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PUBLISHER James Howard CHAIRMAN Mike Trentalange EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa
DAVE DECKER
Editorial DEPUTY EDITOR/DIGITAL DIRECTOR Colin Wolf STAFF WRITER Valerie Smith IN-HOUSE WITCH Caroline DeBruhl CONTRIBUTORS Josh Bradley, Thomas Hallock, Seán Kinane, Sebastián González de León y León PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Decker, Michael Johnson IN-BETWEEN INTERN Leif Helland (apply for spring by emailing clips and a resumes to rroa@cltampa.com) Creative Services CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora GRAPHIC DESIGNER Paul Pavlovich POLITICAL CARTOONIST Bob Whitmore ILLUSTRATORS Dan Perkins, Cory Robinson Advertising SALES DIRECTOR Anthony Carbone SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Dan Winkler CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER Jerrica Schwartz
...a choice between good and evil.
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cltampabay.com cldeals.com EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is a locally-and-employee-owned 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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DAVE DECKER
Circulation
Endorsements in Florida’s Attorney General race, p. 24.
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November 13-15, 2026 family free day November 15
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We’re back in the comments, people. After a few spins in the mailbag, social media is the star of this week’s reader feedback session, and you guys are still out there reading more than the headlines and having to explain stories from us and our publishing partners to the people who don’t. We can’t thank you enough for continuing to trust us for your news and information. Please keep chiming in, and send your letters to rroa@cltampa.com.—Ray Roa The U.S. has never elected a Black Republican governor. Will Florida be the first? Florida is deep south. Trump’s GOP Florida Governor pick is awful and train wreck with toxic waste spewing everywhere for in USA’s Sunshine State. And the candidate’s wife is in the pocket of the Israeli Government lobby bigtime, huge new story here in mass media.—Randy Toler I am voting for him not because of his race. I am voting for Byron Donalds because he is the Republican candidate and I want to keep Florida Red—Cathy Spielman Feiner Nothing against black representatives, only against Byron Donald’s.—Patrice Fredo-Jordan Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what candidates can do to benefit the community and the economy than about their race? Using race to stir people’s emotions is emotional manipulation.—Luke Lu Let’s stop looking at race and look at this man’s qualifications, of which there are so many…he’s a strong republican, he has a history of working for Floridians, he will keep the standards we have enjoyed as a “free state”..I’m not looking at “making history “ I’m looking at preserving the history we have in place and Byron can do that…—Gayle Powell Lawsuit by Florida Republicans threatens four Tampa Bay TV stations with criminal prosecution if they air ad about Hope Florida Scandal Uthmeier might want to brush up on his law. If something is already public knowledge, persons or organizations cannot be penalized or prosecuted for mentioning it. Accusations against Uthmeier and DeSantis were made prior to the grand jury report being released and even though a Judge ruled the Grand Jury overstepped in it’s findings, the accusation was made and the grand jury report was made public. You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube.—Craig Mozhdehi Great, let’s see what comes out in discovery. Transparency for everyone.—Rob Hunt Florida GOP drops Hope Florida ad lawsuit What could possibly be the problem with a hearing? Oh wait…—Wade Clark someone said ‘there’s going to be discovery’ and the perps dropped it like a hot potato— Greg Mearns
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Like everything the DeSantis regime does publicly, it was never meant to be anything but a Fox News/Social Media soundbite. Fox, as always, won’t ever report that it was laughed out of court.—Morris Pate Seems to me that the Republican Party is about to be the roach in the kitchen when the light gets turned on.—Kevin J Jensen DeSantis railed against ‘Defund the police.’ Amendment 3 could do just that We are finally seeing state-wide momentum where citizens are holding public servants accountable. Local government budgets for counties and sheriff’s offices cannot just be rubber-stamped anymore. Our leaders need to focus on property tax relief and putting money back into the pockets of the residents. It’s time to innovate and serve constituents, or step down for candidates who actually will.—James Woelbern Makes me wonder how any of us survived back when local law enforcement didn’t have spy planes, helicopters, drones, floc cameras, mobil command centers, armored personnel carriers and their own special forces teams.— Frank Paulette Scare tactics no longer work. Our government should budget their funding responsibly. Vote Yes!—Randall Rosa Florida Senate President Ben Albritton says he’ll vote ‘no’ on property tax-cutting Amendment 3 VOTE NO! Ignore all the paid posts. And the yes bots. Prop 3 is a scam to give Tallahassee fiscal control of Florida cities and counties. VOTE NO! And demand your legislators work on the real fiscal crisis in Florida- the skyrocketing cost of homeowners insurance. VOTE NO!—Paul Wilborn Just because he would want everyone to have a say in a process doesn’t mean that he would vote for it.—Sarah Phillips-Benbury I guess he drank creative loafing’s koolaide— Ryan Griffiths Voting yes and yes in our house. The county’s will just have to learn to spend wisely, cautiously, and prudent. Just like us. Reduce pet projects. Curb raises just because. Reduce positions a let others work as hard as we do. And do a better job on bidding and job cost on all projects and expenditures. They Can and need to do it. It will be ok. Vote Yes.— Barry Ruehlen The status quo is fine. People bought homes KNOWING they’d be paying taxes. And if they did their homework would also know about Save Our Homes. Next year is the once every twenty year commission regarding taxes. They will have the time AND professional knowledge to determine a proper approach towards any changes in property taxes, etc. NOT the goulash presented to us as a well thought-out amendment.—Paul Spitzer
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do this
Tampa Bay's best things to do from October 29- November 05. See more on pp. 35, 38, 41, 43 & 45
Fields of marigold
On Oct. 15, Sanchez Farms Santa Maria Tepos Farms in Plant City opened its family-friendly Festival de Cempasúchil, featuring a massive field of marigold flowers, colorful banners, live music, and varieties of Mexican food. The cempasúchil, or marigold, is a staple in ofrendas (or altars) to remember loved ones who now rest in peace during Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead; a traditional holiday celebrated in Mexican culture every year on Nov. 2. Marigolds are also important to the ecosystem. A 2024 Florida International University study highlights that marigolds are effective at cleaning water. The study says that flowers “can help clean polluted waterways, over 12 weeks extracting 52% more phosphorus and 36% more nitrogen than the natural nitrogen cycle removes from untreated water.” The Festival de Cempasúchil: Daily through Monday, Nov. 2. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. No cover, but parking is $10 per vehicle. Sanchez Farms Santa Maria Tepos Farms, 1390 S Forbes Rd. Plant City. @sanchezfarmssantamaria on Instagram —Sebastián González
de León y León/San Pedro Gazette
SEBASTIÁN GONZÁLEZ DE LEÓN Y LEÓN
ICE out
RAY ROA
The Bay area, especially Tampa, was built on the backs of immigrants. And politicians love to talk about them. On the campaign trail, Republicans talk about deporting them, regardless of whether they’ve violated a criminal statute. Just last Tuesday, the City of Tampa unveiled a new life-sized statue of First Lt. Baldomero López, a local U.S. Marine who died in the Korean War more than 75 years ago. This weekend, activists led by the Tampa Immigrant Rights Committee will speak out about them, too, as they “Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living” as part of a protest where they’ll call for justice for all victims of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE (at least 61 people have died in the agency’s custody over the last two years, according to the National Immigration Project). Día de los Muertos—Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living: Sunday, Nov. 1. 6 p.m. No cover. Centennial Park, 1800 E 8th Ave., Ybor City. @tampairc on Instagram
—Ray Roa
Seeing things
It’s your last acceptable weekend to talk about the ghosts you’ve seen without people thinking you’re weird—and there are plenty of haunted tours to help. The scariest may be Tampa Theatre’s, and more frightening is that that one is totally sold-out. Down the street, however, the University of Tampa’s Henry B. Plant Museum is in the spirit for its screening of “Dracula” and exhibit tour. And if you want to really shit your pants, then have a drink or three at the 13 Ugly Men Halloween Party, which will take over one of Ybor City’s most haunted buildings, The Cuban Club (pictured). Get links to all these events, and more, by finding the events calendar at cltampabay.com.—Ray Roa DAVE DECKER
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See more (and submit your event) @ cltampa.com Frames of mind
Over two million animated frames are headed to Tampa this week, including some from one of the country’s foremost creators of stop-motion films. Founded at the University of Tampa (now known as UTampa), Tampa Animation Festival has brought talent from around the world to the school since 2018. Festival director and UT professor Gregg Perkins told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that every continent, except Antarctica, will be represented at the 2026 edition happening in November. The Film, Animation and New Media instructor said between 130-150 films are set to screen over four nights at the Charlene Gordon Theater inside the Ferman Center for the Arts. Oscar-nominated University of Tampa alumnus Brad Schiff headlines and will show a trio of Laika (stylized all-caps) Studios films over three nights. Read more by finding this post on cltampa.com/arts. Tampa Animation Festival: Next Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 5-8. No cover. Charlene A. Gordon Theater at University of Tampa’s Ferman Center for the Arts, 214 N Blvd., Tampa. tampaanimationfestival.com—Leif Helland
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY FAIR
Fair deal
In a world where even the Florida State Fair will break a family’s bank, it’s good to know the Hillsborough County Fair exists. Kicking off next Thursday and running for 11 days, the hoedown has all the accouterments of the big fair in February—and arguably more, thanks to the opening weekend rodeo and fair-closing demolition derby. There are deals galore, too, including carload nights (up to eight people as long as they have seatbelts on!) and discounts days that see tickets drop as low as $6.18. While ride armbands (starting at $28.88) are required, all the activities are included with gate admission. Hillsborough County Fair: Next Thursday, Nov. 5-15. $6.18 & up. Hillsborough County Fairgrounds, 215 Sydney Washer Rd., Dover. hillsboroughcountyfair.com
—Ray Roa
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“Moving baseball across the bay means nothing if you can’t get to the ballpark.” POLITICS
ISSUES
OPINION
Sweet dome
COVER ME UP: No one complains about the Trop during a summer storm.
The Trop doesn’t suck. Our transit does. By Thomas Hallock
B
ecause of my job, as a college professor, I get to travel to different cities for research. The research happens during the summer, so when I am not in a library or archive, I might go to a ballpark. What have I learned? That great baseball cities in the U.S. usually have public transit. Take Boston. A few years back, good luck took me to the John Carter Brown Library, an amazing collection of early Americana in Providence, Rhode Island. I wanted to catch the Rays at Fenway. So my wife Julie and I caught the Providence/Stoughton line, then walked from Ruggles station to the ballpark. The game was a rain out, and as we sheltered under the outfield bleachers, it hit me—beyond the historic patina, Fenway is minimalist at best. Green paint over grimy concrete and rust. The Atlantic pegged it. “A picturesque dump, but still: a dump.” What makes the difference? Beyond Fenway’s rabid fans, a century of baseball lore, and the Green Monster ... Trains. Transit makes baseball. As a Mets fan back in the 1980s, I watched the 7 train from the upper deck thread through Queens. The fourth inning at Yankee Stadium features a race
between three of the half dozen or so subways servicing the Bronx: the B, D, and the 4. Philly’s Broad Street line runs straight from City Hall to Citizens Bank Park. In Chicago, the red line to Wrigley. The Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field, a downtown gem five years older than Tropicana Field, links to Denver’s Union Station, light rail, and traffic-dissolving rapid buses. So what’s wrong with Tropicana Field? Empty seats. The problem is connectivity. No one complains about the Trop during a summer storm. And no one complains when fans pack the joint. “The environment here is electric,” we hear, first night of the Rays’ three-game Yankees sweep; “rocking,” they said, as the Rays took down the Guardians. What sucks about the Trop? A silent upper deck through the regular season. Do not blame distance, do not blame location. Put the blame on poor public transportation. And yet, where has transit sat in our long stadium saga? My friends with PSTA throw up their hands in frustration. From St. Petersburg’s first round of RFPs in 2021, then another round
to the botched $2 billion St. Pete/Pinellas deal, to the glassy corporate boondoggle on soon-tobe-former HCC campus, the Rays have used baseball as a front for real estate development. Boosters cite the Atlanta Brave’s Truist Park as a model. This is not how you build a city. A middle finger to Atlanta proper, Truist Park (named for a bank) moved the Braves 15 miles from the heart of Black Atlanta to whiter Cobb County. The park anchors the Battery, a capitalist playground where office space, entertainment, and sport meld seamlessly into a giant, immersive advertisement for Coca-Cola and Home Depot. I went to one game at Truist Park. Never again. A 15-mile drive from the Braves’ former home, Turner Field, to Cobb County took 45 minutes. This traffic is by design; suburban Atlanta famously turned its back on regional light rail. The Braves’ relocation was “about moving cars in and around Cobb,” former Republican Party county chair Joe Dendy explained, “not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta.” Barf. From the beginning, the Rays have sought some version of the Battery. First in St. Petersburg, now Tampa delivers. A ballpark on Dale Mabry Highway, across from Raymond James Stadium, regards transportation as an afterthought. The Rays may be getting closer to a new stadium but
COLUMN
CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR
the core problem remains: how will people get there? If prior trends are any indication, Rays attendance will spike for a few seasons, then after the initial excitement fades, more long summers of empty seats. In the scholarly language of sports economics: “a transitory positive consumer demand shock from fan curiosity, which decays as the novelty of a facility subsides.” Folks will quickly tire of sitting at red lights on Dale Mabry, as before, they refused to cross the Howard Frankland Bridge. We’ll revert to our regional habit of watching TV. Call this strike three, end of inning, another opportunity lost. Alongside stories of transit and sports, with models like Boston or New York or Chicago or Philly, we chose Atlanta. We choose corporate handouts and a snarled interstate. State, county and city government will throw hundreds of millions at a stadium no one really needs, letting a perfectly good Dome rot, while the real problem continues. Our roads are choked. Our regional transit sucks. Moving baseball across the bay means nothing if you can’t get to the ballpark. Congratulations, Tampa. You just bought more gridlock. Thomas Hallock is Professor of English at the University of South Florida St Petersburg. He is currently writing a book of travel essays about why he loves teaching the American literature survey, called “A Road Course in American Literature.”
