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SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 (VOL.39, NO.37) • $FREE CREATIVE LOAFING • CLTAMPABAY.COM

THESE TWO CATS WERE LEFT IN A BOX AT THE DOOR OF FRIENDS OF STRAYS.

Turns out, it’s exactly where they needed to be. After weeks of intensive medical care and compassion they healed and found a new home. They’ll never have to live a life without care and love again.

IF YOU WANT MORE PETS LIKE THIS TO HAVE A SECOND CHANCE TO FIND A LIFE OF REFUGE, CARE, AND LOVE: WE NEED YOUR HELP.

SAVE A LIFE THIS SEPTEMBER. DONATE TODAY! www.friendsofstrays.org/love-unleashed or scan the QR code:

2 | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | cltampabay.com

Connect with collectors, galleries & buyers

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artfairtampa.com ART FAIR TAMPA OCTOBER 15-18, 2026 TAMPA CONVENTION CENTER Art Fair Tampa brings together 300+ talented artists from across the country for four days of creativity, inspiration, and community. Explore stunning works across painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, and more — all under one roof at the Tampa Convention Center.

VIP OPENING NIGHT OCTOBER 15, 2026 Be among the first to preview the collection, meet the artists, and acquire works before the doors open to the public. • COMPLIMENTARY WELCOME GLASS OF BUBBLY OR WINE • LIVE MUSIC & ARTIST DEMONSTRATIONS

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Editorial DEPUTY EDITOR/DIGITAL DIRECTOR Colin Wolf STAFF WRITER Valerie Smith FOOD & DRINK CRITIC Kyla Fields FILM & TV CRITIC John W. Allman IN-HOUSE WITCH Caroline DeBruhl CONTRIBUTORS Josh Bradley, Annalise Mabe, Michael Murillo PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Decker SUMMER INTERNS Leif Helland, Liam Oliver (apply for fall and 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

The pool scenes were all filmed at the ‘Casa de Muchas Flores’...

Tampa Bay Journalism Project DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR John T. Fox PARTNER NEWSROOMS Cigar City Sounds, The Gabber, San Pedro Gazette, Sapphic Sun, TB Arts Passport, WMNF News Events and Marketing MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Leigh Wilson SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Jessica Prieto MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Kristin Bowman Circulation

Movies filmed in the Bay area, p. 33.

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The irony of social media is how anti-social it tends to make its users. There’s a cruelty about the public square when it lives online, and in many ways the comments sections give open windows to the worst of humankind (let’s not even start with the bots). It’s not all awful, however. There are people trying to have some kind of discourse on their keyboards, and more than a few of them find their way to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s many profiles. Here are some reactions from social media land, for you, the smart print reader. Thanks for the support.—Ray Roa Pinellas sheriff re-booked migrants to bypass federal law limiting detention time, says report Seems to be a case of violating the spirit of the law while staying within the letter of the law. Had they not closed Alligator Alcatraz ICE would have had a location up to their detention standards to hold her alleviating the “need” to circumvent this federal law.—Dan Elliott

Call us for an appointment: (813) 203-8445 davedeckerphotography.com |

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There’s no argument that this is a lawful detention,” Jennifer Chacón, a professor of law at Stanford University, told ProPublica of the repeat rebookings. So if it isn’t unlawful, what is the issue. PCSO books on the ICE “charges” or holds, so if ICE is re detaining them, PCSO is just housing them!—Hawaii Grimes-Layner I just say thank you to those Pinellas County men and women in uniform !They don’t play and do what they need to so the public can feel safe. Bless them and keep them safe!— Debbie Vankoughnet

Of course he will... because now Flock is obsolete. They have way more options to spy on us now.—Michael Pesavento It’s not about the name or brand….it’s the technology and how it’s deployed. They should only monitor schools and places where kids attend. Thats really the only place the public I think can agree with.— C.P. Persaud Good progress. Yes / he is going to use drones but drones are not fixed continuous monitoring of all people. Drones need to be piloted and operated by a live person - which in general will not happen unless there is an incident to monitor. For all other jurisdictions / so many lawsuits are coming and cops will spend more time protecting cameras than they will fighting actual crime.— Philip Hoffman In win for union, Tampa International Airport will not move forward with privatized TSA Gold+ program We definitely need unions I don’t care what anybody says we need unions to fight for our wages that is deserved—Virginia Singleton

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Good reporting by Pro Publica and CL.—Rochelle A. Reback If you don’t like what he’s doing then don’t vote for him next time. I think it’s great!—Ray Anthony Pasco Sheriff’s Office will begrudgingly end Flock, license plate detection systems Drones are different than FLOCK. Drones can be used in lieu of a piloted helicopter. There is significant risk with helicopters. Polk County Sheriff’s Office lost two deputies in a helicopter crash about a decade ago. If they had a drone back then those two would still be alive and their families would still have their loved ones. Don’t confuse the two.—Dan Jarvis Gonna keep my case of black spray paint in the trunk, in the event this is a lie.—Jennifer Bartlett Matthews

