASTER: Gov. Ron DeSantis at The Vault in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 24, 2025.

Minh Anh Nguyen

Profession: Retired project manager/program specialist

Other boards/organizations: Volunteer since 2017 for Hillsborough County’s Diversity Advisory Council and City of Tampa Mayor’s Asian American Paciﬁc Islander Advisory Council

Lived in Hillsborough since: 1984

Registered party: Republican

Notable references: Did not list any In the application, Nguyen listed experience in data analysis, report making and leadership as qualiﬁcations for the committee.

Je rey Ogden

Profession: Telecommunications manager for Tampa Electric Company

Other boards/organizations: Ethical Advisory Committee for Plant City High School

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2002

Notable references: Jack Holland, Assistant City Manager for Plant City as “friend” and TECO colleagues Michele Arevalo (Director of Telecom) Alan Hill and (Director of Corporate Security)

Registered party: Republican Ogden touts 28 years in IT and telecom, and management duties overseeing “multi-million dollar budgets and team members.”

Allison Roberts

Profession: President of Genesis Management Consulting

Other boards/organizations: Hillsborough County Citizens Advisory Committee, Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Committee, Dana Shores Civic Association (in discussion with Public Works regarding a landscape maintenance agreement for trimming trees in designated ROWs along the community’s entranceway)

Lived in Hillsborough since: 1994

patient portal. Rosario also started TGH using AI software for charts, patient messages and provider notes.

Bryan Shields

Profession: Director of IT for NYC-based Stash Financial

Other boards/organizations:

LOCAL NEWS

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2020

Notable references: Three friends

Registered party: Republican Shields touts 16 years in IT, plus “deep expertise” in systems administration, and cost optimization in public and private entities among their qualiﬁcations for the committee.

Elisabeth Thomas

Notable references: Peers, co-workers and fellow neighborhood board members including Jim Garrison, Vice President of the Tampa Sports Authority

Registered party: Republican Roberts’ application cites more than 30 years in “corporate development, turnaround, and expansions” as part of their qualiﬁcations along with more than 13 years leading “major community initiatives” that deepened their understanding of local government.

Marjorie Rosario

Profession: Manager of Quality and Regulatory Standards at Tampa General Hospital

Other boards/organizations:

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2005

Notable references: All co-workers at TGH

Registered party: Democrat Rosario’s application cited work in patient digital experience improving MyChart, TGH’s

Profession: Founder of Launch Product Marketing

Other boards/organizations: Alpha House of Tampa, Artemis Guild

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2008

Notable references: Friends and colleagues.

Registered party: Republican Thomas’ application cites more than 20 years in the software industry “managing, testing, marketing and rolling out IT solutions, ensuring technical excellence and stakeholder engagement.”

Jacob Whitworth

Profession: Senior cybersecurity engineer at Modern Technology Solution

Other boards/organizations:

Lived in Hillsborough since: 2022

Notable references: Manager, coworker

Registered party: No party afﬁliation Whitworth cites eight years of professional IT experience in nonproﬁt, government, and private organizations.

HARRY ON THE DOGE: Commissioner Harry Cohen voted against creating the committee.

HARRY COHEN CAMPAIGN

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Extra bold

Workers at a third Tampa Starbucks ﬁle petition to unionize.

By McKenna Schueler

As thousands of Starbucks baristas walked off the job this week, in protest of a new dress code policy and alleged violations of labor law, the Starbucks union movement in Tampa is seeing new signs of growth.

Starbucks workers at the Shoppes of Carrollwood location in Tampa last week ofﬁcially ﬁ led a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a union election for 16 of the cafe’s employees.

More than 570 Starbucks locations across the U.S. have unionized with the labor union Starbucks Workers United since the organizing drive launched in 2021, including a dozen locations in Florida. Three of those unionized locations are in the Tampa Bay region, including two cafes in Tampa and one in Clearwater.

cafes—representing at least 2,000 workers in total—walked off the job over the company’s unilateral decision to change employees’ dress code policy.

Starbucks Workers United argues that broad policy changes should be bargained with the union, and not changed unilaterally by the employer. The union has also blasted the company for policing what workers wear rather than addressing other workplace conditions that affect the customer experience.

LABOR

“I have been employed with Starbucks for over three years and in that time corporate has prioritized anything other than its partners. We have been left with unfulﬁ lled promises and a lack of hours and as a result many baristas are left stressed and overwhelmed,” said Jackie Montalvo, a barista at the union-ready Carrollwood Starbucks location, just two miles away from another unionized location.

“Partners who need this job for health insurance and other benefits are not given the hours needed in order to be given access to those said benefits. This company can defi nitely afford to give us consistent hours that result in a livable wage, they just choose not to.”

Starbucks Workers United, representing more than 11,000 baristas and shift supervisors nationwide, is currently in negotiations with Starbucks for a ﬁ rst union contract. The popular Seattle-based coffee chain—a multi-billion dollar company—hasn’t met the union with welcome arms. It stalled contract talks with the union for years (a common tactic of anti-union employers) before agreeing to bargain with the union in good faith just last February.

The union is fi ghting for higher pay, solutions to short-staffi ng, and improvements to disciplinary procedures, nondiscrimination policies, and job benefits like healthcare. Although the union and Starbucks have reached tentative agreements on over a dozen non-economic proposals in the bargaining process, economic proposals such as pay have remained a sticking point.

A majority of unionized baristas who serve as delegates for the union recently rejected the company’s latest proposal offering no immediate pay raises, improvements to health beneﬁts, nor a minimum number of scheduled hours. And just this week, workers at a number of unionized

“Why should the focus be on us paying outof-pocket for new shoes, pants, and shirts when Starbucks could be focusing on stafﬁ ng their stores correctly, lowering wait times, and paying baristas a living wage? Our union is strong and we’re ﬂexing our power by taking action this week - and reminding Starbucks that they have a legal obligation to bargain with us over ANY policy changes,” the union wrote in a social media post.

A Starbucks spokesperson told Orlando Weekly this week (after baristas walked off the job at a unionized cafe near Orlando) that Starbucks “will continue to bargain in good faith and will make sure any differences between our negotiations and store implementations are addressed lawfully and fairly.”

The company spokesperson criticized the union for what they described as an effort “to create disruption in a handful of stores.”

“It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to ﬁ nalize a reasonable contract,” they shared.

Starbucks has been hit with hundreds of complaints of unfair labor practice allegations over the course of the national organizing campaign, some of which have been upheld while others await fi nal review. Complaints including unlawful fi rings of workers, illegally withholding benefits from unionized workers, and even shuttering stores where workers vote to form a union. The union has fi led more than 90 unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks since the beginning of the year, after they say Starbucks backtracked on its “path forward” with the union.

or encounter union busters. A simple majority of workers must then vote in favor of unionization for the union to prevail.

In Florida, just about 5% of workers are represented by a union, compared to just under 10% nationwide. Union density—or the share of workers represented by a union—is particularly low in the retail and food service sectors, with common barriers to unionization including high turnover and unstable hours. Starbucks Workers United, a grassroots campaign of the labor union Workers United, secured its very ﬁ rst union election victory in Buffalo, New York in 2021. The organizing movement, led by a scrappy group of baristas, spread like wildﬁ re.

“This company can deﬁ nitely afford to give us consistent hours that result in a livable wage.”

Despite challenges in reaching an agreement—and legally-questionable actions by the coffee chain along the way—the Starbucks union has continued to grow, with the store in Tampa joining at least two other U.S. Starbucks locations this week that have ﬁ led petitions to join the ﬁght.

To ﬁ le for an election, at least 30% of workers must sign cards in support of unionization, although unions generally shoot for closer to 60% in case some workers change their mind,

“I’m voting to unionize because we all deserve fair hours, wages, and a work environment that is not falling apart with equipment that actually properly works,” said Stephanie Short, a shift supervisor of six years at the Carrollwood location. “We have received empty promises of more hours and stafﬁ ng, and then instead it feels like the hours have lessened, partners that have left are not being replaced at the same pace they leave, and the work load seems to be ever increasing on each individual.”

The expectations for baristas, she said, “are no longer realistic,” even for the most tenured employees that have been with the company through its ups and downs. “It is time for Starbucks to step up,” said Short.

POURING OVER: The latest Starbucks to vote to unionize is just two miles from already unionized location. GOOGLE MAPS

Truckin’

Byron Donalds brings campaign for governor to Largo, but provides few details on policy.

By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix

Although he’s already been endorsed by Donald Trump for governor, Southwest Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is just now beginning to introduce himself to Floridians who don’t know much more about him other than his ubiquitous appearances on cable news over the past few years.

Speaking on the back of a small ﬂatbed truck outside of Conservative Grounds, the MAGA-ﬂavored coffee shop in Pinellas County on May 10, Donalds was intent on responding to a criticism voiced by Ron DeSantis earlier this year that he “hasn’t been part of any of the victories” that Republicans have enjoyed in Florida in recent years.