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Moody blues
Tampa’s US senator walks away from Flock camera question after saying she’s not avoiding press. By Valerie Smith
R
epublican U.S. Senator Ashley Moody left reporters with more questions than answers at an Oct. 19 Pinellas campaign stop. Moody and U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna held a campaign rally at The Original Crabby Bill’s restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach, addressing a mostly white, elderly crowd of around 100 people. It’s the kind of audience typical for Moody; she avoids larger rallies and sticks with “safe” media appearances like small stops and Fox News interviews, according to an August report from Politico. Unlike most senators, Moody—Florida’s former attorney general who was appointed to the position by Gov. Ron DeSantis—avoids answering questions in the halls of the Capitol Building. That means tiny campaign events like the one in Indian Rocks Beach are one of the only ways for reporters to ask questions about her position on important issues. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay asked for a response to critics who say that she avoids questions from the press. “That is hogwash,” Moody replied. “I have been all over this state talking to the media, talking to you right now.”
Moody then said she’s been trying to get the media to talk about how different she is from Democratic opponent Angie Nixon, who she said is a radical socialist. “And I’ll keep talking to the media and answering these questions so I can make sure every Floridian knows just that,” she added. Moody’s team then immediately ushered her away while CL asked a question about Flock cameras. Her security detail physically blocked this reporter from following her as she left. Moody and Luna spoke to reporters for under six minutes. Republican political operatives told Politico that Moody’s media-averse approach might hurt down-ballot races. Other critics said it creates an appearance of avoiding accountability, prompting Florida Democrats to adopt the slogan, “Where is Ashley Moody?” Moody also recently walked away from CBS4 Miami reporter Jim DeFede when he asked her about the Hope Florida scandal after taking no questions at a press conference. Flock questions came after Luna said she wants to protect civil liberties Moody has not publicly taken a stance on Flock cameras or other automated license plate readers,
despite the tech drawing widespread bipartisan Moody’s team didn’t respond to a followcriticism for abuse and 4th Amendment concerns. up email asking about her position on Flock Moody is married to Justin Duralia, deputy cameras. chief at the Plant City Police Department. Duralia Independent candidate Neil Gillespie hasn’t was sworn in to that role by the city commis- publicly taken a stance on the tech either. sion minutes before the commission approved a contract with Flock at its July 8, 2024 meeting. Moody still won’t debate Nixon The question about Flock cameras came In Ybor City earlier this month, Nixon after Luna evoked the police surveillance tech called for Moody to be jailed over her alleged in an unprompted detour during her own speech role in the Hope Florida scandal. A leaked while she was comparing “moderates” to author- grand jury report accused the state of buying itarian rulers. political ads with $10 million in money that was “That is the same rhetoric that happened, supposed to help disabled Floridians through actually, in Communist China,” Luna said of gun the Hope Florida charity. control and transgender rights. “You know, we The Republican Party of Florida tried to threaten criminal proscan talk separately about ecution of news outlets the Flock cameras and all that mention the grand that, but let me just tell you first and foremost, we jury report, according to 2026 General Election are fighting every single an investigation by the Early voting: Now through Sunday, Nov. 1 day for your guys’ civil Florida Trident. Within a Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3 liberties.” week, the suit was dropped. In their speeches, At the Indian Rocks Luna and Moody both touted Florida’s reputa- Beach campaign rally, Luna told the crowd tion as “the Free State of Florida.” Nixon—who appeared before 2,000 supporters A Pinellas County deputy was recently at Cuban Club despite constant rainfall—was arrested for allegedly using a Flock camera data- afraid to debate Moody. “We’re not going to tolbase to search for a love interest. Pinellas Sheriff erate candidates that are going to call to jail Bob Gualtieri—who is leading a nationwide pro- a sitting senator because you don’t like that ALPR campaign—said the agency’s audit process you can’t debate on actual ideas because your failed, and that a media inquiry from TCPalm argument doesn’t win the debates,” Luna said. reporter Jack Lemnus prompted the investigation. But Moody has refused Nixon’s calls for a Luna said in July that she was working on debate. CL asked Moody if, given Luna’s comlegislation to ban Flock cameras. That legisla- ments, she would consider debating Nixon now. tion hasn’t appeared yet. Moody said no.
ELECTIONS
BEACH, PLEASE: U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody spoke to about 100 people at Crabby Bill’s.
VALERIE SMITH
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THANK YOU FOR VOTING THE CITY OF INDIAN ROCKS BEACH BEST BEACH TOWN!
CITY OF INDAIN ROCKS BEACH 2026 Remaining Events OCTOBER 2026 HALLOWFEST
SAT. 10/31 • 10:00 AM-1:00 PM
KOLB PARK
CITYWIDE GARAGE SALE
SAT.-SUN. 11/21 -11/22 • 7:00 AM -7:00 PM
CITYWIDE
COMMUNITY CLEAN UP
MON.-WED. 11/23-11/25
CITYWIDE
CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING
FRI. 12/4 • 7:00 PM
12TH AVE PARK
CHRISTMAS STREET PARADE
SUN. 12/6 • 1:00 PM-4:00 PM
CITYWIDE
TOY DRIVE/HOLIDAY PARTY
SAT. 12/11
CENTURY 21
CHRISTMAS BOAT PARADE
SAT. 12/19 • 7:00 PM
HOLIDAY INN
NOVEMBER 2026
DECEMBER 2026
www.indian-rocks-beach.com
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Cover me
Tampa City Council begins process of appointing new D7 rep. By Leif Helland
A
fter 10 years on the dais, Luis Viera offi- timeline to accept applications to the appointcially vacates his seat representing District ment. Anyone can apply starting Tuesday, Nov. 7 on Tampa City Council on Nov. 2. The 3, at 9 a.m., with a deadline to submit the paper 48-year-old got quite the sendoff at city hall application at noon on Nov. 9. (“Luispalooza,” really) this month, as he leans Three people have already filed to run for into a run for Florida State House’s District 67 the District 7 seat in March, and they all told seat up for grabs since House Minority Leader CL they have plans to apply for the appointment: Rep. Fentrice Driskell is Dr. Patricia Alonzo; Alan term-limited. Cohn, retired investigative Voters will elect a new journalist; Morris Lopez councilperson for District III, a Division Chief with 2027 City of Tampa municipal election 7 in March, but Tampa Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. City Councilmembers Deadline to Register: Feb. 1 Election Day: Tuesday, March 2 will have to pick a new coAnother name being (early voting dates TBD) worker in the meantime. floated for the seat is Gene votehillsborough.gov The district starts Siudut, editor at Tampa’s north of Busch Boulevard, covering Forest Hills, 104-year-old tri-lingual newspaper La Gaceta. Terrace Park, University Square, up to the New Siudut told CL that he will apply for the Tampa area. appointment, and pointed out his long-running Tampa’s charter states appointments for involvement in the district. empty seats on city council must be filled within “In my volunteering for the New Tampa 30 days from the seats’ vacancy. YMCA—coaching over 70 basketball teams over Viera’s co-workers also got the ball rolling 10 years—serving on the Board of the New Tampa on appointing his replacement by approving a Performing Arts Center, City CRA Boards, and
ELECTIONS
the County’s Human Relations Board, I not only have a good understanding of government, I am very close to my District 7 community,” Siudut wrote in an email. “For my adult life, I have given my time, energy, and passion to my community. I am ready for the next step.” Siudut, who came to the Bay area in 1999 to work for La Gaceta, wouldn’t yet commit to filing his official candidacy for the District 7 city council seat. “I am taking this one step at a time and have made no concrete decisions yet,” he added. On Nov. 17, remaining council members will hear from applicants and vote for Viera’s replacement in a special call meeting. That’s when applicants have two minutes to state their goals and qualifications for seeking the seat before a final vote. Applicants must earn a majority vote to be appointed to council. That means whoever advances to the dais will have to earn a vote from four of the remaining six council members. The last time Tampa City Council appointed a new member was in April 2022, when Lynn Hurtak landed in the citywide District 3 seat in a 4-2 vote. Hurtak, who at the time was already a mainstay at city hall who served on numerous boards, prevailed over 23 people who applied, including some reportedly favored by Mayor Jane Castor.
BORN TO RUN: Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera is running for state house.
Hurtak won election a year later on the strength of a grassroots campaign that beat out the connections of her opponent, former Florida State Sen. Janet Cruz. “What separated me is that council knows me,” Hurtak told CL after the 2022 vote. “I come in front of them to speak. I’ve sat with them on other boards and commissions, that the council thought highly enough of me to recommend me for the variance review board.” Tampa’s 2027 municipal election will be consequential for the city. While the official qualifying deadline isn’t until January, there’s already a crowded field hoping to move into the mayor’s office, including two current city councilmembers—Hurtak and District 4 Councilman Bill Carlson—and a former mayor, too (Bob Buckhorn). In all, six seats on city council—the body meant to keep mayoral powers in check—are also up for grabs. Tampeños will also chime in on proposed changes to the city charter, or constitution. Changes proposed by the Charter Review Commission and being discussed by council include the creation of an Inspector General, or independent watchdog for Tampa City Hall, the creation of a city zoning hearing officer and a proposal forcing the mayor’s office to update the public on the status of taxpayer-funded projects.
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Tampa-based lawyer’s “Big Beautiful Bill” vote ushered in the largest cut in Medicaid funding in history.—Ray Roa U.S. House, District 12 (Hillsborough):
Kimberly Overman
DAVE DECKER
It was a bit of a surprise to see The Tampa Bay Times recently “recommend” incumbent Republican Gus Bilikrakis over Democrat and former Hillsborough County commissioner Kimberly Oveman. In the write-up, the Times referred to Bilikrakis as “effective,” “measured” and “reasonable.” We’re wondering if the Tampa Bay Times editors even read their own paper.
Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate The first weekend of early voting being available in every Florida county pushed the number of votes cast for the Nov. 3 election towards 2.8 million, more than 20% of the turnout in the prior midterm election in 2022. The News Service of Florida added that in that total, 1.38 million Floridians used early voting, including just over 600,000 registered Republicans, 505,000 registered Democrats and 242,000 without a party designation. Another 34,000 people registered with a third party also voted in person at an early voting location. The prior midterm election in 2022 drew 7.8 million voters, 53.8% of those registered. With early voting happening through Sunday, Nov. 1—and Election Day happening 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the time is now. Do not wait, make a plan to vote and do it. Last week, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay shared its recommendations and endorsements in local races. We’re sharing them again, with select expanded endorsements below. Visit cltampa.com/news to see more. —Ray Roa
How to vote If you haven’t registered to vote, you’re sitting this one out; still, get signed up for the next one ASAP. The deadline to request a mail ballot has also passed. For everyone else, early voting is happening now through Sunday, Nov. 1; check your local supervisor of elections office for details (votehillsborough. gov, votepinellas.gov). A list of early voting sites is at the end of this guide. On Election Day, the only place you may vote is at your assigned precinct; voting happens 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Election Day polling places don’t accept mail ballots. Election Day voters must bring: a valid photo ID (driver’s license, state
ID, passport, military ID, or student ID), at least one ID you bring must have a signature. If you don’t have an ID, cast a provisional ballot that will count if your voter status is verified. Yes, you are allowed to bring this voter guide into the ballot box.