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I was told that they are just swapping them out for the Axon version. They are the makers of the bodycams the officers wear. It is just a switcheroo. Same surveillance—Judy Wilson

AI already does their jobs better, so the clock is ticking. Ten years and these jobs are done.— James Keener We don’t need Trump to privatize our TSA in Tampa. Thank God.—Michele Juaire Kochanik

That sucks! So every time the government shuts down we can’t fly? Privatize, privatize, privatize.—Charles Thompson Nothing like trying to break a union and good jobs with scabs.—Dominick Trascritti People forget that there was private security in place on 9/11.—Greg Sampson Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ends Tampa event when asked about kratom ties Every time I hear him talk, I think, “that’s the voice of American health.”—Maggie Councill DiPietra Unbelievable. Ask anyone who has consumed this drink long term how they’re doing….— Evan Karlinski

SPONSORED CONTENT PRESENTED BY CINDTORO

The Tampa Growth Challenge: How Local Businesses Compete Online in 2026 How Cindtoro Digital Marketing can help Tampa businesses turn visibility into clicks, customers and long-term growth.

id you know as of 2025 about 150 people move to Tampa every day? In fact Tampa has been named one of the fastest-growing economies in America and for good reason, amazing weather, and a thriving local economy. This poses both an opportunity, and a challenge for local business owners. For some it is a recognizable scene: a local business owner getting fewer calls even though you post on instagram and “show up” on Google.” It n e v e r seems to be enough to move the needle. The old playbook of doing the “bare minimum” does not work anymore. Not only do you need to do more but you need to “do more” of the “right” things. Additionally, any and all marketing activities must be aligned with your end goals. What Is Changing in 2026 There are major changes to how businesses get promoted in 2026. Discoverability will make or break your online success without it you are holding yourself back. Ad costs are constantly increasing furthering the need for qualified firms who understand digital ads at a fundamental level and top it all off. AI is now choosing who is the “best fit” for a product or service if your brand does not get mentioned inside of AI search results you are losing new clients fast. The framework it takes to win with online marketing To “win” in the competitive game of online marketing you need to have a few things going for you otherwise you will spin your wheels unnecessarily and hit major roadblocks to achieve your goals. We are going to assume your goals are to increase clients. There is a framework for internet marketing success we have pioneered it over the years. You need the following: Visibility, Trust, Conversions, Retention. If you are successful at covering these four areas you will thrive in the crowded digital world. Visibility: Be easy to find First on our list is visibility. In a nutshell your business needs to be “easy to find” if people cannot find you online you will never be able to gain new customers no matter how great you are. When people search for your business do you show up? Are you on the 1st page of Google at the top? Positions 4,5,6 or lower on the search engine DO NOT MATTER. The only placements that matter are the top three positions, ideally position number one (1) Furthermore, the keywords you are found for need to carry search volume (people actually searching for your product or service via these terms.) In order to gain new business and tap into new markets this will require you to invest into a search engine optimization strategy or SEO

for short. You will need to rank for “service or product related keywords” An SEO strategy will take you at least 3 to 6 months before it starts working. So if you need leads faster we would recommend using a digital ads solution such as paid advertising for those “quick wins” while you wait for the efforts of SEO to pay off. At the end of the day you want to be seen as many times as you can to generate the interest you are looking for. Gain Trust: Be easy to choose Gain Trust: you must be easy to choose via increased trust. With so many competitors in your industry potential clients have numerous options to choose from you must set yourself apart. To beat your competition you must be considered the best - verified by other people if not you will lose to the people with the better product or the better service. Did you know according to Capital One Research, a majority of American consumers read online reviews before making purchases and, reviews influence 93% of consumers’ purchasing decisions. The takeaway? If you want to accelerate your businesses marketing efforts you will need reviews. Create Conversions: Be easy to book Traffic is not enough, you must convert that traffic into leads, or in-person visits. You can have all the traffic in the world but if none of it converts into qualified leads it does not matter. You need to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to get in touch with your business. This means having multiple calls to action (CTAs), contact forms, and other forms of lead capture. The more ways you have for people to reach you the easier it will be for potential clients to do business with you.