Few details

In speaking about his plans if elected governor in 2026, Donalds touched on a variety of subjects without delving too deeply.

The property insurance situation? “We’re going to ﬁx it once and for all.”

ELECTIONS

Transportation? “We’re going to continue the work from Gov. DeSantis. We’re going to expand these roads. We’re going to make it easier for people to move through, not just here in Clearwater, not just here in Pinellas, but all through Florida. We’re going to make it clear for everybody.”

The economy? “We’re going to make sure that our economy is the number one economy in the

Commissioner Wilton Simpson was reportedly considering his own bid, although that was before Trump stepped in and endorsed Donalds (before the congressman himself had ofﬁcially announced).

Early polls show that the Trump endorsement is a big deal for Donalds.

As Donalds begins his campaign, Florida’s top Republicans are in disarray, with a tentative budget deal between the state House and Senate now off the table, according to state legislative leaders in comments made on Friday.

Donalds assured the audience that “they’re going to ﬁgure this out, I promise you that.”

No RINOs

He added that “there will be no RINO (Republicans in Name Only) activity in

“We are going to make sure that the Democrats stay exactly as they are in the state of Florida.”

As of April 30, the Florida Division of Elections website shows that there are 5.5 million people registered as Republicans and 4.32 million registered Democrats in the state, with 3.58 million registered as No Party Afﬁliation. Another 425,882 are listed as registered with minor parties.

Donalds was introduced to the crowd by his wife, Erika, a former member of the Collier County School Board who now serves as the chair of the Florida state chapter of the America First Policy Institute. She described the Tea Party movement that they joined.

“We got angry at what we saw the government doing, making decisions that were ruining our economy, bailing out people and companies

“A lot’s been made about what I’ve been doing the last couple of years,” Donalds acknowledged about halfway through his 22-minute speech. He said the choice before him a year ago was whether he should stay in Florida and work for GOP candidates or “do I go on the road with Donald Trump and campaign to make sure that we save the United States of America?”

He said that, after conferring with his wife Erika and his team, he went all in for Trump.

“I told the president and I told his campaign, I said, ‘Listen: You can have the entire calendar. Just take it. It’s yours,” he said.

“Because Florida is wonderful. We have leadership that has protected this state. Gov DeSantis is to be commended for that. He’s done a tremendous job. But the ﬁght this last November was not in Florida. The ﬁght was across America. And so it didn’t matter where the liberals were, that’s where I was. If they were in Detroit, I was there. If they were in Philadelphia, I was there.”

Donalds, 46, is a Brooklyn native who moved to Florida to attend Florida State University, where he graduated in 2002 before beginning a career in banking, ﬁnance, and insurance, according to the biography listed on his congressional website. He got involved in politics in 2010, the year of the Tea Party, which led to his ﬁrst run for Congress in 2012 (when he lost in a Republican primary in Congressional District 19 to Trey Radel).

He was elected to the state House representing all of Hendry and a part of Collier County in 2016 and was re-elected in 2018. In 2020, he opted to run for Congress in Florida’s 19th District in Southwest Florida after GOP incumbent Francis Rooney announced he was resigning. He narrowly defeated fellow Republican Dane Eagle in a nine-person GOP primary in 2020, and has been re-elected to that seat twice since.

entire [nation],” he said. “We’re going to have more businesses coming here employing more people.”

Donalds is the only major declared Republican candidate in the race, although how long that remains the case remains to be seen here in the spring of 2025.

First Lady Casey DeSantis has kept the idea alive that she might enter the race (more on p. XX). Miami Mayor Francis Suarez says he is still considering getting into the contest. Agriculture

Tallahassee,” drawing large cheers. “None of that is going to occur.”

He dismissed Democrats, inaccurately claiming that they have now grown so low that they’re behind registered independents in the state.

“We are going to make sure that the Democrats stay exactly as they are in the state of Florida. And that’s not number two, it’s number three,” he said. “Because there are actually more independents than Democrats now.”

that didn’t deserve it, while we were working our butts off to pay all of our bills and do things the right way. That’s what got us involved in politics,” she said.

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.

GROUNDS GAME: Byron Donalds outside of a MAGA coffee shop in Largo.

Stonedwalled

Florida lawmakers again fall short in e orts to limit THC potency in hemp products.

By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix

Ayear ago, members of Florida’s hemp industry were lobbying Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto a bill regulating hemp-derived THC products that many claimed if signed into law would be a devastating blow to their livelihoods. Their mission was accomplished when he did in fact veto the proposal last June.

That won’t be required this year; the Legislature failed to pass anything on hemp before unofﬁcially ending the legislative session late last month (they are expected to return to Tallahassee later this month to deal exclusively with budget-related matters).

like Delta-8 and said that the newly popular hemp-infused drinks could only be sold through a retailer holding a liquor license.

synthetic cannabinoids like Delta-8 and Delta10 would have eliminated most hemp products from his establishments.

work for his two stores, which feature a large selection of THC-infused drinks.

WEED

The central problem appeared to be the substantive differences between the Senate bill sponsored by Polk County Republican Colleen Burton (SB 438) and the House version (HB 7027) sponsored by Panhandle Republican Michelle Salzman.

The two measures would have capped the potency of hemp-derived THC products, placed advertising restrictions, and required hemp to be tested by a certiﬁed medical cannabis laboratory. But there were some big differences: The Senate bill (like its 2024 version) called for the outright ban of synthetic cannabinoids

Salzman’s bill in the House did not ban Delta-8. Neither did it call for retailers to have a liquor license, but it did include a 15% excise tax on all hemp purchases. Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said the House bill was better for his industry than the Senate’s version, and said he appreciated the work that Rep. Salzman devoted to trying to ﬁnd the right balance.

“In its ﬁnal form, we said that it wasn’t perfect, but it was a signiﬁcant improvement on the Senate bill and so in the end nothing passing was better than the Senate bill passing,” Miller said. He’s “hopeful,” he said, that between now and next year’s legislative session “people will realize that the House version is the model to start working from and hopefully produce something that really both protects farmers and consumers at the same time.”

‘Honestly afraid’

Carlos Hermida, who owns two hemp shops in the Tampa Bay area, says the Senate’s ban on

“I was honestly afraid that we would have to close down,” he said last week when it became evident there would be no bill this year. “Of course it will be good for my bottom line. I can still sell drinks, I can sell the products that my customers need, and I can still advertise.”

A new element in this discussion from a year ago has been the emergence of hemp-derived THC beverages being sold throughout the state. Burton’s proposal would have required sales only at locations licensed to sell alcoholic beverages. Both bills limited the amount of THC in such drinks (5 milligrams per container in the Senate, 10 milligrams per container in the House), while the House bill would have banned consumption of such drinks on the retailer’s premises.

“With [Florida] being such a tourism/hospitality state, these bars are trying to develop server menus and other type of non-alcoholic menus for people to partake and join out with their friends, and the House bill would have taken away on-site consumption completely,” he said. “Losing that ability to go out there and sell at festivals and farmers markets, that would have signiﬁcantly hurt us.”

“I was honestly afraid that we would have to close down.”

During the ﬁnal committee stop in the House, Rep. Salzman said she was resolute in keeping that provision in her bill, saying that there are no mechanisms to test for intoxication from those THC-infused drinks.

Those restrictions might work for establishments like ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, a major liquor retail chain, said Michael Smith, co-owner of Herban Flow in St. Petersburg. But it wouldn’t

‘This stuff has got to be regulated’ With Congress largely silent on the issue, it has been up to the states to regulate hempderived THC products since the U.S. Farm Bill legalized hemp in 2018. While roughly half the states in the nation have placed some regulations on such products (and some, such as Idaho, have

continued on page 26

FEELING BLUE: Carlos Hermida at WMNF in Tampa on May 16, 2025.

RAY ROA

continued from page 25

banned the product outright), Florida continues to struggle with such measures.

That’s a problem, says Ellen Snelling, of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance.

“I’m extremely disappointed,” she said, noting that House Speaker Daniel Perez had convened a special workgroup that met for three days during the ﬁrst week of the session to learn more about the hemp business from those in the industry.

“I thought, ‘This is great. This is going to work this year,’” she recounted.

Then Snelling saw the disparate House and Senate bill versions posted. “As time went on, it just seemed like they weren’t going to come to a consensus and be able to get it done. But both bills had some positive things in it, and I just wish there was some way that they have gotten together and gotten a bill passed, because it’s past time, because this stuff has got to be regulated.”

going to see more Legislatures really trying to come up with solutions that provide for strong access to consumers while ensuring protection of the products.”

It should be noted that both Senate and House bills passed unanimously in all of the committees in which they were heard, and the full Senate voted unanimously in support of that bill when it came to the ﬂoor last month.

The House version never came to the ﬂoor of that chamber.

“We will continue to debate how hemp affects public health and our economy,” Salzman told the Phoenix in an emailed comment last week.