Federal races U.S. Senate (special election):
Angie Nixon
Nixon—a 42-year-old who stunned Democratic party lifers with a resounding victory in a primary race where she was outspent 16-to-1 by an anointed candidate— is easy to get behind. Nixon was a single mom for 12 years and runs Jacksonville’s Café Resistance Bookstore and Coffee Shop. During her six years in the Florida legislature, she filed bills that enhanced early learning and worked on panels pushing back against cuts to public education or restrictions on a woman’s right to choose. She was even arrested for her vocal protests against Florida’s new gerrymandered voting maps. SEIU President April Verrett told Ybor City that Nixon, “doesn’t need a focus group to know what working a double shift feels like.” From the stump during a raining Ybor City rally this month, she did what many Florida Democrats seem incapable of—effectively, and viscerally, dismantling her opponent, calling her “lying, cheating, scheming, thieving Ashley Moody.” She went in on Moody’s role in the Hope Florida scandal where allegations in a now expunged grand jury report detailed how a “sophisticated scheme” moved $10 million that could’ve gone to children’s healthcare to PACs supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political priorities. Nixon noted how Moody’s stock trading volume while in Washington D.C. have made her millions of dollars richer and how the
24 | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | cltampabay.com
In 2023, Bilikrakis wrote a letter published in the Times calling for a lighter sentence for a local January 6 rioter, who illegally owned a pile of guns and explosives and attempted to “recruit people for civil war.” Over the last few years, Times reporters also found that Bilikrakis took money from indicted pharmaceutical fraudsters, took credit for legislation he had nothing to do with, and just last year, penned an op-ed in the Times defending his decision to vote for Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” “The One Big Beautiful Bill seeks to reignite the economy after years of debilitating inflation and rising costs during the Biden era,” wrote Bilirakis. Shockingly, the economy did not in fact “reignite.” On the contrary, we can now say the “BBB” was arguably one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern history. Bilirakis should wear that vote like a Scarlet Letter. Overman is by far more qualified, and would more accurately be called “effective” “measured” and “reasonable,” especially when it comes to affordable housing and health care access. Overman also wants to overturn Citizens United, protect reproductive rights and provide more support to military families. Overman is a no-brainer and an easy choice for U.S. House District 12. —Colin Wolf U.S. House, District 13 (Pinellas):
Leela Gray
Democrat Leela Gray is looking to unseat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who was first elected to represent the Tampa Bay area’s 13th Congressional district in 2022. The 60-yearold Gray, spent over 30 years in the Army, including two combat deployments. When asked on WMNF’s The Skinny if she would impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gray stated that the leader “should be held accountable.” If elected, Gray says she hopes to take on insurance companies, ban corporate PAC donations and she thinks we need to overturn Citizens United. Her opponent, Anna Paulina Luna, was ranked as one of the least effective members in congress, and has hardly passed a single worthwhile bill since she was elected. That might be because she spends her time embarrassing her district with a nonstop conveyor belt of high-grade political slop— like when she misidentified a Palestinian
student at Brown University and blamed him for a mass shooting, or when she filed a bill to add Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore, or when she got busted for using Claude AI to write a bill. How about last March when she gave Russians oligarchs a personal tour of the United States Capitol? It’s time to elect someone who actually wants to do the work and help District 13. We suggest Leela Gray.—Colin Wolf U.S. House, District 14 (Hillsborough):
Kathy Castor
Kathy Castor, as many a pundit will tell you, is in the fight of her life. Trying to overcome in a new gerrymandered district, the Tampa Bay area’s congresswoman for the last 20 years has somehow turned the race that should’ve favored her Republican opponent (former Florida Rep. Mike Beltran, who won an eight-person primary over the summer) into a “toss up.” There’s no contesting that Castor, 60, is one of the hardest working lawmakers in Washington D.C. Her wins for the Bay area are indisputable, too, as she’s reliably found funding for local projects. But Beltran isn’t completely off base to point out that anyone who’s been in D.C. for as long as Castor might need to step down. Some Democrats have even grown lukewarm to her in office after she joined seven Democrats to vote for a resolution “denouncing all forms of socialism” earlier this year. Not when folks like Beltran are the alternative. He gets pegged as a “freethinker” for bucking Florida Republicans when he disagreed with them, but his deep allegiance to Donald Trump (he calls himself “MAGA Mike”) should be a warning sign for anyone who actually believes that congress can act as a check on the executive branch.—Ray Roa U.S. House, District 15 (Hillsborough):
Robert People
The Tampa Bay Times didn’t give much insight for not “recommending” Democrat Robert People for U.S. House District 15 over Laurel Lee, other than he’s campaigning on a “shoestring” budget and he’s never held office before. Maybe he didn’t get the ivory tower nod of approval because the Army veteran’s platform includes scary words like “Medicare For All,” “Corporate Accountability” and “No arms shipments to Israel.” Last week at the Angie Nixon and Bernie Sanders rally, People responded to the suggestion that even the Florida Democratic Party has also kind of brushed him off along with other progressive candidates, despite primary victories from himself and Nixon. He said the party should see how voters are gravitating towards folks unafraid to be impolite. “Those are the ones we want fighting for us in Congress,” People said. CL editors believe People’s positions are worth supporting.
After all, it was under Lee’s leadership as Secretary of State that the online voter registration portal crashed the night before the deadline, that former felons were confused if they were eligible to vote or not, and that the state expanded voter suppression through unnecessary vote-by-mail changes. Laurel Lee, a DeSantis loyalist, should never be within 10 feet of a public office ever again. It’s time for someone new.—Colin Wolf U.S. House, District 16 (Pinellas and Polk): Kelly Kirschner Despite facing a familiar name in Florida right wing politics, Republican Sydney Gruters, Kelly Kirschner has always felt like his race for Sarasota’s Florida congressional seat was winnable. “It’s gonna be a healthy margin of victory on November third,” he told this reporter last month. Kirschner—a third-generation Floridian, former Mayor of Sarasota, and once the youngest city commissioner in the history of the municipality—is not alone. Polling out of the newly gerrymandered Congressional District 16 is tight this week, and for good reason. The third-generation Floridian is on the trail with simple promises: lower the cost of living, protect Medicare and Medicaid, and keep developers in check as they build on the Gulf coast. Gruters, for her part, continues to lean into her Trump endorsement and the fact that the seat was occupied by a household name Republican Vern Buchanan. A first time candidate with experience as a congressional aide, Gruters—like her husband Joe the chairman of the Republican National Committee—is a Trump loyalist who also made a more than $200,000 salary as the Executive Director of the New College Foundation. A majority of Gruters’ campaign war chest comes from PACs connected to property
insurers and data centers. Kirschner’s PAC donations are miniscule in comparison. His hunch about securing this seat just might be right.—Ray Roa
Statewide races Governor and Lieutenant Governor:
David Jolly/Gwen Graham
Progressive Democrats might all be holding their noses voting for David Jolly (who didn’t quit the Republican Party until 2018 and waited until last year to put another capital D on his name), but the fact is that the stench coming from the governor’s Cabinet is putrid. Up and down the ticket, Florida deserves new blood. The official Republican candidate, U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds, is basically a walking puppet parroting whatever the president and Gov. Ron DeSantis say. Laughably, he’s also painted Jolly, who became a Democrat just a year ago, as a radical socialist. What’s not funny, however, is the Donalds family’s ties to the charter school grift taking hold in Florida right now. Less than a year ago, Donalds’ wife Erika, a joyful warrior in the Moms For Liberty world, found herself at the center of an investigation into the Optima school in Fort Myers, which she founded. The school, and others like it, had been touted by schoolchoice advocates as an alternative to public education. The charter schools receive public funding, but are not subject to the same scrutiny as traditional public schools. CBS News, however, pointed out that “after enrolling hundreds of students and hiring teachers, the Fort Myers school failed to open, leaving parents scrambling to find a school for their children.”
What’s more is that in summer 2025, the Florida Bulldog looked at Byron Donalds’ disclosures and found “he had failed to fully report his wife’s stakes in companies that provide services to a charter school chain she co-founded.” “Optima Foundation, which Erika Donalds launched in 2017 and renamed the Education Freedom Foundation this past March, and its affiliated charter schools paid more than $10 million to two for-profit companies belonging to the congressman’s wife,” the Bulldog reported last year. A new Miami Herald-Tampa Bay Times analysis of tax filings and state audits found that over the last four years, five charter schools funded by state money have paid more than $30 million to two private companies run by Erika Donalds. “Once the taxpayer money lands in the coffers of Donalds’ businesses, how it’s used and how much executives are paid is not publicly reported,” the report added. “If he wins, for the first time, Florida could have a leader whose family wealth is tied to the flow of taxpayer funds to the private charter school management industry. That means, as governor, decisions he makes about public education funding could have a direct impact on his family’s bottom line.” That kind of cronyism is all over the Republican ticket when it comes to statewide races.—Ray Roa Attorney General:
José Javier Rodríguez Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier is an unelected incumbent, appointed by DeSantis, who unleashed the 38-year-old on every “woke” cause that remotely chapped his ass. “He fights the culture war against gays, Blacks, Hispanics, liberals, Muslims, women, immigrants, professors and unions on a daily basis as if these people are the enemy and not fellow Floridians,” our friends at La Gaceta wrote about Uthmeier, adding that, “He lacks the moral compass to hold his job.”
DAVE DECKER
We could not agree more. Immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and felons who’ve done their time and paid their fines are not the enemy, but Uthmeier treats them as such. Just last week, Florida’s Republican Party was forced to drop a lawsuit against TV stations airing ads that pointed out Uthmeier’s role in the $10 million Hope Florida scandal that re-directed funds that could’ve been used for kids healthcare and instead used them on political initiatives favored by the governor.
David Jolly for governor
Uthmeier’s opponent, Jose Javier “J.J.” Rodriguez, offers quite a contrast. The
48-year-old served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Biden, has promised to enforce minimum wage law, and in a past life represented labor unions. He’s even served in the Peace Corps.—Ray Roa Chief Financial Officer:
Annette Taddeo
La Gaceta added that the Florida Attorney General race is, “a choice between good and evil.” The same could be said for the contests to become Florida’s next Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Agriculture. Hernando’s Blaise Ingoglia was appointed CFO by the governor and has since kept his mouth shut as bad decisions by DeSantis and Uthmeier cost Floridians millions (hello Alligator Alcatraz and the many lawsuits levied against the state). What’s more is that as Ingoglia went on tour after purportedly DOGE-ing local governments, the Bulldog reported that he also “omitted from his public financial disclosure more than a hundred properties tied to him through his companies.” Ingoglia’s opponent, former state Sen. Annette Taddeo, wants answers, and we should send her to Tallahassee to have a look.—Ray Roa Commissioner of Agriculture: Joey
Mendoza Atkins
And then there’s Wilton Simpson, Florida’s lowly Commissioner of Agriculture who goes along with whatever Ron DeSantis asks him to, from a vote that almost handed hundreds of acres of Florida forest to golf course developers to another vote that pretty much gave 22 acres of Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus away to the Tampa Bay Rays. Simpson’s opponent, Democrat Joey Mendoza Atkins, has a background helping migrant farm workers and Dreamers. That alone is a breath of fresh air. It’s time to flip Tallahassee upside down.— Ray Roa
Florida constitutional amendments (read more on p. 29) Amendment 1, Budget Stabilization Fund: NO Amendment 2, Tax Exemption for Tangible Personal Property on Agricultural Land: NO Amendment 3, Increased Homestead Exemption: NO
Judicial retention Florida Supreme Court, Justice Carlos G. Muñiz: NO Second District Court of Appeal retention J. Andrew Atkinson: NO
continued on page 28
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continued from page 25 Morris Silberman: YES Daniel H. Sleet: YES Andrea Teves Smith: NO
Florida Legislature State Senate, District 14 (Hillsborough): Brian Nathan For insight into the desperate, worn out Republican election playbook, voters just need to turn on the Devil Rays game. In between innings, the folks supporting former Florida Rep. Josie Tomkow are running an ad built around a photo of State Sen. Brian Nathan snapped by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay photographer Dave Decker. “The date was May 3,” the ad starts before claiming that Nathan—who shocked Republicans and Democrats alike by winning a special election last March—was walking arm in arm with the local chapter of the PSL, or “Party for Socialism and Liberation.” In the photo, Nathan, 46, is somehow not wearing Fidel Castro-approved military fatigues or combat boots, instead choosing the same Asics your dad has, worn out blue cargo shorts and a beige t-shirt repping Tampa’s IBEW Local 915. There’s also no Che Guevara beret in sight, although his bald head burning up in the Florida sun would have benefitted from one. To Republicans, every Democrat—even extreme centrist and former Republican David Jolly— is a pawn in the spooky socialist agenda. And it’s beyond laughable that they chose this photo to paint Nathan as some kind of commie. That May 3, 2025 event Nathan was “caught” in was in celebration of May Day, a rallying
day for union activists who’ve fought for workers rights for more than a century. That International Worker’s Day protest in Ybor City did indeed include the PSL, but it was also organized, in part, by the West Central Florida Labor Council. Are labor organizers socialists now, too? Florida’s Republican party, desperate to distance itself from Donald Trump, is trying to rebrand itself as the party of the working person, but they can’t even get their facts straight. Even worse, over the last half decade, Florida’s GOP lawmakers have pushed back against increasing the minimum wage, made it illegal for local municipalities to make contractors pay a living wage, and rolled back child labor protections. Florida Senators also passed SB256, a piece of legislation making it illegal for unions to automatically deduct fees from workers’ paychecks, thus reducing membership; that same bill required public sector unions to have 60% of eligible employees paying dues to be recognized as a union that could even bargain on behalf of workers. Tomkow, 31, represented two districts during nearly eight years in the Florida Legislature. In 2023, she voted in favor of putting restrictions on public sector unions (SB 256). The year after that, she didn’t vote on the final version of the bill preempting local governments from setting local workplace heat rules, predictive scheduling requirements, and contractor wage or benefit mandates (HB 433). This year, she gave a thumbs up and voted yes on a bill that’s now a law that restructures public sector union recertification, making it harder for public employees (except cops and firefighters) to fight for the best wages and working conditions.