Focus on Retention: Don’t start from zero every month You can gain thousands of customers but if you have holes in your bucket you will eventually fail. There is an old saying by Robert Kiyosaki "It's not how much money you make, but how much money you keep.”...A similar principle holds true with your marketing efforts. Retention is the most important item to focus on. You never want to start from zero every month. An “owned audience” will protect you from platform shifts and new marketing changes. Your business needs some type of seasonal check-in client appreciation, or reactivation campaign to keep your company in front of your client base. Our Recommendations For Tampa Business Owners Audit Online Visibility When you search for your business do you come up? You must be found for your products or services. If not you are losing clients to your competitors that do. To fix this, make sure you are using relevant keywords on your site, and in any advertising messaging. Increase Trust Trust is one of the most valuable assets in the world, especially in business. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. Reviews are your key to building the trust you need to excel online. If you do not ask for reviews we would recommend you start doing that today. As you build up the number of reviews it will not only increase your trust with others but also help you convert more traffic into qualified leads.

Capture Interest and Leads Speaking of leads, spend time reviewing your CTAs, and overall messaging. Ensure that they are aligned with your end objectives as a business. If not, you are wasting time and money on your other promotional efforts. Maintain Retention Never start from zero every month. There are only so many clients to go around. Given that the marketing landscape is changing at such a rapid pace it is critical to “own” your audience. The easiest place to start is via an email list, or text message campaign. They are simple to start and something that every business should have. Take Action Today Do not wait for your local tampa competition to beat you to the clients you should have had. Marketing in 2026 takes a strategic, thoughtful approach. Cindtoro stands ready to guide your business to your ideal target audience helping to make you stand out, increase trust and be seen first - even as search engines and ad platforms undergo change. About Cindtoro Cindtoro is a high performance digital marketing agency founded in 2019. We work with businesses who are looking to take their company to the next level using a customized combination of digital & traditional marketing. Our clients range from small, medium, and large companies spread throughout the United States in a variety of industries. Cindtoro is expanding into new markets Tampa is one of them. Learn more about how we can help service your local marketing needs in Tampa Florida. Learn more at cindtoro.com

Walter Moreira President

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 7

Atta bois

Photos by Dave Decker

abor Day is a moment for the working class to celebrate making it another turn on the earth, and a chance for people everywhere to remember that it’s them—not their bosses—that make the world go ‘round. Also, it’s a holiday to just blow off some steam. Swamp Bois, a collective of transmasculine folks doing mutual aid and being badass, gathered last Monday in the yard at St. Petersburg’s Allendale United Methodist Church for its third annual “Lubor Day” wrestling extravaganza where proceeds from entry fees helped grow the Bois’ gender affirming surgery scholarship. See more photos via cltampa.com/arts.—Ray Roa

8 | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | cltampabay.com

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do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from September 10 - 17 Memory walk

CITY OF TAMPA

Every month is Black History Month, and Tampa is an endless well of opportunity for anyone looking to get learned. Fred Hearns, curator of Black history at the Tampa Bay History Center and Tampa’s Black History Museum, is the ultimate resource and he invites the community to East Tampa for a walk though College Hill, one of the city’s most important neighborhoods. “In the late 1800s, Black families began purchasing lots in the area after being promised that a college for Black students would be built nearby. The college never opened, but the community continued to grow. By the late 1920s, more than 5,000 Black residents called College Hill home,” organizers say. The 90-minute tour covers eight city blocks and meets at C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library and will visit Belmont Heights Estates, the little league fields that produced Dwight “Doc” Gooden and Gary Sheffield, plus the more than 100-year-old Memorial Park Cemetery which is the final resting place of many of Tampa’s Black leaders.

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College Hill Black History Walking Tour: Saturday, Sept. 12. 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. $15-$25. C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library, 2607 E Dr. MLK, Jr. Blvd., Tampa. tampabayhistorycenter.org—Ray Roa

Moon rising

Don’t let the machines fool you. Most of the things worth experiencing in the world are still analog. Lots of the good stuff is pretty gay, too. Just look at the New Moon Makers’ Market, self-styled as “st pete’s queerest & dearest market,” the bazaar is back from summer break and ready to kick off its sixth season (timed, obviously to the moon cycle). As previously reported by Tampa Bay Journalism Project publication The Sapphic Sun, to help preserve local flavor, New Moon’s curation prioritizes independent local creators who “reflect the diversity and uniqueness of St. Pete itself, both in medium and in persons. It also only allows vendors who make the products they sell, and vendors can’t use AI in their product creation or marketing." Three more dates—Oct. 11, Nov. 8 and Dec. 13—are set following this weekend.

New Moon Makers Market: Sunday, Sept. 13. 3 p.m-7 p.m. No cover. Allendale United Methodist Church, 3803 Haines Rd. N, St. Petersburg. newmoonmakersmarket.com—Ray Roa Feel the burn

Florida’s longest-running hot sauce festival returns for its 26th year bringing a sizable selection of hot sauces, seasonings, salsas, specialty products and unique retail vendors. The scorching hot sauce festival will move this year from the Largo Event Center to the England Brothers Park, bringing with it vendor hot sauce competitions, wing-eating contests, a pepper-eating challenge, a barbecue competition and a salsa competition. The festival’s fan favorite extreme Lolli Lick-A-Thon contest returns for spicy food lovers to test their Scoville threshold as they lick the hottest lolly pop in the world. Along with the spicy accouterments — and if it’s too spicy to handle — there will be an assortment of food trucks, gourmet foods, snacks and live entertainment for everyone to enjoy. The event has free parking and is family and pet friendly.