WEED

“There are legal gaps we need to address in the future and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure these products are safe and protect consumers, while still allowing Florida farmers to thrive.”

legalize recreational use of cannabis in 2024, is actively working to get another measure on the ballot in 2026 and didn’t respond to a request for comment.

But in a lengthy court ﬁling, Smart & Safe Florida called the new restrictions signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis “legislative gaslighting” that is not designed to block fraud in the initiative process as contended by the governor and others but will “effectively destroy the people’s right to invoke the citizen initiative.”

The group, which has been largely ﬁnanced by the medical marijuana giant Trulieve, was behind the 2024 initiative that fell just short of the 60% threshold needed to get approved. They have already started gathering petitions to try to make the 2026 ballot and have more than 200,000 signatures veriﬁed.

That ﬁnancial impact statement requirement violates its First Amendment rights, Smart & Safe Florida argues.

While the Legislature, mostly the House, fought with the governor throughout the session, the Republican leadership did come together to pass HB 1205. DeSantis signed it into law three days after receiving the bill.

The new law stems from a report from the DeSantis administration that alleged fraud in the petition-gathering process.

The January report published by the state’s Ofﬁce of Election Crimes and Security asserts that more than 100 representatives of the group attempting to pass the abortion-rights amendment last year committed crimes related to gathering petitions.

Florida is not the only state that failed to come up with regulations on hemp-derived THC products this year. In Georgia last month, a bill addressing concerns about high THC dosages passed in the state Senate but stalled in the House, as well.

“It’s really a game of whack-a-mole,” said U.S. Hemp Roundtable’s Miller.

“Over the course of legislative sessions, we’ve seen things pop up and we try to hammer them down, and sometimes we miss but in general I think the movement is towards robust regulation as opposed to bans. I think with this new hemp beverage industry there’s a lot more excitement about that, and so I think you’re

Marijuana legalization group joins the ﬁght against Florida’s crackdown on ballot initiatives

The group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida has joined a legal challenge to a newly approved crackdown on ballot initiatives.

Smart & Safe Florida last weekend asked to intervene in a federal lawsuit ﬁled last week by an organization seeking to place Medicaid expansion on the 2026 ballot. U.S. Chief District Judge Mark Walker granted Smart & Safe’s request on Monday. Walker, meanwhile, has set a telephonic conference on May 14 to discuss scheduling for the lawsuit and how to move forward.

Smart & Safe Florida, the group behind the proposed constitutional amendment to

Smart & Safe Florida says some of the restrictions in the law, including a ban on using out-of-state residents to collect petition signatures, have already hampered their efforts. The organization has halted mailing out petition forms to registered voters due to a new requirement to turn over signed petitions within 10 days.

“A “calculated and cowardly attempt by politicians in Tallahassee to rewrite the rules.”

Meanwhile, Florida Decides Healthcare ﬁled the the lawsuit last week. The group has been working to get its proposed constitutional amendment on expanding Medicaid on the statewide ballot in November 2026.

The law prohibits felons, noncitizens, and non-Florida residents from acting as petition circulators; requires additional personal identifying information for voters signing petition forms and for petition circulators; and includes a requirement to place a ﬁnancial impact statement drawn by a state-controlled panel on petition forms.

In a press conference last week, Florida Decides Executive Director Mitch Emerson called the law a “calculated and cowardly attempt by politicians in Tallahassee to rewrite the rules, not to serve the people, but to protect their own power. “—Christine Sexton/Florida Phoenix

BOXED OUT: Smart & Safe Florida called new ballot restrictions ‘legislative gaslighting.’

DAVE DECKER

Captivating DeSantis

set to sign law banning psychedelic mushroom spores.

By Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix

Gov. Ron DeSantis said this month that he will soon sign legislation that, among its provisions, would ban trafﬁcking in psychedelic mushroom spores.

That measure is part of an omnibus “Florida Farm Bill” (SB 700) sponsored by Central Florida Republican Keith Truenow that is best known for including a ban on certain additives like ﬂuoride in the drinking water supply.

Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal in the United States for possession and sale, because psilocybin is considered a controlled substance. Psilocybin spores, the small reproduction units that get dispersed by fungi, are legal, however, because they don’t contain psilocybin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Despite my legislation from a few years ago not gaining traction, we have seen throughout the country and internationally expanded acceptance of psilocybin and other psychedelics in the mental health and the therapeutic space,” Grieco told the Phoenix.

“It’s a shame that Florida has not taken advantage of the psilocybin redesignation by the FDA that allows for research and clinical studies. I would love to see our state make these therapies available to our veterans and ﬁrst responder organizations.”

FLORIDA NEWS

As the bill’s House analysis says, “Certain mushroom spores and mycelium, which is a type of fungi, can be propagated and grown into mushrooms that have psilocybin properties. But the spores do not contain any psilocybin properties themselves and therefore could be considered legal under current law.”

A violation of the new ban would be a ﬁrstdegree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a ﬁne of $1,000.

Disappointing

The decision is disappointing to those who believe the use of psychedelic mushrooms can help people experiencing treatment-resistant depression. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 bestowed a “breakthrough-therapy” designation to a British life sciences company for its psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression. The FDA designates a drug as such if preliminary clinical evidence shows it may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy.

Grieco’s bill called for the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Board of Medicine, to evaluate the therapeutic efﬁcacy of alternative therapies, including the use of MDMA (a/k/a ecstasy), psilocybin, and ketamine in treating mental and other medical conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, and migraines.

A signiﬁcant setback for the movement to bring psychedelics into the mainstream of mental health care took place last summer after the FDA opted not to approve MDMAassisted therapy for PTSD. Instead, the agency asked Lykos Therapeutics to further study the safety and efﬁcacy of the treatment, according to CNN.

As the House bill analysis says, “psilocybin, also known as ‘magic mushrooms,’ are naturally occurring and consumed for their hallucinogenic effects.”

“I don’t think lawmakers should be making the potentiality of something illegal.”

Poor move?

Small clinical trials have shown that individual doses of psilocybin, given in a therapeutic setting, can make major changes in people suffering from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, CNN reported in 2022.

That’s what led former Miami Beach Democrat Mike Grieco to introduce legislation back when he served in the Florida House of Representatives a few years ago to direct the Florida Department of Health and the Board of Medicine to study the therapeutic efﬁcacy of alternative therapies like psilocybin. That legislation didn’t advance.

Under Florida law, psilocybin and psilocyn are classiﬁed as Schedule I substances. Possession of psilocybin in Florida is a third-degree felony.

Those who work in the psychedelic space think it’s a poor move by the Legislature.

“Florida is trying to outlaw the literal roots of the psychedelic renaissance — the mycelium that connects hope, healing, and nature itself,” said Peter Sessa, a lead organizer for Cannadelic Miami, a cannabis and psychedelics expo that will take place later this month at the Miami Airport Convention Center. “This bill doesn’t just ban mushroom spores – it bans connection, curiosity, and the future of mental health.”

Carlos Hermida owns Chillum Mushrooms and Hemp Dispensary, which has locations in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

“I don’t think lawmakers should be making the potentiality of something illegal,” he

contends. “Are we going to start making it illegal because we think someone could grow up to rob a liquor store or something like that?”

Hermida adds that Mycelium is a fungus that grows in the ground. “This particular fungus grows in manure. Is manure now illegal in Florida? Is rotting manure now illegal. Is that what’s going on?”

There was no public debate on the provision during discussion of the farm bill in the Legislature. It consists of just eight lines in the 111-page bill.

In recent years, Oregon and Colorado passed legislation decriminalizing psilocybin and legalizing its supervised use. Cities like Berkeley, Seattle, and Detroit have also decriminalized the psychedelic mushrooms.

Calls to U.S. poison centers involving psilocybin among adolescents and young adults rose sharply after several U.S. cities and states began decriminalizing the substance, University of

Virginia School of Medicine researchers found in a 2024 study.

Ellen Snelling of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance said that she wasn’t that familiar with the measure banning psilocybin spores, but had a bigger concern about alternatives to psilocybin.

“A variety of psychedelic mushroom products are sold in smoke shops in Florida. An emergency room doctor told me he’s seeing more people coming in after using mushrooms,” she said. Once the measure is signed by DeSantis, Florida will join states like Georgia and Idaho in tightening regulations on psychedelic mushroom spores.

NO FUNGIS: Critics of a new law say ‘Florida is trying to outlaw the literal roots of the psychedelic renaissance.’

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RESTAURANTS

RECIPES DINING GUIDES

WINGIN’ IT: The original Duff’s in Buffalo, New York.

Northern exposure

Du ’s Famous Wings opens in Seminole Heights, and more food news.

By Ray Roa and Kyla Fields

Tampa is even more like New York now, thanks to Duff’s Famous Wings which opened in Seminole Heights last Tuesday. Adrien Angelvy, whose Pomegranate Hospitality Group is the franchisee for Duff’s in Florida, conﬁrmed to Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay that seating will only be available by reservation so that staff can control volume while dialing in the quality.

until we are entirely conﬁdent that the quality meets the high bar his team has set for itself.”