Brian Nathan walks arm-in-arm with workers. That’s not a socialist value, it’s one rooted in the belief that if you do an honest day’s work, you should be able to live a dignified life.—Ray Roa State Senate, District 18 (Pinellas): Karla Kemp State Senate, District 20 (Hillsborough): Gerald Baldi State Senate, District 21 (Pinellas, part): Jordan Hensley State House, District 57 (Pinellas): Wendy Hoy State House, District 58 (Pinellas): Bryan Beckman State House, District 59 (Pinellas): Susan Rochelle Leff State House, District 60 (Pinellas): Lindsay Polega-Quigley State House, District 61 (Pinellas): May Thach State House, District 64 (Hillsborough): Luis Salazar State House, District 65 (Hillsborough): Ben Braver State House, District 66 (Hillsborough): José A. ‘Dante’ Sánchez Sánchez State House, District 67 (Hillsborough): Luis Viera State House, District 68 (Hillsborough): Tony Smith State House, District 69 (Hillsborough): Ashley Elizabeth Herrmann State House, District 70 (Hillsborough): Luther Keith Wilkins
Hillsborough County Voters in Hillsborough County have a unique opportunity to shape their county government for generations, especially on county commission. Six seats are up for grabs, and there’s a referendum that could increase membership from seven commissioners to nine, with an increase to 11 members once the county has a population of at least 2.5 million; Hillsborough Referendum No. 2 would also eliminate the commission’s three countywide seat. Hillsborough County Commission, District 5 (countywide): Neil Manimala Neil Manimala may be the only person who
CAMPAIGN HANDOUT
can save residents from the tyranny of cars. Traffic is probably the best indicator of Hillsborough County’s problematic growth patterns. Each new resident adds friction to a poorly-planned, unsustainable infrastructure. Vehicles kill drivers and pedestrians constantly. The pollution from cars is bad for our health and the environment. It costs more to own a car in Florida than just about anywhere, but it’s impossible to get around without a car. There’s only one candidate for county commission who has proposed a comprehensive solution to cars: Neil Manimala.
May Thach for State House, District 61 (Pinellas)
28 | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | cltampabay.com
If Manimala is telling the truth, he’s going to work competently with both parties to
fix public transit and reduce the strain on our roads. His opponent, Stacy Hahn, mercifully knocked incumbent Donna Cameron Cepeda off commission in the summer primary. It’s a miracle that Cepeda even made it to commission in the first place, since she was a full-throated InfoWars stan with a husband that is a selfproclaimed prophet (blame Charlie Crist, whose gubernatorial race undoubtedly hurt Democrats down ticket in 2022). Unlike Cepeda, Hahn probably doesn’t go to a church whose minister claims to have cured zika. Her eight years on the Hillsborough County School Board mean she knows the county well, but Manimala has proven to be a hard-worker ready to bring fresh ideas to the dais. If the only thing Manimala does while on the county commission is make it possible to live in Hillsborough County without a car, then he will have saved hundreds of lives, saved residents millions of dollars, and cured the chronic quality-of-life crisis that is car-based society. Vote Manimala for Hillsborough County Commission or sit in traffic every day forever.—Valerie Smith Hillsborough County Commission, District 1: Harry Cohen Hillsborough County Commission, District 3: Gwen Myers Hillsborough County Commission, District 7 (countywide): Aileen Rodriguez Some people like incumbent Joshua Wostal because he “ruffles feathers.” The kind of disruption the UPS Store owner brings to the dais is not good for locals, from his opposition to Hillsborough’s landmark healthcare program for low-income residents, funding for local arts, or even his refusal to sign commendations for Tampa Pride and the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs (TOBA) Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast. He’s also not a coalition builder. Just look at his opposition to giving a taxpayer-funded handout to the Tampa Bay Rays. The position should’ve been popular with anyone with half a brain, but “Hostile Wostal” could only get Donna Cepeda—the commissioner whose husband is a self-proclaimed prophet—to go along with him in voting “No” on funding. Don’t even mention the $50,000 late-in-thecycle check the Friends of Joshua Wostal PAC got from developer Homes by West Bay; it’s the single largest contribution the PAC has ever received and brings the developer’s total contributions to more than $62,000. The next highest donor to the PAC is Sarasota attorney Martin Garcia, who’s connected to the lawsuit that killed Hillsborough County’s All For Transportation Tax. Residents across the county deserve a more even-keeled leader, and that’s Aileen Rodriguez. The former director for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez filed to run in January, but
she’s been in the community for even longer. At seemingly every event, Rodriguez is there, listening, not getting caught up in conflict, and instead presenting common sense, pragmatic ideas to improve transit and grow responsibly. Rodriguez even beat back a last-minute entry into the race by popular former Hillsborough County Clerk of Court Cindy Stuart.
Temple Terrace City Council (vote for up to three): Karen Michalski, Ryan Gessman* (*yes, we’re only endorsing two people)
Pinellas County
Hillsborough County School Board, District 2: Daniela Simic
St. Petersburg City Council, District 6: Linsey Grove
Former Tampa Bay Young Republican president Brittany Lyssy wants voters to believe that she lives in a roughly 400-square-foot condo in downtown Tampa with two kids and her husband, whose homesteaded beach house is actually one county over in Longboat Key. She also wants voters to believe that she had nothing to do with her political group’s decison to invite the Tate brothers to speak in Tampa AFTER they were charged with rape and sex trafficing. Lyssy has zero background in public education, and a history of politicizing school rooms. So one has to wonder why exactly she’s even running for this position, except perhaps to use it as a political stepping stone to something bigger.
We’re lucky to get to choose between Trevor Mallory and Linsey Grove for St. Pete’s city council. But Grove takes it.
The bottom line is we don’t believe that she’s qualified, motivated or even lives in Hillsborough County. Then there’s Daniela Simic, qualified beyond comparison. Simic, a former teacher, has a bachelor’s in elementary education, a master’s in educational policy and leadership, was an assistant superintendent in Hillsborough County, worked for Florida’s Bureau of School Improvement, was the vice president of advocacy for the Hillsborough County Council PTA (Parent-Teacher Association), and so on, and so on, and so on. Clearly, no one is more prepared and ready to serve teachers and students in Hillsborough County than Daniela Simic.—Colin Wolf Hillsborough County School Board, District 6 (countywide): Karen Perez School board races are supposed to be nonpartisan, but sometimes you have to look at the money to see where people stand. According to finance records, Ken Gay’s single largest donor to his campaign is the Hillsborough County Republican Party, which gave him $5K back in September, and endorsed him for this race. This is the same anti-union, local political group that moans about DEI and muslims in classrooms and still thinks the biggest singular issue in education is transgenders kids using a bathroom somewhere. Hillsborough voters are tired of this rage-bate, and frankly there’s no reason to not re-elect Karen Perez. A social worker and strong advocate for public schools, Perez is clearly the most qualified for this post.—Colin Wolf
CAMPAIGN HANDOUT
With the potential for an expanded commission, the county needs a voice that can unify, not divide.—Ray Roa
Hillsborough Referendum No. 1, Elected School Superintendent: NO Hillsborough Referendum No. 2, Larger County Commission, All SingleMember Districts: NO Hillsborough Referendum No. 3, School Sales Tax Renewal: YES
We’re voting for her over the former minor league pitcher because she supports the grassroots campaign to kick for-profit utilities out of St. Petersburg. A public utility is one of the most important decisions any city councilmember will make in the next few years. Grove, a public health practitioner and community organizer, says she won’t vote to stick us with another 30-year contract with Duke Energy. Mallory told the League of Women Voters that he doesn’t support the city dumping Duke to run its own utility, instead saying, “there needs to be more research.” Mallory, who’s worked in developing and managing affordable housing, is a fine contender. His priorities of youth programming and affordability both need investment from our city. But Grove wants those things, too. For-profit utilities and their dollars are hugely influential in Florida politics and keep ratepayers broke. Any candidate willing to stand up to that powerful lobby gets an edge. Even if you love Duke Energy for some reason, Grove’s proposals to support neighborhood associations, invest in infrastructure and limit private equity’s ability to purchase single-family homes are reasons enough to give her a term on St. Petersburg’s city council.—Valerie Smith St. Petersburg Mayor: Ken Welch St. Petersburg City Council, District 2: Gabriel Hament St. Petersburg Referendum No. 1, $600 Million Water and Stormwater Bonds: YES St. Petersburg Referendum No. 2, Harborage Marina Lease: YES St. Petersburg Charter Amendment No. 1, Jamestown Vacant Lots for Housing: NO St. Petersburg Charter Amendment No. 2, Port Lease Limit to 25 Years: YES St. Petersburg Charter Amendment No. 3, Even-Year Election Cleanup: YES Pinellas County Commission, District 2 (at large): Tim Hughes
Linsey Grove for St. Petersburg City Council, District 6 Pinellas County Commission, District 6: David Glenn Jr. Pinellas County School Board, District 3 (at large): Curtis Campogni Clearwater City Council, Seat 5: Mark Bunker Dunedin City Commission, Seat 4: Nan Bennett
Early voting sites HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY Apollo Beach Park & Recreation Center 664 Golf and Sea Blvd., Apollo Beach Bloomingdale Regional Public Library 1906 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico Bruton Memorial Library 302 W McLendon St., Plant City C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. Public Library 2607 E Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tampa Fred B. Karl County Center 601 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library 3910 S Manhattan Ave., Tampa Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library 2902 W Bearss Ave., Tampa Keystone Park & Recreation Center 17928 Gunn Hwy., Odessa Maureen B. Gauzza Public Library 11211 Countryway Blvd., Tampa New Tampa Regional Library 10001 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa North Tampa Branch Library 8916 North Blvd., Tampa Northdale Park & Recreation Center 15510 Hooting Owls Pl., Tampa Northwest Regional Office 4575 Gunn Hwy., Tampa Port Tampa Center 4702 W McCoy St., Tampa Providence West Park 5405 Providence Rd., Riverview
Riverview Public Library 9951 Balm Riverview Rd., Riverview Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center 2514 N Falkenburg Rd., Tampa Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library 1505 N Nebraska Ave., Tampa Seffner-Mango Branch Library 410 N Kingsway Rd., Seffner Southeast Regional Office 10020 S U.S. Hwy. 301, Riverview SouthShore Community Resource Center 201 14th Ave. SE, Ruskin SouthShore Regional Service Center 410 30th St. SE, Ruskin Temple Terrace Public Library 202 Bullard Pkwy., Temple Terrace Town ‘N Country Regional Public Library 7606 Paula Dr., Tampa USF Training Center (PTB-Training Room) 13309 USF Plum Dr., Tampa Victor Crist Community Center Complex (Annex Building) 14015 N 22nd St., Tampa West Tampa Branch Library 2312 W Union St., Tampa PINELLAS COUNTY Centre of Palm Harbor 1500 16th St., Palm Harbor Countryside Recreation Center 2640 Sabal Springs Dr., Clearwater Gulfport Neighborhood Center 1617 49th St. S, Gulfport J.W. Cate Recreation Center 5801 22nd Ave. N, St. Petersburg Supervisor of Elections Office, County Building 501 1st Ave. N, St. Petersburg Supervisor of Elections Office, Election Service Center 13001 Starkey Rd., Starkey Lakes Corporate Center, Largo Supervisor of Elections Office, Pinellas County Courthouse 315 Court St., Room 117, Clearwater More via cltampa.com/news.
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 29
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“Part of what made Coney Island special was that people could come in, get a good meal and not break the bank.” RESTAURANTS
RECIPES
DINING GUIDES
Let’s be frank
Coney Island Grill is looking to lease the room, and more food news. By Colin Wolf
New pinball bar The Lucky Flipper coming to downtown St. Pete this winter That deaf, dumb and blind kid is probably old enough to enjoy a beer. So if you’re looking to play a “mean pinball” in The Edge District (stylized “EDGE”), then The Lucky Flipper might be your new spot. The new St. Pete pinball bar will open at 915 Central Ave., within the former 1,600-square-foot venue Machine Shop Barber Company space.
“We’re bringing an incredible lineup of pinball machines, local craft beer, and a laid-back atmosphere to the heart of downtown St. Petersburg,” reads a Lucky Flipper social media post. According to St. Pete Rising’s Kyla Fields, the new concept will allow guests to pay a flat rate of $14, which gives them unlimited access to 16 to 18 vintage pinball machines and a few classic arcade games, as well. No exact opening date has been announced, but Lucky Flipper is aiming for a December opening.
The episode will air on Food Network next Friday, Nov. 6, at 9 p.m. Featuring signature eats like loaded mac and cheese, BBQ fries and nachos, pulled chicken and pork sandwiches and more, Wicked Oak has seen a lot of momentum since it first opened in 2020, securing a Best of the Bay Reader’s Choice award for “Best Ribs” in 2021, launching a new food truck in 2023 and landing a vendor spot at Benchmark International Arena. There’s been a lot of Guy Fieri sightings around Tampa Bay recently. Besides Wicked Oak, quite a few other Tampa favorites have been visited by the “Mayor of Flavortown,” including Cousin Vinny’s, Boozy Pig, and Supernatural, to name a few.
CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR
A
fter first opening in 1926, the Barlas family permanently closed Coney Island Sandwich Shop in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Since then, there have been a couple attempts to re-open the iconic restaurant, but now the Barlas family is ready to become landlords and give someone else a shot. Located at 250 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N, the 2,080-square-foot space is currently available for lease, with an asking price of $40 a square-foot per year (or roughly $6,933 a month), says the listing. According to the listing, the owners restaurant has spent roughly $150,000 to get the space up to code, as well as new renovations, including two new ADA restrooms with ADA fixtures, new flooring, plumbing and electric. “Part of what made Coney Island special was that people could come in, get a good meal and not break the bank,” said Justin Barlas, property owner and fourth-generation member of the Barlas family in a statement. “We’d love to see another locally owned restaurant that brings that same energy to the neighborhood, whether it’s a diner, a fresh take on the Coney Island concept or something entirely new.” Although the space has undergone an almost complete facelift, the restaurant still includes the original Coney Island lunch counter and stools. “This year marks 100 years since my grandfather first opened Coney Island, and it’s incredible to think about how much of St. Petersburg’s history is tied to this place,” added Barlas. “It was a place where you could find a former mayor sitting alongside construction workers and families who had been coming in for generations. We’d love to see that sense of community continue.” The listing agent is Betsy Shafer of Colliers.