When the team is ready, Duff’s Famous Wings will start taking walk-ins. Angelvy added that Duff’s will eventually open for lunch, maybe as soon as Memorial Day weekend.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

Reservations for opening day sold-out by 9 p.m. last Monday night. A social media post says anyone without reservations can still stop by and have a cocktail or drink in the upstairs “speakeasy” lounge.

“People want these wings to be crispy and saucy just like they are in Buffalo,” Angelvy told CL. “So we will continue with reservations

“Slowly but surely,” he said.

Angelvy could also close on the property for a previously-announced Sarasota Duff’s location, he told CL, and thinks they could possibly open down there this fall.

Founded in 1946, Duff’s offers bar fare with a focus on both boneless or bone-in wings with a variety of Buffalo-style sauces, dry rubs, barbecue sauces and other ﬂavors like parmesan garlic, teriyaki, mango habanero and hot honey.

Tampeños without Bills jerseys got their ﬁrst taste of Duff’s last summer when the concept popped up at downtown’s Gen X Tavern.

Non-wing options include sandwiches, wraps, salads, quesadillas, burgers, sliders and beer-friendly starters like fried pickles, fried jalapeños, mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese bites and a Buffalo favorite, pizza logs. A range of beer, wine and margaritas occupy the drink menu.

Nicki McKiernan, a local Realtor and member of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association, attended a family and friends night—and wrote that Duff’s Tampa outpost is very inviting with the feel of a northern bar.

“And still has a little Ella’s feel to it,” McKiernan added. “Most importantly, the staff was incredibly friendly and welcoming.”

Tampa’s new Duff’s location, announced in March, marks the Buffalo-based chain’s seventh location in the U.S., with the only other non-New York restaurant residing in Texas.

The restaurant got its start in the 1940s when Louise Duffney opened a small tavern in Amherst, New York, and by the 1980s the bar

and restaurant earned its “famous” status for its beloved chicken wings. Duff’s Famous Wings still operates its ﬂagship restaurant in that original location, just outside Buffalo.

Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, which built and occupied the restaurant for 15 years, closed last fall. When the restaurant hit the market eight months before closing, co-founder and owner Melissa Deming told CL it was time for her to move on and start a new chapter in her life. “Hospitality is a fast-paced business. I am ready for life to slow down a bit and to move on to other ventures,” Deming added.

Duff’s renovation in Seminole Heights includes the preservation of the back mural “as an homage to Ella’s.”

Dutch Bros., co ee chain with famouslyfriendly service, is now open in South Tampa Tampa can ﬁnally get into its Golden Eagle era. It’s not a patriotic movement, either, but one of Dutch Bros. most popular drinks. After ﬁrst sharing expansion plans two years ago, the popular Oregon coffee chain continued on page 35

Taste the Sunshine:

with famously-friendly service ﬁnally opened in Tampa Bay.

The Bay area’s ﬁrst Dutch Bros.—complete with drive-thru and walk-up—is located at 3616 W Ballast Point Blvd., South of Gandy in the Interbay neighborhood.

In honor of opening, the chain founded in 1992 was selling $3 drinks, but most of the offerings are around $7.

The Golden Eagle latte combines espresso, half-and-half, caramel and vanilla into one, and with Dutch Bros.

It’s not just coffee either. The huge menu at Dutch Bros.—which has about 800 locations nationwide—including lemonades, milkshakes, Red Bull mixtures, teas and sparkling sodas. There’s even protein coffee for the gym rats and multicolored seasonal options for the people who just like to post their drinks on social media.

There are more Dutch Bros. coming for our neck of the woods, too. The company’s eastern expansion includes plans for more than 1,000 locations including one in Riverview, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The giant menu may seem daunting, but don’t even read it. Dutch Bros. can pretty much ﬂavor any of its drinks any way you want—just don’t forget to add “soft top” cold foam.

And don’t read too much into the straws either. The cult-following Dutch Bros. has suggested that a pink straw means that the barista thought you were pretty and the yellow straw means they thought you were average (ouch). —Jani Burden

and Sunday brunch. Signature items like tableside guacamole and margarita pitchers round out a menu that also features tequila shots, cocktails, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic options.

The restaurant seats up to 130 guests across indoor dining, a bar area, and an outdoor patio. Hours are Sunday-Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday from 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.—Sofía García Vargas

Dunedin Global fusion restaurant Caracara closes

After six years in Dunedin, Caracara is closing. Owner and chef Traci Bryant announced on the restaurant’s social media last week that its ﬁnal day will be Sunday, May 25. The Nest, Caracara’s French offshoot in the same downtown Dunedin space at 730 Broadway, will also close.

Though she’d recently revamped Caracara’s menu, Bryant told CL that business had been slow and the yearly Spring Training surge she depends on didn’t deliver the bump she needed this season.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

“I’m not really somebody that waits for desperation to make decisions, and I felt like the writing was on the wall,” Bryant told CL. “I wanted people to be able to experience Caracara till the last drop but it will not be a facade of what we were trying to offer.”

She’ll be moving Caracara’s staff and shifting her focus to her nearby pizzeria, Jack Pallino’s.

Pepe’s Cantina takes over CiderPress space in St. Pete’s Historic Kenwood

Tableside guac is on the menu in Historic Kenwood, perhaps for the ﬁrst time. Pepe’s Cantina opened its doors last month at 3118 3rd Ave. N, taking over the 2,275-square-foot space that once housed the plant-based Cider Press Vegan GastroPub. Before that, the building was home to Georgie’s Alibi, a longtime LGBTQ+ landmark in the neighborhood. It’s the Orlando-based concept’s seventh location, but its ﬁrst on Florida’s West coast.

Known for a fast prep time—lunch orders are promised in under seven minutes, dinner in under 15—the cantina brings a menu that blends contemporary Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, including sizzling fajitas, chimichangas, and tacos with a wide range of proteins (including vegetarian-friendly black beans with onions).

Jose Acosta, a longtime friend of founder Frank “Pepe” Chavez, is behind the new St. Pete franchise. The two met working in restaurants years ago, and this opening marks a return to their roots, only this time, with their own spot. Guests can expect familiar offerings found at other Pepe’s locations, including lunch, dinner,

Bryant and her restaurant group Nina Hospitality (stylized “NINA”) started Caracara in 2019 as an Asian and Latin fusion small plates concept. She also opened Taco Baby at a former ATM stand at 235 Main St the same year. That tiny restaurant closed in early-2024.

Caracara was Best of the Bay’s Best Tapas/ Small Plates winner in 2023. Bryant was awarded Best Chef in 2020.—Selene San Felice

Twelve years after opening, Cycle Brewing is closing its downtown St. Pete taproom

Cycle Brewing is saying goodbye to downtown St. Petersburg after 12 years. The bike-themed beer maker will not renew the lease on its taproom at 534 Central Ave., brewmaster Doug Dozark announced this month. Fans of his citra hops Crank IPA will want to grab its very last batch while they can. But Dozark will still be making beer.

St. Pete’s oldest craft brewer will still operate out of its warehouse at 2135 5th Ave. S, and plans to release new brews later this year. “I’m ready for change. I’m ready to learn something new,” Dozark said in Cycle’s social media post. “This old dog can still learn a new trick.”—SSF

OH, BROTHER: Dutch Bros. giant menu can feel daunting.

Woman’s Furisode, c. 1935, Silk, Collection of Peter Kuhlmann and Diane Gilmour

MOVIES THEATER ART CULTURE

Give me the juice

A Pulitzer-winning, queer Black ‘Hamlet’ remix comes to St. Pete.

By David Warner

“Hamlet”–a laugh riot, no? Well, yes, in the hands of playwright James Ijames (sounds like “rhymes”). In “Fat Ham,” he moves the action to a Black family cookout somewhere in the South, makes his Hamlet a “thicc” gay man named Juicy, and opts for raucous comic joy over everybody-dies-at-theend tragedy. But that’s not to say that Ijames ignores the profound philosophical questions raised by Shakespeare; rather, he challenges the ostensibly inevitable outcomes of inherited trauma and toxic masculinity.

The original production premiered exclusively digital at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater in 2021 (because Covid), but that was enough to make it the ﬁrst play to win a Pulitzer before being performed in front of a live audience. The show went on to the Public Theater in New York City, selling out immediately, and then moved to Broadway in 2023, where it received ﬁve Tony nominations.

with him, but it’s also been fun because there’s parts of his personality that are different from me… Because he be poppin’ off in this play!

I know you’ve done Shakespeare yourself. Have you been returning to ‘Hamlet’ to get insights into Juicy?

I had done the “To be or not to be” monologue in college. And before even getting this gig, I was already back into reading my Signet classic “Hamlet,” reading the articles about his cowardice, his bravery, his lack of movement. It was just perfect alignment, because I had already done a lot of immersion into his world.

I like that ‘Fat Ham’ plays with and subverts stereotypes of gayness and Blackness.

THEATER

‘Fat Ham’

Select nights, May 28-June 22. $23&up

Raymond James Theatre at American Stage. 163 3rd St. N, St. Petersburg. americanstage.org

And now Tampa Bay gets to see “Fat Ham” at American Stage, opening May 28 and running through June 22. Raymond O. Caldwell directs, and Deimoni Brewington plays Juicy. Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay talked to Brewington at the start of his second week of rehearsals, and he shared this fun fact: Caldwell was his freshmanyear acting teacher at Howard University, from which he graduated in 2021.

Why do you think Juicy is the name Ijames chose for the Hamlet character?

First, it’s a term of endearment. In Black communities, we give names and nicknames to people that reﬂect their personality or reﬂect how we perceive them. He has written this character who is plus size, who is thicc with two c’s… who has a sensuality and a queerness. And then Hamlet is very juicy, you know. He got a lot going on!

Do you feel parallels between yourself and Juicy?

At ﬁrst I was like, omigosh, I wanna make sure I know where Deimoni ends and Juicy begins. My artistic self immediately empathized

Queerness immediately invites nuance into the Black experience because it’s asking you to reintroduce the idea of ﬂuidity in sex and expression and softness and sensuality. It is the release of breath, of allowing that reality to exist, but what the play captures in a very lovely way is that there is an active force against that—one that we are all complicit in.

I also like that Ijames has his characters talk to the audience from time to time, in the tradition of Shakespearean monologues.

There’s so many moments when “Hamlet” is going out pleading, thinking, pondering, asking people to hold space for him, and Juicy is doing this in a very direct way. And the audience is like, “Omigosh you’re actually talking to me, I’m a human being in America in 2025 and you’re an actor talking to me!” Then after we laugh about that, we’re having conversation—Juicy actually does need things from the audience. Oftentimes poor people, dreamers, artists have to ﬁnd a third space or an audience where they can be their true self and be seen for who they really are or who they want to be.

Did you have someone that you could talk to? Who could see you for who you really were?

Let me tell you, I’m a believer, OK? I’m a ﬁrm believer in Jesus Christ. So this brings me to the

time where I felt I could not talk about or be who I am. When you are walking a tightrope, when you are being told you have to be one thing or be another thing and you’re several things, you have to ﬁnd some sort of outlet. For me, it was Jesus and the theater. As I recognize these two subsets—the weird nuances, the ups and downs, the strange and true about theater and the strange and true about the church—it has now allowed me to understand what’s strange and true about myself.

How have you and the cast in this short time— just a week now—established a sense of family?

Raymond facilitated a lot of getting-toknow-you kind of situations that allowed us to immediately establish community. I think sometimes we forget that theater-making is a huge group activity that requires a lot of listening and patience.

And the play’s big group moments—karaoke, charades, etc. They’re kind of wonderful

but kind of daunting, I would think, especially with Ijames’s open-ended stage directions, like ‘Maybe he controls the others with the singing, maybe they’re all genuinely moved for a second, maybe it’s just awkward.’ How do you and the company decide where to land in those big moments?

It depends on what you’re giving. One of my favorite things about being an actor is, I do my homework and then I come in and you’re giving me something, and that improvisation allows us to ﬁgure out what’s gonna work, what’s not gonna work. In those places in the script where it’s like “whatever you wanna do,” we’ve been able to ﬁnd moment by moment what works best.

By the way, I love your TikTok rendition of “That’s Me, Espresso.”

Oh my gosh, my TikTok!

I now will listen to that song in an entirely new way.

TRAUMA BONDING: Deimoni Brewington plays Juicy in ‘Fat Ham.’

explorers... Spaniards emigrated to the United centuries? “Invisible Immigrants. exhibition that has been touring Tampa Bay History Center. Using and archives, the exhibition tells American saga of immigration.

No todos eran conquistadores ni exploradores...

¿Sabías que a nales del siglo XIX y principios del XX decenas de miles de españoles de clase obrera emigraron a Estados Unidos? “Emigrantes invisibles. Españoles en EE. UU. (1868 - 1945)”, una asombrosa exposición que ha estado de gira por España los últimos cinco años, por n desembarca en el Tampa Bay History Center. Utilizando imágenes y documentos de archivos y álbumes familiares, la exposición narra las historias de estos participantes desconocidos en la gran

estadounidense de la inmigración.

Uncover the hidden history of the Spanish American diaspora at the turn of the 20th century, passed down through generations.

Saturday, May 24, 2025 • 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM EST

Zoom Room Ybor’s 1-Year Anniversary Party, Adoption & Vendor Event @ Zoom Room Ybor

2409 E 2nd Ave suite 1

Free to the public

bit.ly/4jH0CHE

Thursday, May 22, 2025 • 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST

Zoom Room Ybor’s 1-Year Anniversary & Ribbon

Cutting w/ Mayor Jane Castor @ Zoom Room Ybor

2409 E 2nd Ave suite 1

Free to the public

bit.ly/ZoomRoomYbor1Year

Friday, May 23, 2025 • Doors at 8:00 PM, Show at 9:00 PM

MAY CHEMICAL ROMANCE @ Crowbar

1509 East 8th Avenue Tampa

1812 N 17th St Tampa

$12.49 GA

crowbarybor.com/calendar/#/events

Saturday, May 24, 2025 • 4:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST

SPRINGDAZE: UPSCALE PREMIUM DAYPARTY @ 7th & Grove

1930 E 7th Ave

$12.51 GA

bit.ly/SpringdazeYbor

Saturday, May 24, 2025 • 12:00 PM - 3:00 AM EST

Anime Convention Experience: Outta This World @ SpookEasy Lounge

1909 North 15th Street Tampa

$13.32 GA

bit.ly/OuttaThisWorldYbor

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST

Singles Mixer (21+) @ Trellis at Buchman - Gastropub 1910 East 7th Avenue #103 Tampa

$24.69 GA

bit.ly/SinglesMixerYbor

Thursday, May 29, 2025 • 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM EST

F*cked Up Spelling Bee

@ The Gimmick Comedy Club 2213 East 6th Avenue Tampa Starts at $7.65

bit.ly/FckedUpSpellingBee

Saturday, May 31, 2025 • 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM EST

Trap R&B | Official Tampa Bay Be Out Day

After Party @ 1920 Ybor

1920 East 7th Avenue Tampa Starts at $10 GA

bit.ly/BeOutDayYbor

Saturday, May 31, 2025 • 7:30 PM - 10:15 PM EST Conversations in the Dark @ SPRIGS STUDIO 1701 North 14th Street Tampa

$12.51 GA

bit.ly/ConversationsInTheDarkYbor

Saturday, May 31, 2025 • 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST

BTM Dance Company: Rhythms of the Seasons @ HCC Performing Arts Ybor City

1411 East 11th Avenue Tampa Starts at $25

bit.ly/BTMdance

your

Try Out These Restaurants:

(Don’t forget to nominate your favorite place on vote.cltampa.com)

Ybor City Sushi House 1901 N 19th St. Tampa yborcitysushihouse.com

Pete’s Bagels 1804 E 4th Ave, Tampa petesbagels.com

Barterhouse Ybor

1811 N 15th St Suite A - Tampa barterhouseybor.com

Tempus Projects

1624 E 7th Ave, 2nd Floor, Ybor City

Dedicated to nurturing established and emerging local, national, and international artists through exhibitions, collaborations, residencies, and events.

tempus-projects.com

Crowbar

Where to Live: Places To Visit:

Casa Ybor

Casa Ybor offers unique retail spaces, office spaces, and apartment homes for rent or lease in both newly constructed and lovingly restored historic buildings throughout the vibrant National Historic Landmark District of Ybor City near Downtown Tampa, Florida. casaybor.com

La Union

Community, connection, and culture come together at La Unión Apartments, where Tampa’s rich history and vibrant future unite. Inspired by the historic social hall once on this site, our Ybor City apartments honor that legacy by fostering bonds among residents, the neighborhood, and the area’s deep-rooted heritage. bit.ly/LaUnionYbor

1812

N 17th St Tampa

Live music and special events independent music venue located in the Historic Ybor City District of Tampa. crowbarybor.com

Cigar City Cider & Mead

1812 N 15th St, Tampa

Cigar City Cider & Mead opened its doors in late 2014 in the heart of Ybor City, colloquially referred to as Cigar City. Since then we have led the industry in producing countless innovative, high-quality ciders and meads, with most of our oﬀerings exclusive to our tasting room. cigarcitycider.com

Carmen Carmen

By Josh Bradley & Ray Roa

THU 22

C An Evening of Jazz & Soul: Allison Nash It’s a busy weekend for Clearwater Jazz Holiday. The nonproﬁt with a fall music festival stages its Young Lions Jazz Festival over the weekend along with this intimate show featuring heavyweights of the local scene—La Lucha rhythm section Alejandro Arenas (bass) and Mark Feinman (drums), pianist Patrick Bettison and saxophonist Jeremy Carter—in a quintet fronted by powerhouse vocalist Allison Nash. (Aspirations Winery, Clearwater)