Seminole Heights BBQ spot Wicked Oak will be on Guy Fieri’s ‘Diner, Drive-ins and Dives’ next week Wicked Oak Barbeque is getting the Guy Fieri treatment. The popular Seminole Heights spot, located at 6607 N Florida Ave., announced on social media yesterday that it will be featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” “We’ve been keeping a bit of a secret y’all. Wicked Oak is going to be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!,” wrote founder and owner Felix “Bubba” Flores. “It was an honor to have Guy Fieri in the Wicked Oak kitchen and we can’t wait for y’all to see what we cooked up for him.”
BETTER DAYS: Coney Island Grill c. 2016.
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 33
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JOHN WILLIAMS @ 95 Oktoberfest Tampa organizers did not want you walking around in waterlogged lederhosen, so their big downtown party set for early this month was rescheduled for one of the biggest party weekends of the year. Originally set for Friday-Sunday, Oct. 8-11, the festival changed plans after Hurricane Isaias formed. Now the city’s largest, now 17-years-running celebration of craft beer and German libations is happening at the same time as Halloween.
yet-to-be-developed Armature Works and then transitioned to the Curt just a short walk south on the Tampa Riverwalk.
In an email, reps for Oktoberfest Tampa said they’re working with the City of Tampa and staging the 2026 edition on FridaySunday, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, still at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. Tickets for the original date—including those bought at discount via CL deals—are still being honored. “The event and all activities will stay the same,” organizers told CL.
It includes fun traditions like stein hoist, brat and sack toss, wench carrying, hammer swings, and more. Folks with facial hair might as well get a start on Movember and enter Oktoberfest Tampa’s beard and mustache competition, too.
Traditional German beers—think pilsner, märzen, dunkel, hefeweizen, radler, and Oktoberfest—are the stars of the lineup, and come from both German breweries and the ones in our backyard (St. Pete’s Green Bench Brewing Co. always does a custom brew). Pours are big, too, including Das Boot options.
For the uninitiated, Oktoberfest Tampa is a revered celebration that started at a
Tickets for the rescheduled Oktoberfest Tampa happening Friday-Sunday, Oct. 30-Nov. 1 are still available and start at $10. See more food & drink events happening Oct. 29-Nov. 5 below.—Ray Roa
Rooted in Flavor: A Venezuelan Pairing Dinner Thursday, Oct. 29. 6 p.m. $150. Sal Y Mar Rooftop Bar, Tampa. eventbrite.com
Beer 101: From Hops to Glass Friday, Oct. 30. 6 p.m. $55 & up. Savoir on Central, St. Petersburg. savoironcentral.com
Lunch in the Gardens — Fall 2026 Thursday, Oct. 29. 11 a.m. $175 & up. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota
Food Truck Block Party Friday, Oct. 30. 5:30 p.m. No cover. Chapel By The Sea, Clearwater Beach. chapelbythesea.net
Night Out Cooking Class – Italiano Moderno: Italian Elegance Thursday, Oct. 29. 6 p.m. $95. Foodie Labs, St. Petersburg. thefoodielabskitchen.com
Science After Dark - Chemistry Uncorked Thursday, Nov. 5. 6 p.m. $35 & up. Mosi, Tampa. mosi.org
FROM STAR WARS TO HARRY POTTER For nearly seven decades, John Williams has made us believe in movie magic. From the triumphant fanfares of Star Wars to the wonder of Harry Potter, this concert explores the vast catalog of a movie maestro whose music transcends the screen. Larry Loh conducts.
Fri, Oct 30, 7:30 pm | Straz Center, Ferguson Sun, Nov 1, 2 pm | Mahaffey Theater - matinee
BUY TICKETS NOW FLORIDAORCHESTRA.ORG| 727.892.3337 cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 35
FEEL See it before it closes Dec 7 36 | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | cltampabay.com
THE UNFORGETTABLE
Surreal Nature in The Dalí Dome
In the club
Princeton Review ranks WECX No. 4 college radio station in the US. By Seán Kinane/WMNF News
T
he student radio station at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg was recently named the fourth best in the country by The Princeton Review. When I visited the small studio on a rainy October afternoon, I was a bit surprised to hear “Daytripper” by The Beatles on the studio monitors. “My parents in general really did shape the music that I listen to,” said Vivian Codiga, a cogeneral manager of WECX—pronounced “wex.” Codiga is a senior majoring in business management with minors in interdisciplinary arts and psychology. My dad grew up in the ‘70s and so I really like—I love classic rock,” she told me. “And that’s also primarily what I play. And I feel like there’s also been a bit of a resurgence in it. And so a lot of Eckerd students also really enjoy classic rock and that like Beatles, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, especially.”
DAVE DECKER
ALL THE WAY LIVE: With 84 DJs, WECX is Eckerd College’s biggest club.
The station’s other co-general manager, Taj Sorensen says WECX has been around since the 1980s, but nobody’s sure of the exact year it started. She says there are 84 DJs and it’s the biggest club on campus. The number four ranking by The Princeton Review came as a surprise. “Apparently a bunch of emails were sent to random students and they all voted on their favorite things about their college and Eckerd really loves WECX.” Sorensen said. “Especially, last year we redid the entire station and made it more of what it is today, and we got a lot more DJs from that. We got a record-breaking amount of DJs. We had to add Saturday shows. So the number four Princeton Review was a good reflection of that impact.”’ Sorensen is a senior majoring in marine science with minors in environmental studies
and music. She DJs “Taj’s Punk Happy Hour” on Sunday nights. “Punk is a genre that’s really embedded in my family,” Sorensen said. “My Dad raised me growing up on the Sex Pistols and random different punk things. Music connects my family more than anything in my family. So when coming to Eckerd, I went up to our general manager at that time, Jordan, and I was like: I really want to do a punk show. And so for four years, I’ve been on the board and doing a punk show on Sundays.” WECX programmers also play new music, of course. Bergen Hembree is assistant manager at WECX. She’s a junior anthropology major with a minor in public health. “We actually do this fun thing where we follow albums that are going to be released. We have someone on our board and the whole board will watch for new releases. We’ll have a fun listening party with the club, so that’s something that we do just to kind of keep up with current music,” Hembree said. “But then, like I said earlier, there are so many styles
of music that are played throughout WECX. I think we cover everything. There’s not a genre or style that isn’t coming out of WECX, which is really cool.” Their most recent listening party was for a new Harry Styles album. Sorensen said WECX lost its ability to broadcast over FM when their antenna was destroyed by a hurricane. So Eckerd College students listen on the web at WECX.org. They hope to have an app soon. In the same Princeton Review list, the University of South Florida’s student radio station was ranked 25. This story first appeared at WMNF News, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication or donor interested in Tampa Bay Journalism Project, please email rroa@cltampa.com. Support WMNF News by visiting the community radio station’s support page.
LOCAL NEWS
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 37
PETER HOULIHAN
Mac Stone In the September issue of National Geographic, Mac Stone painted Florida in a majestic light with photography that captured the annual striped mullet migration. In his photos, millions of mullet look like walls in the ocean as they move south to spawn. The photos alone can radicalize someone into a conservationist, but the videos that came out of the project will finish the job.
Tickets to Florida Conversations: An Evening with Mac Stone happening Wednesday, Nov. 4 at Tampa Bay History Center in Tampa are still available. See more of Tampa Bay’s best things to do Oct. 29-Nov. 5 below. An extended version of this listing is at cltampa. com/arts—Ray Roa
The 42-year-old Virginia Tech grad spends a lot of time in the swamp, too. His latest book, “Cypress: The Last Old-Growth Swamps” (out now via University Press of Florida) is a decade-long project that’s taken the form of a 216-page behemoth featuring 144 photos of the South’s ancient cypress wetlands—including Naples’ Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Art After Dark: Halloween Edition Thursday, Oct. 29. 5 p.m. $16; no cover for members and under 17. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. mfastpete.org Chopping Mall Thursday, Oct. 29. 10 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa The Coven Party: Ladies Heights Happy Hour Thursday, Oct. 29. 6 p.m. No cover. Shuffle, Tampa. shuffletampa.com Downtown St. Pete Toastmasters Open House & Costume Contest Thursday, Oct. 29. 6:15 p.m. No cover. Connect St. Pete, St. Petersburg. mindmaprenovations.com Forbidden Fruits Thursday, Oct. 29. 7:15 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa
Stone will discuss that work in downtown Tampa as part of Tampa Bay History Center’s ongoing “Florida Conversations” series. It’s $5 for non-members, and there is a no-cover option on Zoom.
FALL/HALLOWEEN
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Farm-O-Ween Friday, Oct. 30. 5:30 p.m. No cover. St. Pete Youth Farm, St. Petersburg. stpeteyouthfarm.org Halloween Carnival Friday, Oct. 30. 6 p.m. $10; no cover for trick-or-treating. Palm Harbor Parks & Recreation, Palm Harbor. phparksandrec.org Halloween Fest at USF St. Petersburg Friday, Oct. 30. 5:30 p.m. No cover. USF St. Petersburg Campus, St. Petersburg. usf. edu Nightmare on Sapphic Street with Magan & Dayn (Halloween bash) Friday, Oct. 30. 9 p.m. $19.01 & up. Park & Rec DTSP, St. Petersburg. dirtymatriarch.com October Ghost Hunt Friday, Oct. 30. 11:30 p.m. $42.80. Gigglewaters, Safety Harbor. gigglewaters.com Monster Haus Friday, Oct. 30. 8 p.m. $15. The Bricks, Ybor City. Scream Friday, Oct. 30. 7 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa Show Car Soirée Trunk or Treat Friday, Oct. 30. 6 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Fenway Hotel, Dunedin
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare Friday, Oct. 30. 10 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa 13 Ugly Men Halloween Party Saturday, Oct. 31. 8 p.m. $67 & up. Cuban Club, Ybor City. 13uglymen.com Amped Halloween Costume Party Saturday, Oct. 31. 7 p.m. $15. FloridaRAMA Gallery, St. Petersburg. Floridarama.art Fenway Fright Night Saturday, Oct. 31. 7 p.m. $59 & up. Fenway Hotel, Dunedin Ghost Hunt at South Ward School Site Saturday, Oct. 31. 8 p.m. $129 & up. Clearwater Historical Society Museum, Clearwater. silentslayertours.com Halloween (1978) Saturday, Oct. 31. 6 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa Halloween III: Season of the Witch Saturday, Oct. 31. 9 p.m. $13; $10 for members. Tampa Theatre, Tampa Halloween Costume Contest FridaySaturday, Oct. 30-31. No cover. Emerald City Comics, Pinellas Park. emeraldcitycomics.com
continued on page 41
Dunedin's Premier Art Weekend Nov. 6-8th
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 39
ART AFTER DARK HALLOWEEN EDITION THURSDAY, OCT 29 | 5-8 PM Explore the museum in a spellbinding Art After Dark with a Halloween twist! Come dressed in your favorite Halloween look, explore the galleries, and see if you can uncover the mysteries hidden within. The Hot Tonic Orchestra trio sets the mood, fusing jazz with Latin rhythms, funk, and soul. And no Halloween evening would be complete without a little trick-ortreating. Complete your night with Café Clementine’s L’Apéro hours, featuring a delicious array of sweet and savory delights.
BOOK + BELONGING BOOK CLUB
THURSDAY, NOV 5 | 6-8 PM Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, is a piercingly raw and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it’s like to be young and Black in America. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that Black men and women contend with every day in this country. Held in conjunction with New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations.
ART AFTER DARK TRIVIA NIGHT WITH MAX BLOWERS
THURSDAY, NOV 5 | 5-8 PM Explore the galleries for a special clue in an action-packed trivia night designed to challenge minds of all kinds. From pop culture and history to science, music, and art, of course, this all-subjects showdown has something for everyone. Plus, enjoy Café Clementine’s L’Apéro hours, featuring organic wines, local Green Bench beer, and a lineup of savory and sweet delights. VISIT MFASTPETE.ORG/EVENTS-CALENDAR FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFO.