C Peelander Z w/Right On Time Dads who love IPA, with kids super into K-pop, have we got a show for you. Grab your three-eyed Furby and get on your “Bike bike bike.” The revered and road-tested and Japanese-American punk rock band Peelander Z calls Austin, Texas home these days, but if you ask, they hail “from the Z area of Planet Peelander.” Also, the neon monochrome suits are their skin. We don’t make the rules. (Orpheum, Tampa)

Selene San Felice

FRI 23

C Streetcar Live: JudyAnne Jackson TECO’s streetcar concerts are among the most Tampeño things anyone—from native to newbie—can do, but summer is going to have something to say about that soon. The no-cover music series takes a break after this weekend, but not before a visit from a songwriter who has literally grown up in front of our eyes. On her 2023 EP, Dear Me , JudyAnne Jackson’s voice is robust and the driving force behind pop that lays the groundwork for a long career ahead. She boards the streetcar at Ybor City’s Centennial Park station (stop no. 1) at 6 p.m. and plays as the ride goes between the historic district and downtown Tampa for two hours. (TECO Line Streetcar, Tampa)

Nothing,nowhere On a streaming series called “Will it emo?,”Joseph Edward Mulherin covers hit songs like Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and “Hot To Go!” by Chappell Roan (the latter, maybe, the former, no way). No telling if the 32-year-old leader of Nothing,nowhere. (stylized in all-lowercase) plans on playing them at this victory lap tour of sorts where he’ll run through a decade of darkness, but expect Mulherin to pepper in songs from anyone of his four 2024 releases. (Orpheum, Tampa)

Oinkliteration w/Death Of A Deity/ Bloodtied/Izora/Serious Bodily Harm Vegans recently descended upon Deviant Libation for the Meatwound album release, and that crowd might like Oinkliteration, too. Brought to life (and death) by illustrator

THU MAY 22–THU MAY 29

exist

for slaughter. Soundtracking it all is Cody Purple’s guttural vocal on songs like “Barnyard Beatdown,” “Eaten By Pigs,” and “Fleshitter.” (Deviant Libation, Tampa)

C Songwriter Club Vol. 6: Daniela

Soledade & Nate Najar For weeks during the pandemic Daniela Soledade & Nate Najar spent Friday nights playing bossa nova from their living room. Now they get to play music live and in front of people in the living room of one of St. Pete’s most famous residents. The sixth installment of this “Songwriter Club” series ﬁnds the duo—partners in life and music—playing tunes from the past (Soledade father and grandfather recorded hits even before bossa nova became a thing) and present (Najar, an accomplished Bay area guitarist recorded Soledade’s last two albums). (Jack Kerouac House, St. Petersburg)

Southbound 75 w/Aubrey Wollett Grab your girl and your truck and get ready for a good ol’ time drinkin’ beer under the moonlight. The South Florida band with a gritty Carolina sound celebrates Memorial Day at Skipper’s Country Kickoff Party Under The Oak. The band plays covers, but prides itself

on its original country rock songs like last year’s single “Runnin’ On Empty.” Tampa Bay-grown country singer Aubrey Wollett opens the show. Veterans and ﬁrst responders get in for $10. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)—SSF

Tchami Hearing a bass drop at The Ritz Ybor for the ﬁrst time is a rite of passage for any Tampeño—transplant or not. This weekend, the clerical-collared Frenchman will take us to church with his stained-glass window screens and spiritual motifs after spending last year playing joint gigs and releasing music with fellow Pardon My French member Malaa. (The Ritz, Ybor City)

SAT 24

Coffin Collective first anniversary: Fatal Frames w/Andidreamofyou/Revelations/ Closeface/Dagger/Necrotizing The Bay area’s independent niche promoters are the lifeblood for fans and bands devoted to specific sounds. One of them marks a big milestone this weekend when Coffin Collective welcomes goth and metalcore bands that span the length of the Sunshine State from Jacksonville (Closeface) to south Florida (Necrotizing). The show’s all ages,

too, but anyone under 18 must have a parent or guardian with them. (Magnanimous Brewing, Tampa)

C DIY Fest III: Pohgoh w/Katara/ Discord Theory/Pilot Jonezz/Shy Blossom/Kristopher James/Jupiter Bloom/The Tilt/Bangarang/Lesa Silvermore/more Summer Jam was an Ybor City festival that called it quits in 2014 after 10 years, and then tried an encore in 2021. While there’ll never be another like it, this two day lineup has a lot of its spirit thanks to the high caliber of the lineup, which is rich with some of the best, stage-tested rock bands in the Bay area. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Halsey w/Alvvays/The Warning Don’t be fooled by the name of this tour (“For My Last Trick”) or the Joni Mitchell-inspired lead single from their latest album The Great Impersonator (“The End”). Halsey isn’t going anywhere. Sure, the 30-year-old singer-songwriter began writing the pop-rock record with the mindset that it would be their last, after having a kid and being diagnosed with T-cell disorder and lupus, but she’s feeling better and may as well treat every album and tour like their last going forward. Life’s a

continued on page 47

Sidjimbe Art, the humans in the Panama City metal band’s world

solely

C CL Recommends

JudyAnne Jackson

CHOPS JAM SESSION

TAMPA PAINT AND SIP

COLIN GERDING AND THE CHASE

TOTS 4 TEACHERS

mess right now though, so bring $25 if you’re gonna park at the ol’ Gary amphitheatre on Saturday night. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)

Lice Licker (EP release) w/Loach/ Wojtek/Jonas van den Bossche & James Bess The self-described “humid avant-garde blackened noise grind” outﬁt made its debut at American Legion Post 111 last month, and already has a mini U.S. tour booked for this summer. But before hitting the road, Lice Licker has a debut EP to release. Beggar’s Remorse is a pretty quick-to-get-through 10-track effort that closes with a 12-minute epic called “Onlooker.” Zachary Hickerson of Storage Music Unit (a local free jazz outﬁt that we triple-dog dare you to listen to) will even continue to prove that he’s a madman of a drummer in between some piano samples he contributed. (Deviant Libation, Tampa)

C The Wonder Years and the Little Kruta String Ensemble w/Kevin Devine Usually, we cringe when our favorite bands and artists go back and re-record their material, because why milk it? But if you didn’t think it was possible to sob harder to “Cigarettes and Saints” and its damning mixture of religious guilt and a friend’s lethal overdose, guess again. In between new projects, The Wonder Years has acoustically reimagined two albums and an EP’s worth of its material, and the Pennsylvania band is ﬁnally taking those reimaginings on the road this year. The Little Kruta String Ensemble— an all-female orchestra that has appeared on talk shows and performed with the likes of Kimbra and Shawn Mendes—will add an extra layer to this acoustic career retrospective. (The Ritz, Ybor City)

SUN 25

Colin Gerding and the Chase w/Thin Spaces/John Olthoff and the Pipe Dream/Hibiscus/High Press Two years after releasing In This Moment—one of the best indie-rock albums of 2023—the Tampabased singer-songwriter and his rock trio will break out the synth and push its new single “I Hear You (When You Say Nothing At All)” when it headlines this Sunday night rock and roll assembly. (Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa)

C Keys N Krates w/DJ Ku Adam Tune, Greg Dawson, and David Matisse’s time in Tampa goes all the way back to the days when Blue Martini ruled International Plaza. The trio behind Keys N Krates is a livetronic pioneer of sorts and returns to the 813 this time for “Swing Sundays” at the rooftop lounge above Armature Works. The night is dedicated to Kaytranada-esque soul, jazz and funk, but don’t be surprised if the Toronto band ﬂips the format on its head after a support set from Tampa scene staple DJ Ku, whose busy weekend includes a play-whathe-feels set at Alter Ego, the Lit R&B day party, and an eclectic four-hour turn closing Crafty Squirrel in St. Pete. Reservations are recommended for this one where the cocktail menu will tempt you to earn a holiday weekend hangover. (M. Bird, Tampa)

WED 28

C I Want My ‘80s: Rick Springfield w/ John Waite/John Cafferty/Wang Chung John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band has long been compared to Springsteen and the mighty E Street Band, and from the first strike of a guitar on the group’s new album Sound Of Waves (its first in over 35 years), it’s easy to see why. Earlier this decade, the Boss was listening to a Cafferty greatest hits album and reached out to him, encouraging the 75-year-old to write more songs and get back into the game. Cafferty listened and made an album that channels the production style of Springsteen’s The River and Born In The U.S.A. , while keyboardist Rich McMahon embodies Professor Roy Bittan’s jingly keyboard sounds, and there’s even a heavy saxophone presence from 85-year-old Michael Antunes. Ahead of this ‘80s nostalgia show—which in truth, Cafferty would headline in a perfect world—he told Creative