40 | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | cltampabay.com
TACO TU EsDAY 200 E MADISON ST • DOWNTOWN TAMPA • 813-221-TACO
Out and about: Events happening in Tampa Bay (cont'd) continued from page 38 David M. Jenkins as Paul Sheldon in ‘Misery’
STAGE PHOTOGRAPHY OF TAMPA/JOBSITE THEATER
Halloween Creepy Crawl Saturday, Oct. 31. 1 p.m. No cover. DRV Gallery, Gulfport. drvgallery.com Hocus Pocus Saturday, Oct. 31. 3 p.m. $13; $10 for members; no cover for 12 and under. Tampa Theatre, Tampa Indie’s Spook-o-delic Halloween Bash Saturday, Oct. 31. 8 p.m. The Independent, Tampa. independentbartampa.com Kenwood Halloween Party w/Brandy Stark’s Portable Paranormal Museum Saturday, Oct. 31. 4 p.m. No cover. Historic Kenwood, St. Petersburg. halloweeninkenwood.com Mall-O-Ween Saturday, Oct. 31. 2 p.m. (Trick-or-treating starts at 5 p.m.). No cover. Gulf View Square Mall, Port Richey. shopgulfviewsquare.com PAWlloween 2026 Saturday, Oct. 31. 12 p.m. No cover. Pinellas Ale Works, St. Petersburg. pawbeer.com Spookeasy: Madame Laveau in the VooDoo Lounge Saturday, Oct. 31. 6 p.m. $55; $50 for members. Historic Andrews Memorial Chapel, Dunedin. dunedinmuseum.org Trunk or Treat Saturday, Oct. 31. 6 p.m. No cover. American Legion Post 111, Tampa WMNF’s Halloween Pot Luck Open House Saturday, Oct. 31. 5 p.m. No cover with reservation. WMNF Studios, Tampa. wmnf.org
THEATER
Jobsite Theater: Misery Select times and dates Wednesday-Sunday, through Nov. 8. $47.40 & up. Jaeb Theater at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa Sophisticated Ladies Select times and dates Wednesday-Sunday, through Nov. 22. $21 & up. Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, Sarasota Carrie: The Musical Select times and dates Thursday-Sunday, through Nov. 1. $32.50. Bradenton Kiwanis Theater at Manatee Performing Arts Center, Bradenton Hamilton Select times and dates Wednesday-Sunday, through Nov. 8. $75 & up. Morsani Hall at Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa Dear Evan Hansen Select times and dates Thursday-Sunday, through Nov. 1. $35 & up. Stone Hall at Manatee Performing Arts Center, Bradenton Dracula Select times and dates through Nov. 1. $22 & up. Francis Wilson Playhouse, Clearwater The Cottage Sunday, Nov. 1. 4 p.m. $60. Early Bird Dinner Theater, Clearwater Meteor Shower Select times and dates Wednesday-Sunday, Nov. 4-22. $20 & up. American Stage, St. Petersburg
A&E
Cats With Scissors: (Collage experience) Saturday, Oct. 31. 2 p.m. $20. The Paper Seahorse, Tampa. paperseahorse.com 25 Years of FMoPA: Gallery Talk with Executive Curator Robin O’Dell Sunday, Nov. 1. 1 p.m. $12. Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Ybor City. fmopa.org Dalí: Disruption + Devotion Panel Discussion Thursday, Nov. 5. 6 p.m.
No cover; registration required. The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg. thedali.org
BOOKISH
Book Discussion: “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy Thursday, Oct. 29. 6:30 p.m. No cover. Bloomingdale Regional Public Library, Valrico Book Discussion: “Vampires of El Norte” by Isabel Canas Thursday, Oct. 29. 4 p.m. No cover. Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library, Tampa Books & Beyond Book Club: “Shelter in Place” by Nora Roberts Thursday, Oct. 29. 12 p.m. No cover. Tarpon Springs Public Library, Tarpon Springs. tarponlibrary.org Chef Geoffrey Zakarian: Original Food – Recapturing the Joy of Eating Thursday, Oct. 29. 6:30–8:30 p.m. $6.71 & up. Oxford Exchange, Tampa Murder Mystery at the Bookstore Thursday, Oct. 29. 6:30 p.m. $75. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com
Annie R. McEwen (Author meet and greet/reading) Saturday, Oct. 31. 2 p.m. No cover. Bookends Literature & Libations, Ybor City Book Discussion: “Assistant to the Villain” by Hannah Nicole Maehrer Saturday, Oct. 31. 3 p.m. No cover with registration. New Tampa Regional Library, Tampa Bookish Halloween Party Saturday, Oct. 31. 7:30 p.m. $10. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com Willa Marigold (Author signing) Sunday, Nov. 1. 12 p.m. No cover. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com Book Discussion: “The Seventh Veil of Salome” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Tuesday, Nov. 3. 10:30 a.m. No cover with registration. West Tampa Branch Library, Tampa Fantasy Book Club: “Sinister” by Veronica Lancet Tuesday, Nov. 3. 6:30 p.m. $10 & up. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com
Michael Connelly (Author talk) Tuesday, Nov. 3. 6:30 p.m. Sold out. Oxford Exchange, Tampa Author Happy Hour with Amira Bundy Tuesday, Nov. 3. 4 p.m. No cover to attend with RSVP. Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg. bookandbottlestpete.com Author Series: James Chapin, “Ride South Until the Sawgrass” Wednesday, Nov. 4. 6 p.m. Free. Wild Space Gallery, St. Petersburg. floridawildlifecorridor.org Beach Book Club: “Before I Forget” by Tory Henwood Hoen Wednesday, Nov. 4. 4 p.m. No cover with registration. Beach Library, Clearwater. myclearwaterlibrary. com Book Discussion: “Killers of a Certain Age” by Deanna Raybourn Thursday, Nov. 5. 11 a.m. No cover with registration. Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library, Tampa
continued on page 43
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Out and about: Events happening in Tampa Bay (cont'd) continued from page 41 Dante’s Peak
Book Discussion: “None of This is True” by Lisa Jewell Thursday, Nov. 5. 2 p.m. No cover. Bloomingdale Regional Public Library, Valrico October Book Club: “Friday Black” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Thursday, Nov. 5. 6 p.m. $25 & up. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. mfastpete.org Off the Page: Robert K. Wittman, New York Times bestselling author of “Priceless” Thursday, Nov. 5. 6 p.m. No cover. Selby Library, Sarasota
PACIFIC WESTERN PRODUCTIONS
COMEDY
Dustin Nickerson Thursday, Oct. 29. 7 p.m. $27. Funny Bone Comedy Club, Tampa F*cked Up Spelling Bee Thursday, Oct. 29. 8 p.m. $10. Gimmick Comedy Club, Tampa Don “DC” Curry Select times FridaySaturday, Oct. 30-31. $27. Funny Bone Comedy Club, Ybor City New on Netflix Improv Show Friday, Oct. 30. 7:30 p.m. $10. The Commodore, Ybor City The Christi Show Sunday, Nov. 1. 6 p.m. $38 & up. Funny Bone Comedy Club & Restaurant, Ybor City Daniel Sloss Sunday, Nov. 1. 7 p.m. $51.25 & up. Tampa Theatre, Tampa Sheryl Underwood Wednesday, Nov. 4. 7 p.m. $37. Funny Bone Comedy Club, Ybor City Herman Wrice Thursday, Nov. 5. 7 p.m. $27. Funny Bone Comedy Club, Ybor City
FILM & TV
The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Hell on Heels live shadow cast Friday, Oct. 30. 7 p.m. $15. Bilheimer Capitol Theater, Clearwater The Only Living Pickpocket in New York Select times and dates FridayThursday, Oct. 30-Nov. 5. $10 & up. greenlightstpete.com Acid Lakes and Bad Takes: Dante’s Peak with Dr. Mel Rodgers Sunday, Nov. 1. 1 p.m. $5. Corner Club, Seminole Heights. tasteofscience.org The Fish Don’t Care When It Rains (Screening & Q&A) Tuesday, Nov. 3. 6:30 p.m. $14.64 (UT students free with ID). Charlene A. Gordon Theater at Ferman Center for the Arts, University of Tampa, Tampa Tampa Animation Festival ThursdaySunday, Nov. 5-8. No cover. Ferman Center for the Arts at Charlene A. Gordon Theater, Tampa. tampaanimationfestival.com
LEARN
History Hour with Keith Law Thursday, Oct. 29. 12 p.m. No cover. Clearwater Main Library, Clearwater. myclearwaterlibrary.com Loyalty and Allegiance During the American Revolution Thursday, Oct. 29. 7 p.m. No cover. John F. Germany Public Library, Tampa Art in Action: Painting Water & Sky with Paula Roy Friday, Oct. 30. 1 p.m. $10 suggested donation. DRV Gallery, Gulfport. drvgallery.com Cemetery Walking Tour Saturday, Oct. 31. 10 a.m. $25. Oaklawn Cemetery, Tampa. tampabayhistorycenter.org
Florida Friendly Landscaping - Small Steps Forward Monday, Nov. 2. 11 a.m. No cover with registration. Riverview Public Library, Riverview Greater Good Gathering: Low Cost and Free Healthcare for Actors, Artists, Gig Workers Monday, Nov. 2. 6:30 p.m. No cover. Powerstories Studio, Tampa. powerstories.com
MARKETS & RETAIL
Wicked Little Market Friday, Oct. 30. 5 p.m. No cover. Wicked Hands Salon, New Port Richey. salonjoy.glossgenius.com Tampa Craft Festival on Water Street Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 31-Nov. 1. 10 a.m.–5 p.m. No cover. Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park, Tampa. artfestival.com Largo Sunday Farmer’s Market Sunday, Nov. 1. 10 a.m. No cover. Horizon West Bay, Largo. playlargo.com LocalPalooza Sunday, Nov. 1. 10 a.m. No cover. USF St. Pete Campus, St. Petersburg. usf.edu
NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS
In-Person Town Hall With David Jolly Friday, Oct. 30. 6 p.m. No cover with registration. Bethel Community Baptist Church, St. Petersburg. pinellas-dec.solidarity.tech
Hillsborough County Democratic Women’s Club Monthly Meeting Monday, Nov. 2. 6:30 p.m. No cover with registration. Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, Tampa. hillsboroughcountydemocraticwomensclub.com Election Night Watch Party with Karen Perez Tuesday, Nov. 3. 6 p.m. No cover with registration. Stonewood Grill, Tampa. newtampademocrats.com Central Pasco Democratic Club November Meeting Wednesday, Nov. 4. 5:30 p.m. No cover with registration. Meadow Pointe I, Wesley Chapel. pascodems.com
PRIDE
Halloweeb Party Saturday, Oct. 31. 8 p.m. $10. The 863 House, Lakeland (DM @triplembookinglive on Instagram for address) Halloween Party & Drag Show with Alexis De La Mer, Natasha De La Mer, & Demi De La Mer Saturday, Oct. 31. 8 p.m. $10. Heights Lounge, Tampa. Sexxc Spooky-Ween Saturday, Oct. 31. 10 p.m. $10; $15 for men. Mad Chiller World, Tampa
SPORTS
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Winnipeg Jets Thursday, Oct. 29. 7 p.m. $32.94 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
Anchors & Irons Invitational Charity Golf Tournament Friday, Oct. 30. 12 p.m. $175 & up. Cove Cay Golf Club, Clearwater The Final Flockdown: Tampa Roller Derby Championship Friday, Oct. 30. 6:30 p.m. $20. Skateworld Tampa, Tampa. tamparollerderby.net South Florida Bulls Football vs UAB Blazers Saturday, Oct. 31. 12 p.m. $25 & up. Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons Sunday, Nov. 1. 1 p.m. $69.54 & up. Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Orion180 Insurance Tip-off Classic Monday, Nov. 2. 6 p.m. $53.25 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa South Florida Men’s Basketball vs. Charleston Southern Monday, Nov. 2. 7 p.m. $18.55 & up. Yuengling Center, Tampa South Florida Women’s Basketball vs. Furman Monday, Nov. 2. 5 p.m. $13.79 & up. Yuengling Center, Tampa Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Detroit Red Wings Tuesday, Nov. 3. 7 p.m. $32 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Chicago Blackhawks Thursday, Nov. 5. 7 p.m. $60.18 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 43
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THU 29
C Heightened Senses: Katara feat. Perception w/They Hate Chance/Skip & the Sentimentals/more Alchemy is never off the table at Heightened Senses, and this month’s edition of the Tampa Heights art party is pretty much magic, musically at least. The gathering always features an outdoor market, tunes on the back patio, and a show inside. October brings a major treat, however, when Tampa gets a rare appearance from They Hate Change, the homegrown rapduo that ignored the rules of hip-hop on the way to being signed by revered indie imprint Jagjaguwar. The duo has since launched the Best of the Bay-winning Sector.FM online radio station and built out a Clearwater DIY space, Learning. Icing on the cake comes in the form of drum and harp centric duo Katara, which is joined by Bay area rapper Perception. Dance, Modelitos and wine, tacos, baloons, art exhibitions, and tarot round out the program. 7 p.m. No cover. Wave & See Creative Sanctuary, Tampa
FRI 30
C Freakers Ball: The Big Uneasy Twenty years after a benefit to help him following a serious accident, Damon Fowler is once again the focus of a Tampa Bay blues scene coming together to lend a hand. The guitarist and songwriter has been a staple in the Bay area since he first hit the stage at 14 years old, and now, at 47 years old, finds himself recovering from a medical emergency and surgery that landed him in the ICU early this month. Fowler told followers he had another perirectal abscess and that his diabetes is causing blood sugar issues. Upon going home, he found out that he’d need to work on fissure and fistula issues and somehow find enough money to get back on diabetes medication he stopped taking due to high out-of-pocket insurance costs ($1,000 a month for one prescription). In other updates, Fowler shared his trademark positivity, acknowledging the extreme pain and immense gratitude for his family and fans. “I can’t tell you how lucky I am,” he wrote on Oct. 11. “At this time, I’m not able to walk very much…much less play a show. I know this is gonna be an uphill battle. I’m working hard every day to get on the good foot and I cannot wait to get back to playing music for all of you.” A GoFundMe has already surpassed its $25K goal. To help further, Skipper’s Smokehouse, a homebase of sorts for local blues players, is turning its Halloween Freakers Ball into a benefit featuring Fowler’s band—including guitarist RJ Howson, Chuck Riley on bass. Proceeds go towards Fowler’s medical expenses 7 p.m. $19.75. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa
C Zombie Prom: Peace Cult w/WSAB/ NowInColor/Pocketknife/We’re Sweet Girls/MC Adriana Sparkle A robust slate of Halloween concerts awaits live music lovers across Tampa Bay, and it kicks off with this indie-rock prom of sorts. St. Pete’s We’re Sweet Girls DJ collective plays selector, while the Bay area’s favorite bearded queen Adriana Sparkle hosts as the party takes over the Coppertail loading dock. 7 p.m. $19.62. Coppertail Brewing, Tampa