Loaﬁng Tampa about the best gig he ever saw. Read his full quote at cltampa.com/ music. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Ninja Sex Party w/TWRP On Ninja Sex Party’s latest record These Nuts , the comedic-rock duo completes its romantic “Boner” trilogy, while also discouraging the use of seat belts, bragging about a dig ol’ bick, and ﬁnding new ways to procrastinate before a gig (Brazilian wax, anyone?) Ninja Brian and Danny Sexbang have never been to Tampa Bay together, but the former opened for its backing band TWRP—which opens this scorcher of a gig—by himself at Ybor City’s Crowbar in 2023. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

C Sleigh Bells w/Sophie Hunter The Brooklyn-based duo, composed of guitarist Derek Miller and singer Alexis Krauss cemented its space in millennial music fans’ hearts with its ﬁrst album, Treats , which delivered a loud, dancy-punk sound that

largely deﬁned the early 2010s. Almost 25 years later, the pair is still going strong. Sleigh Bells recently announced “Wanna Start a Band?,” its ﬁrst new release in over three years, and kicked off a new tour this month. (The Ritz, Ybor City)—Grace Stoler

THU 29

Dylan Gossett No matter how old or successful you are, it can be pretty mind-blowing to hear your own song in a major motion picture. The 26-year-old country singer-songwriter got to feel that last summer when his song “Stronger Than A Storm” appeared on the “Twisters” soundtrack. The Austin boy (who actually writes his own songs) is months away from releasing a debut LP Westward (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)

See an extended version of this listing via cltampa.com/music.

Keys N Krates

Let your soul glow, because new-age jazzman Jon Batiste has announced a run of fall shows, which includes an October stop at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall.

This September marks 10 years since “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” debuted, with Batiste—who appeared almost every night until 2022—and his band Stay Human serving as the house band. The 38-yearold has since composed the jazz pieces heard in Disney-Pixar’s “Soul,” portrayed Billy Preston—and provide the score—in last year’s “Saturday Night,” and won ﬁ ve Grammy Awards for 2021’s We Are (stylized in all-caps), including Album of the Year.

Along with last week’s “Big Money” tour announcement (named after a new composition that will debut during this tour), Batiste declared that “the things that are eternally valuable and enduring last forever even when the currency changes.”

Tickets to see Jon Batiste play Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 8 go on sale Tuesday, May 20 and start at $63.25.

See my rundown of new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below.—Josh Bradley

His date in Clearwater will be his ﬁrst stop in Tampa Bay in over a decade, and if you can’t make a Wednesday night work, Batiste plays Ft. Lauderdale the next night, followed by Orlando on Friday, and St. Augustine on Saturday.

Sevenstone (Single release) w/Now In Color/Fastwalker/In Transit/Marrison Saturday, May 31. 8 p.m. $14.56. Crowbar, Ybor City

Club Carter Friday, June 6. 8 p.m. $17.67. Crowbar, Ybor City

Matt Oakley Friday, June 6. 7 p.m. $23.18. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Emo Night Tampa 10th Anniversary: Leisure Hour w/Virginity/Cinema Stare/ Pilot Jonezz Saturday, June 7. 8 p.m. No cover for 21+, $5 for 18-20. Crowbar, Ybor City

Twen w/Mold! Thursday, June 12. 7 p.m. $15. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Within Our Lifetime: Spanish Needles w/Earthgirl/Mossheads/Rogues’ Gallery/DJ Zazzu Sunday, June 15. 3 p.m.

$12.49. Crowbar, Ybor City

Crunk Witch x Hxnclb w/Moonbae/ Guilty by Design Thursday, June 19. 8 p.m. $10. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Queen of Coins w/GreyMarket/Florida/ High Press Saturday, June 21. 7 p.m.

$12.86. Crowbar, Ybor City

Selwyn Birchwood Saturday, June 21. 8 p.m. $15. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Adrian Younge (w/ 10 piece orchestra) Friday, June 27. 7 p.m. $29.67. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Card Reader w/Dove Bomb/Parallel Motion/Rogue’s Gallery Saturday, June 28. 8 p.m. $10. Biergarten at New World Brewery, Tampa

Hatebreed w/Fugitive/Malevolence/ Gridiron/more Tuesday, July 8. 5:30 p.m.

$42.55. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Grapevine Groove Saturday, July 19. 8 p.m. $17.67. Crowbar, Ybor City

Emo Nite Saturday, July 26. 9 p.m. $24.39 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City

Sunday Sessions: Galbraith & Co. Sunday, July 27. 4 p.m. No cover. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Algorhythm & Friends Saturday, Aug. 2. 8 p.m. $27.75. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Bay Faction w/Keep Saturday, Aug. 2. 8 p.m. $23.61. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

David Lee Roth Sunday, Aug. 3. 8 p.m. $481.30 & up. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tampa

Brian Kelley Thursday, Aug. 7. 8 p.m. $41.93 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

The Joe Perry Project Wednesday, Aug. 13. 8 p.m. $338 & up. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Tampa

Phaseone Friday, Aug. 15. 10 p.m. No cover with RSVP, $15.57 for guaranteed entry. The Ritz, Ybor City

Spike and the Gimme Gimme s Sunday, Aug. 17. 6:30 p.m. $41.25. The Ritz, Ybor City

Sunday Sessions: Galbraith & Co.

Sunday, Aug. 31. 4 p.m. No cover. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg

Jumping in

By Caroline DeBruhl

Dear Oracle, I’ve been harboring some resentment against the rest of my family for not aligning with my values. I still love them and want them in my life, but it’s becoming harder and harder to suppress my frustration when I’m with them for extended periods of time. I’ve accepted that I don’t expect them to change at this point in their lives, but despite that acceptance, I guess I still don’t exactly know how to engage with them when I feel I have to bite my tongue about some of my/their beliefs. It feels like I can’t be my authentic self around them. Cards got any tips?—Black Sheep

Cards: Ten of Cups (reversed), Ten of Wands (reversed), King of Wands (reversed), Ace of Wands (reversed), The High Priestess

Jumper: Two of Swords

Dear Black Sheep, when shufﬂ ing cards, occasionally, one or two will tumble out. I use a pendulum to see if they’re meant for the reading or if I’m just clumsy, but for you, the Two of Swords jumped out early and was meant to be read. As Tarot writer and Floridian Corinne Kenner says, “If it falls to the ﬂoor, it comes to the door,” meaning it’s a card of the present.

The Two of Swords is a card of the crossroads, particularly of the mind. You know that you can’t go on biting your tongue and masking what you believe because it’s not sustainable. Masks always slip. The fear is, of course, that you’ll cut your own head off if you let your true

self be known. But a sword will fall. It’s good to prepare now for hard conversations. For the current situation, I have no doubt that you love your family or that your family loves you. As the reversed Ten of Cups, I think there is a deep love that transcends the intellect—as most love does. It also makes me wonder if there was a time when you fell into the party line of thinking, as most children do. But I think it’s been a long time since you were in harmony with them. This is not a new issue that popped up over the past election but something that has grown for years (if not decades.)

Your family isn’t ignorant of this tension. They absolutely feel it, too. As the Ten of Wands reversed, this is a heavy load that you’ve all been caring for a long time. But, the Ten of Wands rarely just appears. That bundle of sticks is built, one by one, and might be a result of never actually addressing a problem—like how you have such different values.

However, if you never talk about why you believe what you believe, then there is no chance for engagement. There is no gently pushing back, no challenging. It’s all swept under the rug, which—let’s be honest here—never works out in a healthy way.

With the King of Wands, I think the place to start is by talking to the masculine authority ﬁgure whose values and presence inﬂuence the rest of the family unit, who may be set in their ways but who can speak about their values from a place of great thought—probably your dad.

ORACLE OF YBOR

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

This wouldn’t be a conversation between a parent and child but between two Kings of Wands. You have to approach it as a conversation between equals. This might be harder on your dad—aren’t we always children in our parents eyes?—but draw him in by explaining what you think, what you feel, and ask what he thinks of that. He might push back on you, and you might push back on him, but I think he’ll be open to the challenge.

judgmental/cruel to me. Why do you think that?” You can offer your differing opinion and the reason for that. You can keep these in the realm of “intellectual debate/thought experiment” at ﬁ rst if you think your family would shut down at the slight pushback and build from there. But your values aren’t thought experiments. They are actions you take in your daily life. As The High Priestess, you feel deeply a part of the human race. Your connection to others cannot be severed. You’re spiritual in the sense that you’re concerned about things of the spirit— compassion, love, expression—and to hide these things is to dim the bright light of your heart. You cannot be your authentic self while hiding fundamental facts of your character.

I’ve talked about the wands as a passionate suit, but it’s also a spiritual one. Values are spiritual; they are our understanding of ourselves, how the world works, how we should exist in it, and how we should treat others. It’s the code of our lives. While those values can feel inalienable, we all arrive at our beliefs somehow.

No matter what, you’ll have to move forward as The Intellectual Individual, as shown in the Ace of Swords. The mask will have to fall. It might be uncomfortable for your family, but it’s not a discomfort they can’t handle. You shouldn’t bite your tongue—but remember to be tactful.

People don’t respond well if they think they’re being attacked, so don’t just call your dad an asshole. But, if he says something that seems judgmental or cruel, you can ask without the heat of an argument, “That seems a little

It’s a bold move to go against our family’s belief system because it invites the most primordial fear of being rejected by them. But for you, my dear, I do look back at that Ten of Cups and hope that the original love is still there. It might be challenging for them; they might pull away or be passive-aggressive, or refuse to look at what they swept under the rug. But I don’t think your family will reject you outright for your values.

On the contrary, I think if that sword falls, it’ll be you who cuts them off.

Before arriving at that point, give both them and yourself the opportunity to be honest about who you are.

It’s not an easy choice, but I hope it’s rewarding.

Best of luck, my dear.

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

Quickies

By Dan Savage

I’m a heterosexual woman married to a heterosexual man, and we’ve been together 14 years. We have two kids. We met in our late-20s, we’re now in our early-40s, and needless to say we are WILDLY different people—from who we used to be, and from each other, frankly. After having two kids, I only just got my libido back at the age of 41. But my husband and I have also been going through marriage therapy and working on a number of issues. My point is, I really want to open a discussion with him about being nonmonogamous but I’m terriﬁed and nervous about how to bring this up with him. I need some help! Just say it—but say it in the presence of (and with the assistance of) a sex-positive couples’ counselor. Figuriug out how to tell you’re ready start fucking again… just not him or not just him (which he’s likely to hear as ‘just not you’)… is going to be tricky and you’re gonna need a professional assist.

My partner and I were traveling in Thailand. She got a vaginal discharge and asked me if I had slept with anyone else since I last saw her. I lied out of fear she would break up with me and said, “No.” I’ve now lost her. I apologized, sent ﬂowers, and offered to go to counseling with her and she is giving me the silent treatment. Is there anything I can do to retrieve the relationship? Nope.

I’m a queer woman in her senior year of college, who’s still a virgin. On one hand, I know people are ready for sex at different times, and I didn’t come out of the closet until college, so I feel like I should be more patient with myself. On the other hand, I want to get it over with. But I don’t even know how to go about hooking up with someone. I have a hard time talking to people. I’m insecure about my body, I worry I’ll say or do something stupid, and I worry I’ll fuck up any relationship I enter. What do I do?

Everyone is insecure about something related to their bodies, everyone worries about saying or doing something stupid, and everyone worries that they’re going to fuck up their relationship. The only thing that separates you from people who aren’t still virgins is a willingness to take “yes” for an answer when people ﬁnd you attractive. Also helpful: accept that you’re going to do and/or say something stupid—more than once. In most cases, the person you’re seeing will laugh it off the stupid things you say and do, just as you’ll laugh it off when the person you’re seeing says or does something stupid. Now, saying or doing something seriously stupid will deﬁnitely fuck up your relationship, of course, but not all fuck ups are fatal. Get on the apps (breaking the ice over DM is easier than face-to-face), be honest about your inexperience,

and don’t settle for someone who isn’t giving off generous, patient, and kind vibes.

I love having my tits groped but how do I communicate this to guys I hook up with in a way that is sexy? I feel so much shame around communicating my inner slutty desires.

If you can’t bring yourself to use your words—if you can’t bring yourself to ask for what you want—take the hands of the guy you’re hooking up with and place them on your breasts. Put your own hands over his hands and show him exactly how you how much pressure you enjoy—show him how you like to be groped— by applying that same pressure to your breasts using his hands.

Is there a way to tell a partner what you want in the moment while keeping it sexy?

If it’s something that’s easily incorporated into the action—you want your partner to call you something specific or you your partner to hold you down or spit in your mouth—confidentially asking your partner to do that thing is sexy. (“Spit in my mouth, please.”) If it’s something that can’t easily be incorporated into the action—you want your partner to tie you up in an elaborate way or fuck you in front of a room full of strangers or experiment with fisting you—initiate a little dirty talk with your partner about this hot-but-complicated thing you wanna do with them at some point down the road.

I’m a cis woman in her 40s who fantasies about having a dick. Does that mean I’m trans?

There’s nothing stopping you, a cis woman, from having a dick whenever you want one. And the existence of so many trans men (who are men) who love their pussies indicates that transition, for many trans men, wasn’t motivated solely by fantasies about having male genitalia. And while trans men are relatively rare, cis women who fantasize about having a dick—cis women who are curious about what it feels like to have one (which you can, again, whenever you want)—are fairly common. So, unless there are other things about being a man that feels right in a way that encompasses and transcends dick at the same time, odds are good you’re experiencing something that afﬁrms your cisness, not something that points to transness.

Which is worse: bad sex with someone you love, or great sex with someone you can’t stand?

people who hook up toilets are disgusting, complain to the bartender about people hooking up the toilet right after you’re ﬁnished hooking up in the toilet, etc.

Is there a term that encompasses all the types of non-monogamy in the same way “queer” encompass everything that’s not straight? “Nonmonogamy” is kind of unsatisfying, both because it sounds negative and is only deﬁning what it is not. You’re good with terms. Got one for me?

I like “multiamory,” which isn’t a term I coined. Credit goes to Emily Matlack, Dedeker Winston, and Jase Lindgren, the hosts of the Multiamory podcast.

Should you tell your partner if their dirty talk is actively turning you off?

SAVAGE LOVE

Bad sex with someone you love is worse… because if you love someone and the sex is bad that either means the relationship isn’t going anywhere (because you’re not gonna settle for bad sex) or it means you’re gonna be having bad sex for the rest of your life (because you already settled for bad sex). If you had great sex with someone you can’t stand, on the other hand, you can walk away without feeling regret… and circle back whenever you’re feeling weak.

How long do you wait at the end of a BJ before removing the D from your mouth?

You could attempt to steer the dirty talk in a direction that works for you—to spare your partner’s feelings, reward their efforts, and satisfy their desire for some sort of dirty talk—but if they don’t take the hint, tell them whatever they’re saying isn’t working before you go soft or dry up.

Can someone discover a cuck kink from being cheated on or was that there already?

Once the anger subsides—once the betrayal has been processed—cheating could reveal a kink that was already lurking in the erotic subconscious of the person who was cheated on. But while, “I was cheated on and then realized I was a cuck,” is a popular cuck origin story in porn, it’s pretty rare in real life. Most cucks have to beg their partners to cheat on them.

Middle aged trans woman from Denmark here. So, when will you be talking about the show “Dying for Sex”? I have been ugly crying my way through all eight episodes and it’s still working its way around my subconscious. It’s a show about reclaiming sexuality, working through sexual trauma, sexual incompatibility (and compatibility), how to talk about boundaries and desires, D/s dynamics and, well, facing death. I cannot recommend this show highly enough, and I have been looking forward to hearing you talk about it since it came out.

Love this show—Jenny Slate or Michelle Williams are both brilliant. Four stars.

My partner’s wife treats him like shit. How can I support him without just saying “leave”?

Be the greener pasture. P.S. You’re allowed to say, “leave,” of course, and that may the message he needs to hear—but you may not be the best messenger. Also, have you seen your partner’s wife treat him like shit with your own eyes or do you only have his word to go on?

If you’re giving a BJ, you’re free to remove the D from your mouth whenever you’re done— and you may ﬁnish before he does. But if someone is fucking your face—with your enthusiastic consent—then the guy who’s fucking your face removes the D until he’s done with your face/ throat and not a moment before… unless something goes wrong and/or you’re not feeling it anymore and you withdraw your consent, the D should be immediately removed.

Should bathroom hookups become normalized outside of bar/club settings?

Part of the thrill of hooking up someplace you’re not supposed to—like a toilet at a bar or a club (no one is taking baths at bars and clubs)—is that you’re not supposed to be hooking up there. And while normalizing toilet hook ups bars and clubs and airports and locker rooms and hotel lobbies and university libraries might lead to a spike in people hooking up in the toilets of bars and clubs and airports, etc., normalizing toilet hook ups would effectively eliminate a big part of what makes those hook ups a thrill in the ﬁrst place, and people would quickly tire of them. So, if you wanna keep toilet hook ups hot, you should ﬁght against their normalization, not for their normalization—tell your friends

I heard about cuckolding (probably on your show) in high school and the second I got to college I started reaching out to couples who were looking for bulls and I loved it maybe a little too much. I’ve only had one “real” girlfriend my age in the last six years. The rest of my sexual experiences have been with married women, most of whom (but not all) have been older. I now have three married women I get to see and service regularly, women I actually really like. (I even enjoy their husbands’ company.) I don’t want to give this up. Have I ruined myself for real relationships? No, you’ve perfected yourself for an open-from-the-start relationship with a woman—perhaps a cuckquean—who wants you to have adventures of her own while you enjoy yours. And those married women you get to see and service regularly? Those women you like? And their husbands? Those are real relationships—they’re not primary relationships, they’re not nesting relationships, but they’re very real.

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