Dana and Alden
SAT 31
C Daikaiju w/Liquid Pennies/Human Kinda A Tampa show from Alabama surf-punk band Daikaiju has become an annual occurrence, but rarely does it ever fall on Halloween. Wear a mask—just like members of the literally fiery rock and roll quartet—and then try and match the kabuki-masked madness it brings to this Seminole Heights brewery. 7 p.m. $25. Magnanimous Brewing, Tampa
ROBB KLASSEN
By Ray Roa
C Emo Night Tampa: Paraless (Paramore tribute) w/Bad Bad Cowboy (Amyl and the Sniffers tribute) After a short summer break, Tampa’s beloved Emo Night series kicks off its 12th year this weekend with a Halloween ritual: an all-covers show where local favorites take on the genre’s most revered bands. Paraless—a supergroup of sorts featuring members of Tampa and Orlando bands like Bad Bad Things, Pet Lizard, and Skeletizer—cover Paramore while "Bad, Bad Cowboy" takes on Australian pub-rock outfit Amyl and the Sniffers. Anything kind of goes on Oct. 31 and having this show at a downtown dive bar known for heavy pours will only add to the madness. 9 p.m. No cover. The Hub, Tampa Nightmare on Channelside: Kodak Black/Meek Mill/DaBaby/Bellygang Kush/Ykniece/Cheeksbossman Gemg/ Baby Drill/Diamond The Body/more People love to complain (rightfully) about Live Nation’s death grip on independent live music. Well here’s a show where an indie promoter actually booked one of the largest venues in town with an ambitious lineup of rap stars. Hip-hop’s most famous MAGA rapper Kodak Black tops the bill alongside “2 Phones” emcee Kevin Gates. Former Roc Nation star Meek Mill rounds out a support bill that includes Tampa’s OG jook god Tom G. 21 Savage was on initial announcements of this gig, but is not on recent promotional material. 7 p.m. $71.05 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa
SUN 01
C Nick Shoulders w/Leonie Evans Tampa gets a dose of shithole country this weekend thanks to Nick Shoulders. The mustachioed Arkansan songwriter released his fifth studio LP Refugia Blues almost a year ago and continues to support the rootsy
collection of Americana that addresses the social issues prevalent in past releases (Home On The Rage, All Bad) while bringing the 37-year-old back to his solo roots (before the arrival of his ace band, Okay Crawdad). U.K folkie Leonie Evans, whose 2016 covers LP Time Capsule Of Songs From Nola is a dose of Southern hospitality, opens the show. 7 p.m. $28.69. Orpheum, Tampa
watching him live his own unique life,” Dana said in promotional materials. Alden agrees. “His emboldened, passionate personality gave us permission to be our own selves, to be unconventional and draw outside of the box.” Texas songwriter Alex Amen, who released a 2026, Laurel Canyon-sounding ass folk gem of an album, Sun of Amen, opens the show. 7 p.m. $26.31 & up. New World Music Hall, Tampa
THU 05
C Doom Gong w/Chaunces Over the last two months, Doom Gong has been on the road playing its weird AF brand of proggyexperimental psych-jazz. On albums like last year’s Megagong (stylized all-caps), the eight-piece outfit weaves together Melotron, more synth, horns and traditional keys with percussion of all stripes and vocals that are less lyrical and more like yet another instrument in the arsenal. Traveling as a septet, the Kentucky band is at the end of the road and supported in Tampa by homegrown jazz outfit Chaunces (led by oddball genius drummer Chance Reynolds). 7 p.m. $23. Magnanimous Brewing, Tampa
C Dana and Alden w/Alex Amen Fresh off its Newport Jazz Festival debut, easy listening duo Dana and Alden has pointed its sails at Tampa. Built around tenor sax player Dana McWayne and drummer Alden McWayne, the Brooklyn sibling band arrives supporting Papa’s Boat, a 51-minute collection of smooth jazz and indie-pop that dips into reggae and bossa nova, too. Recorded partly in London last year, the 15-track outing was inspired by the McWayne’s grandpa, who would adventure on a boat named “Son y Môr” (Welsh for “Sound of the Sea,” according to Concord). “I think so much of what Alden and I are doing comes from just
See an extended version of this listing via cltampa.com/music.
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 45
Scan for tickets
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Taste of Pinellas was once one of the county’s biggest concerts, bringing the likes of KC and the Sunshine Band, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Isaak and Buddy Guy to the lineup. After announcing its return from a 12-year hiatus, Taste of Pinellas has a 2027 concert agenda to share, too.
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Last Monday morning, organizers said Old Dominion—an eight-time Academy of Country Music and seven-time Country Music Association “Group of the Year” winner—will headline the party on Feb. 6. Joining the Nashville country group at Taste of Pinellas is pop songwriter Andy Grammer. A third act is to be announced. Taste of Pinellas has roots in Straub Park and had been held for 26 years at the much larger Vinoy Park. The once annual event was canceled in 2013, citing low attendance in previous years and what organizers described as the “changing landscape” of the local entertainment industry. The festival has been revived to mark the 100th anniversary of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and will happen this spring at Tropicana Field, the first time Taste of Pinellas will be set indoors.
Satsang Thursday, Nov. 12. 7 p.m. $33.89 & up. Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg Cozy In The Black/Thee Liquid Jesus (opening for The Faint) Saturday, Nov. 14. 8 p.m. $39.55 & up. Zodiac Live, Ybor City flowersforpersephone w/ Told Not To Worry/The Shotgun Prodigy/Repeater/ Shinra's Falling Wednesday, Nov. 18. 6 p.m. $17.34. Skatepark Of Tampa, Tampa Hunxho Thursday, Nov. 19. 7 p.m. $50.82. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg The Midnight Cowgirls (opening for The Stray Cats) Tuesday, Nov. 24. 6:30 p.m. $70.25 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater Trippie Redd Saturday, Nov. 28. 7 p.m. $60.10 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg The Casualties w/Bullshit Detector Tuesday, Dec. 8. 7 p.m. $28.69. Orpheum, Tampa Dirty Rotten Imbeciles w/Authors of Fate/Swamp Tooth/Skull Crunch/ Common Bond/Slow Rot/Veneficus Saturday, Dec. 12. 5:30 p.m. $24.61. Brass Mug, Tampa Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol Tuesday, Dec. 15. 7 p.m. $24.04. New World Music Hall, Tampa AJ Ghent & His Singing Guitar Saturday, Jan. 2. 7:30 p.m. $46.50 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg
Other artists that have played Taste of Pinellas include the Blues Brothers, starring Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional, and Colbie Callait. The concerts are included with tickets, which go on sale to the public on Friday, Oct. 30. See more new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below.—Ray Roa
Cold Steel w/Bitter Man/Common Bond/Belly Up/Shiv Saturday, Jan. 2. 7 p.m. $9.90. Orpheum, Tampa Sons Of Cream Friday, Jan. 22. 7 p.m. $45 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Yacht Rock Revue: Primetime Saturday, Jan. 23. 7 p.m. $50.25 & up. Ruth Eckered Hall, Clearwater The Rocket Man Show (Elton John Tribute) Thursday, Feb. 4. 7:30 p.m. $56 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg Foreigner: The Hits Unplugged Tuesday, Feb. 16. 7 p.m. $70.25 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater Braxton Keith w/Carson Peters/Iron Mountain Thursday, Feb. 18. 6 p.m. $49.27. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Little Feat: The Last Farewell Tour w/ Old Crow Medicine Show Sunday, Mar. 5. 5 p.m. $65.50 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater The Interrupters w/The Aquabats/The Mainliners Friday, Mar. 26. 6 p.m. $57 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg 40 Fingers Friday, Apr. 2. 7 p.m. $45 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit w/ Nathaniel Rateliff Sunday, Apr 25. $64.50 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 47
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TAIL
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Wands and needs By Caroline DeBruhl
D
ear Oracle, this Venus in Retrograde has been brutal for me, and I’m really not OK. I’m looking for a serious relationship and have been for a long time, but I’ve had so many past (and current) partners who don’t want to commit to anything. I keep getting my heart broken by these dudes, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why doesn’t anyone want to date me seriously? I know my worth, and I know I’m a giving and loving partner, but I just feel so beaten down. What do the cards suggest I do to fix this?—Retrograde Wreck Cards: Four of Swords, Four of Wands, Nine of Wands (reversed), Knight of Cups, Three of Swords, Nine of Pentacles, Ten of Swords (reversed) Two of Swords Dear Retro, I am so sorry that you are in this position. I spent years in that same position, and I know that it is soul-crushing and it does make you believe that you must be at fault. But it might not be that simple. People who are giving and loving can attract lots of different people, including those who are vulnerable themselves and those who want to take advantage of them. It’s a wide net you’re casting; you’re bound to get some weird fish in there. With the ego-removing Four of Swords, it’s clear this isn’t about you. You’re not doing something wrong; these are just not the partners.
yoga, anything that grounds you in your body and can replenish your physical energy. (Also, maybe see a Western doc for a blood test if you find yourself still depleted.) You might be currently running on empty, Paired with the homemaking Four of Wands, I do think you might need to take some time but you will be able to make it through and off of the dating game and really meditate and revitalize yourself. examine what it is you want—and heal from The Nine of Pentacles is a card of abunthe heartbreak that has put you into this spot. dance—very much the card of the loving and The Nine of Wands, Knight of Cups, and generous partner—as well as a card of self-worth Three of Swords together show that you have and self-sufficiency. You absolutely have what been put through an endurance test when it you need to heal and you do, in fact, have “the comes to relationships. The Nine of Wands is a goods.” You know your worth is high, as you card of both exhaustion and hope; it’s the final should. You have enough energy and love to go push to get over the hill. But if around and care for yourself you have been pushing yourand a partner (but that partself, and pushing yourself and ner needs to give back). are only met with the heartBut it can be hard to see break of the Three of Swords, that if you are currently at Want a free tarot reading? Send your then there is no relief. That is your rock bottom. The Ten questions to oracle@cltampa.com or so incredibly depleting, both of Swords is the intellectual DM @theyborable on Instagram emotionally and physically. end of the story. Whatever Heartbreak and disappointment—both types of you were fighting for is gone, it’s over, you’ve grief-- can literally wipe you out. The rest from lost. This can be a very devastating card, espethe Four of Swords very well could mean physi- cially if it appears due to betrayal. It can feel cal rest as well as an emotional one. like there is no hope out there. I don’t know if it was a singular Knight of Alcoholics Anonymous uses the term “hitting Wands that got you here or a multitude of them, bottom” a lot in their literature and in meetings, but this heartache is deep. If you’re able to, talk- and it’s seen as a necessary step to rebuild a life ing with a therapist might be beneficial to you. in a completely new way. It’s the sincere desire to With all the Swords and Wands in the spread never hit that level of pain again that prompts representing your mind and soul, I do wonder the change. The Ten of Swords can be the same if some physical treatment might help. Maybe way. It can force our hand: we have to confront that’s massage, acupuncture, somatic movement, what is causing this extreme pain. There is hope
ORACLE OF YBOR
at rock bottom. With the only direction being up, even small steps are progress. With all of this paired, I do think there will be a big shift in your life and how you move through it. I don’t exactly know what that would look like, but that change is on the horizon. And as we get to the last card, it’s important to see where you’ve come from. The Two of Swords is a card of balance. It’s the head and heart, bravery and caution, intellect and gut feeling. The key to this Two is to not chop your head off: don’t go back to that rock bottom and don’t stay forever in your Four of Swords sarcophagus. Instead, you will walk that tightrope between hope and caution and, knowing your worth, ideally begin seeing people who also know it. (Where to find these people? I’m not sure. I’ve personally had better luck with Magick than The Apps, but you do what you’re comfortable with.) Right now, however, you need to recover and replenish. This is deep work, and it will take time. Again, if it’s financially feasible, I would encourage you to see a therapist and/or book a massage, and really be kind to yourself. You will eventually build up your stores and be able to step out into that light for love to find you. And I sincerely hope it finds you and brings you someone who is not only not a dipshit, but kind and loving and generous too. Take care, my dear. I wish you the absolute best of luck. See more of Caroline and learn about her services at carolinedebruhl.com.
ANNA MENTE/SHUTTERSTOCK
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 49
Mouths shut By Dan Savage
I
think I’ve developed a crush on my wife’s ex. I’m in my 40s and my wife is older than me. We’ve been together for 15 years. We are both women. Before we dated each other, we dated men exclusively. She has told me a lot about her ex before me. They were together for six years and lived together, so he came up a lot. I was really insecure at the beginning of our relationship and felt really jealous of him. As time went on, I became more secure in our relationship and I stopped thinking about him. They never spoke while we dated. That is until about two years ago, when he called out of the blue to say he was in town and asked if she wanted to meet up for dinner. We already had dinner plans so I told her to ask him to join us. The dinner was pretty awkward, as you could tell he was nervous. He cried at least once and kept asking us if we were happy in our relationship. He shared that night that he and his wife were in couples counseling for the second time. My initial reaction was to be put off by him and the whole experience—too much sharing—and I could still sense sexual tension between him and my wife. She wants nothing to do with him. However, recently I’ve been thinking about him and have realized I think he’s hot. I know he has a big dick. I would love to sleep with him but I don’t even know what he thinks of me from that one dinner. My wife has always said that I could open up our relationship if I wanted to sleep with someone else. She’s not interested in sleeping with anyone else but would be fine with me doing it as long as we discussed it first. However, I’m not sure she meant that she’d give her blessing for me to sleep with her ex. My questions: 1. What do I even do here? 2. Should I just leave it as a fantasy? 3. Should I bring it up to her? 4. Should I contact him? 5. Have I finally lost my mind?—Thinking Really Intensely About Novel Group Love Experience
And while it might help this dude to know your relationship isn’t perfect either—his ex’s partner has struggled with obsessive jealousy and now has a crazy-making crush on someone else—I can’t see how it would help him to know he was the focus of your obsessive jealousy and is currently the focus of your obsessive crush. As for the sexual tension you perceived between your wife and her ex, TRIANGLE, that sounds like projection. After all, you’re the one who wants to fuck this guy, not your wife, who says she wants nothing to do with her ex. And, I’m sorry, but there’s no way for you to act on your desire to fuck this guy—which, again, sounds like an eroticized fear—without getting your wife involved. Luckily for you, TRIANGLE, crushes are almost always a temporary insanity. Like the jealousy that came before it, this obsession shall pass. Pray on it, masturbate about it, wait it out. P.S. I’m such a contrarian that I can’t even resist contradicting myself: If you absolutely, positively can’t resist bringing up the subject of fucking her hung ex with the wife, you could claim to have had an erotic dream about her ex and see how she reacts. Try to be neutral, bemused, and matter-of-fact when you mention your dream. (Don’t make the mistake I detailed in my response to Q6 in the Oct. 6 edition of Quickies available via savage.love!) If the wife reacts with horror, drop it forever. If she sighs and says that she sometimes misses the sex and/ or that big dick of his, you could continue to discuss him (maybe have one or two more dreams to goose the convo along) and see where it ultimately goes. But follow her lead, TRIANGLE, and be prepared to pivot to praying on it, masturbating about it, and waiting it out.
1. Keep your mouth shut. 2. Yes, you should. 3. No, you should not. 4. Abso-fucking-lutely not. 5. Sounds like it. Crushes are a kind of madness and we’ve all been there—we’ve all lost our minds, some of us way more than once—and I honestly don’t think someone who’s never had an obsessive, all-consuming, wildly inappropriate crush can really say they’ve lived. While it sounds like this crush took a long time to bubble up (you only met your wife’s ex once, and that was two years ago), this guy has loomed large in your psychosexual imagination for a very long time. Just as you’re not the first person to lose their mind like this, you aren’t the first person whose jealousy transubstantiated to lust. (Yes, yes: We see you, aromantic people, and you are valid! But even if you’ve never had a mad crush on someone, you’ve surely had a crush on something. Cinnamon rolls? Weighted blankets? Percussion massagers?)
My 11-year-old granddaughter has discovered masturbation. She is in full-on puberty and she has her period but is very much emotionally a child. She uses the family percussion massager for self-stimulation and keeps it in her bed. No one is particularly concerned about the self-stim, but I am concerned about her use of the massager. It is not delicate stimulation and seems designed for back and shoulder massage. My question is, could it be harmful used on her genitalia? I’m thinking her delicate female parts may end up completely desensitized especially since it is used frequently. My daughter-in-law seems unconcerned and my son steers clear of that topic. What do the experts say?—Too Much Intensity
growing up to be sexually healthy adults with fully functional/sensate genitalia. Maybe survivorship bias is at play here—I haven’t spoken to anyone who didn’t survive putting his dick in a vacuum cleaner hose at age eleven, what with them being dead and all—but I’ve heard so many crazy stories, from men and women alike, and I’ve always asked the obvious followup question: “Are you OK now?” (If someone tells me they used the family blender as a sex toy, I’m allowed to ask as many follow-up questions as I want.) And very few reported lasting trauma and/or loss of sensation on account of the banister railings, blenders, rolling pins, washing machines, cucumbers, personal massagers, etc., etc., etc., they experimented with as kids. But I imagine more would’ve reported lasting trauma if their grandmother knew how they were masturbating and decided it was her job to intervene. Also potentially traumatizing: their grandmothers writing to sex-advice columnists about the precise stage of puberty they’re in (fullon is the most serious stage!), whether they were having periods, what the experts might say, etc. Here’s what you do: Say your piece to her parents—that’s a grandmother’s right—and then slowly disappear into the bushes. Worstcase scenario, your granddaughter grows up to be one of the many adult women out there who need the kind of powerful stimulation only a vibrator can provide in order to climax. Since there’s no way of knowing what percentage of those women conditioned themselves to need those powerful sensations during childhood explorations and what percentage would’ve needed those powerful sensations regardless, TMI, your best course of action is to stay out of it. P.S. So, it was a woman who confided in me about sneaking into the kitchen at night when she was a teenager and swiping the blender— just the base, not the pitcher—and taking it to her room, where she would plug it in, turn it on high, and press the side of it between her legs over her sweats. Her mother found the blender in her bed on more than one occasion, and never once asked what she was doing with it… because her mother knew. This is anecdote and not data, I realize, but this woman told me she’s fine now, thanks, she doesn’t require a blender in order to come, and her mother eventually left a vibrator—still in the box — under her pillow. P.P.S. I hope your daughter-in-law, despite seeming unconcerned, is being proactive about talking to her daughter about sexual health, letting her know that it’s normal for kids her age to explore their own bodies in private, and talking to her about consent and how no one else should be touching her body that way. If she’s doing all that, your DIL is doing great. Once you’ve verified the above, you could—one last time—express your concerns about your granddaughter using “the family percussion
SAVAGE LOVE
I’m no expert, TMI, but lots of adults have told me about all the crazy things they used to self-stimulate when they first began exploring their bodies as kids, and almost all report
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massager” to explore and then add: “Maybe you could leave a gentler vibrator designed for self-pleasure somewhere she can find it or put a Hitachi Magic Wand ‘personal massager’ on the same shelf where you keep that percussion monster. And now I’ll butt out!” I’m a bisexual, 28-year-old man in a monogamous relationship with a 26-year-old woman. We’ve been dating for four years. My partner knows I’m bi and is fine with me using solo exploration to get that out, but recently, solo exploration isn’t cutting it anymore. I feel a very strong urge to be with a man again that at times verges on overpowering. My partner is not comfortable with an open relationship of any kind. I don’t want to cheat and lose a good relationship, but I’m also not sure how long I can hold out against these urges. Any advice is greatly appreciated!—Boy Is Getting Usual Yearnings It’s not my place, as a gay man, to tell a bisexual guy how he should experience or describe his own bisexuality—your bisexuality is yours to experience and describe—but letters like yours put me in an awkward position. It’s similar to the position I find myself in when I get letters from lesbians who occasionally fuck with men. When I respond to questions from self-identified lesbians who sometimes fuck with men, BIGUY, I get angry letters from lesbians who don’t fuck with men. There are already way too many straight guys out there who refuse to take “lesbian” for an answer, these angry lesbians tell me, and seeing letters to advice columns from lesbian-identified women who fuck with men encourages these guys to keep hitting on lesbians; it could even cause guys who have been taking “lesbian” for an answer to stop. Being a lesbian is hard enough, these angry (and absolutely right to be angry!) lesbians tell me, without me running letters that seem to confirm a dangerous and damaging stereotype about lesbians: they’re just women who haven’t had the right dick yet. The problem of men who refuse to take “lesbian” for an answer is so great that even lesbians who do fuck with men have written in to tell me I shouldn’t run letters from other lesbians like them. For the record: We should all operate under the assumption that lesbians do not wanna fuck cis men—the overwhelming majority fucking don’t—just like we should all operate under the assumption that bisexual guys are every bit as capable of honoring monogamous commitments as straight guys (only okay at monogamy) and gay guys (no better at monogamy but way better at ENM). The idea that bisexual guys can’t be monogamous—the belief that bisexual guys in monogamous relationships with women eventually cheat because the urge to get with a man will become overwhelming—is a biphobic stereotype that does real harm to bisexual guys who wanna date women. Send questions to mailbox@savage.love!
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 51
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OK, Let’s address the elephant in the room… me.!! I’ve gained 114 lbs in the past few years. My wife never comments on it but basically… I’m having trouble performing. Ladies, I’m trying not to get graphic here but my big gut means we can’t be Husband and Wife. We’ve tried to get creative, but it just doesn’t work!! Online I’ve seen advertisements for special pillows to help make the act easier, but I’m afraid that’s just too damn unsexy!! My question is: Should I just buy the damn thing and surprise my wife? Will that kill the mood? How can I go about this without looking like I’m introducing Orthopedics for love making to the bedroom? Appreciate ya!! Stay safe out there :~)— Signed, Full Heart, Fuller Gut, Can’t Move Today it feels as though hearing about a successful marriage is exceptional. Current dating culture and media practically pass out invitations to easily fulfill your temptation and curiosity. So in a society full of cheating, learning about your beautiful marriage is a nice change of pace. Twenty-seven years of marriage is incredibly rare. Coming from someone whose family has not seen a successful marriage within the past three generations (on either side), I think you should be proud. However, thinking that your performance in the bedroom could be contributing to marital problems is worrisome. Sexual performance or lack thereof could be the beginning of a detrimental crack in what has been a happy relationship. Not to worry though, many people have gained weight throughout their marriages and found solutions. Typically giving advice about health and fitness is out of our wheelhouse but we’ve scoured the internet for a little bit more context on how these pillows work and what benefits could come from them. According to research, these pillows come in all different shapes and sizes and can be an excellent way to supplement if you have mobility issues in the bedroom. And they can be rather discrete. If you’re worried about someone seeing them, tell them you just needed something more ergonomically correct for your aging bones
(you’ve been married for almost 30 years so I’m guessing you’re probably an AARP or Silver Sneakers member too? At the very least I’m sure you know how to play Bridge). However, a pillow won’t resolve issues of low cardio or muscular endurance, which may be connected to your current sex troubles. We always recommend talking to a doctor before you engage in rigorous activity that could put strain on your heart. Now it’s time to address the other elephant in the room. In school I had a grammar teacher who told us that we only have a finite amount of exclamation points to use in our lives. Once we have used our last one, we die. Between your heavy handed use of exclamation points and the extra 114 lbs you’ve been carrying in your gut, you could be on your way out. Not to mention attempting to have sex with your wife could be physically exhausting, and we do not want to have a murder suicide on our hands i.e. you try to fuck your wife, get too worked up, have a heart attack and squash her like a bug underneath your stomach. So the obvious solution is to lose a few pounds before you literally drop them onto her. We’re not the first people to suggest this though so maybe we can think outside of the box for a moment. On second thought, actually, thinking outside the box might be exactly where you’ve fallen short. Have you tried just thinking inside the box? Like with your mouth? This could be one way to keep her happy while you make an effort to get into better shape. Remember FHFGCM, losing a bit of weight could be as simple as cutting out soda and going on a 30-minute walk everyday. This will allow you to not only satisfy you and your wife’s sexual needs but also provide longevity to your marriage and your life. You seem like a nice guy with a wife who loves you. She’ll still love you even if you bring an oddly shaped pillow into the bedroom.—Carly and Claire Editor’s note: It’s happening! After just a couple weeks on stands, readers are sending questions to Carly and Claire, who’re developing ‘Tell Me About It’ as a new, locally-produced column offering alternate responses to the ones Dan Savage presents in his long-running column. Send your questions to rroa@cltampa.com and we’ll forward them over.
cltampabay.com | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | 53
Legal, Public Notices Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www. storagetreasures.com. ending on November 13th, 2026 at 10:00 am for units located at Compass Self Storage 1685 Hwy 17 N Eagle Lake Florida 33839. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at time of sale. All Goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase. Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sale is subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. Unit 1104-1089 Dinah Girardi Unit 2095 Kristopher Williams Unit 2159 Marq Neil Unit 2168 Shema Tucker Unit 3009 Eunice Gomez Unit 3051 Chance Nason Unit 3078 Dionne Ealy Unit 3109 Deanna Dove E407 Sharon Coleman. Run dates 10/29/2026 and 11/05/2026. Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www.storagetreasures.com ending on November 13th, 2026, at 10:00am for units located at: Compass Self Storage 3000 Mulford Rd. Mulberry Fl, 33860 Purchases must be made
with cash only and paid at the time of sale. All goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase. Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sales are subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. 7038-Cachet Mclendon 4016-Charles Gay 5012-Thomas Taylor 5005-Thomas Taylor 5013-Thomas Taylor 8031-John Shireman 4145-Julie Martin. Run dates 10/29/2026 and 11/05/2026. Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www.storagetreasures.com ending on November 13th, 2026 at 10:00 am for units located at: Compass Self Storage 2291 S. Frontage Rd, Plant City, Florida 33563 Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the time of sale. All goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase. Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sale is subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. Unit 1064 Jeremiah Mane, Unit 3097 Alecia Davis, Unit 3208 Paula Turner-McMillian, Unit1051 Christina Carey, Unit 2041 Elizabeth Trice, Unit 2144 Robyn Houser Unit 2073 Nicole Dandelski. Run dates 10/29/2026 and 11/05/2026.
54 | OCTOBER 29- NOVEMBER 04, 2026 | cltampabay.com
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