I Like It Hot! Festival: Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 12-13. 10 a.m. No cover. England Brothers Park, 5010 Dave McKay Way, Pinellas Park. @ILikeItHotFestival on Facebook—Leif Helland VIA NEW MOON MAKERS MARKET

12 | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | cltampabay.com

See more (and submit your event) @ cltampa.com Fork yeah

After winning the “Food Fight” title in 2025 (pictured), a team of chefs from St. Petersburg will try to repeat on home turf this week. Allelo’s Nick Ocando captains a side featuring some of the most creative minds in the ‘Burg including Tim Lentsch from Juno and the Peacock, plus Chris Astrip of the Black Pearl in Dunedin. Leading Team Tampa in 2026 is Taro Larrea from the new Sapphire supper club who’ll have cooks like Felicia Lacalle of Quiote Tequilaria and Noble Crust’s Fernando Sanchez at his side. They’ll be judged by a five-person panel that includes celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian and his daughter, Anna, during this sampling event and party. Proceeds from the evening go towards Metropolitan Ministries Hunger Relief Network.

Tampa Bay Food Fight: Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m-9 p.m. $135.23. The Coliseum, 535 4th Ave. N, St. Petersburg. tampabayfoodfight.org—Ray Roa DAVE DECKER

Early birds

There are just 50 days until Halloween, but it’s never too early to shit your pants in a haunted house. Howl-O-Scream can help and has added a new scary maze to its offering in 2026 (but please don’t ask anyone there to wipe your ass). “Anaconda: Fear Has No Escape” is new for longtime fans of the fall pastime, in addition to a pair of new scare zones and the “Fiends” live show. Six houses in total are there for guests along with many of the rides that are probably pretty annoying for the animals to hear and feel at night, too.

Howl-O-Scream: Select nights, Sept. 11-Oct. 31. $48.99 & up. 10165 McKinley Dr., Tampa. buschgardens.com—Ray Roa

DAVE DECKER

Wonk-o-clock

As far as political reporters go, there might not be one more prolific than Mitch Perry. Since switching Bay areas more than 20 years ago, the former San Francisco resident has been a staple of the local scene, first on staff at WMNF Tampa, then at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Bay News 9, Florida Politics and now as Senior Writer at Florida Phoenix (full disclosure, this reporter co-hosts a Friday public affairs program on ‘MNF with Perry). This week—under moderation by former Tampa Tribune editor and current Florida Trident contributing editor Tom Scherberger—Perry is part of a panel that will discuss November’s midterms and what they mean for voters, and non-voters, alike. Patró Mabíli, co-host of WMNF’s “Sunday Forum,” is among the panelists along with Donna Davis of the “Surly Voices” program.

Wavemakers Live: Next Thursday, Sept. 17. 7 p.m. $10-$15. The Commodore, 811 E 7th Ave., Ybor City. wmnf.org—Ray Roa VISIT TAMPA BAY

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 13

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7:00 PM: MUSIC: GUTWRENCH COLLECTIVE PRESENTS: A NIGHT OF HARDCORE An incredible lineup of bands, in Tampa for one night only.

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“You can make things happen because you get to unilaterally make all the decisions.” POLITICS

ISSUES

OPINION

The Gualtieri memo

How the Pinellas sheriff became an architect of mass deportation. By Valerie Smith

ou can’t accuse Bob Gualtieri of going with the flow. The Pinellas County sheriff has the rare combination of brains and guts to go against the current and move the needle on nationwide policy. His undertakings are enabled by his legal savvy and the respect held for him by law enforcement and legislators. One of Gualtieri’s most consequential projects over the last decade has been transforming county jails into engines of mass deportation. While his mission has been wildly successful— with hundreds of jails enacting enforcement policies he designed—Gualtieri is often treated as an uncontroversial, common-sense sheriff. The Tampa Bay Times endorsed him in every election. Jails as immigration hotspots might seem like common sense to some. After all, the law is the law. But critics say pushing responsibility from federal governments to local ones diverts local resources, puts legal liability on counties, and erodes trust between immigrant communities and police. Legal scholars argue that it sets up a system where, when things go wrong, local cops can blame the feds and feds can blame the locals. Others have pointed to the brutality of recent deportation initiatives. While Gualtieri says his immigration enforcement schemes focus on “criminal illegals,” some of those swept up by his policy don’t fit in that category. Rosa Patishtan-Gomez immigrated from Mexico on an agricultural visa and was quickly labor trafficked. Indebted to her employer, she was forced to overstay her visa and work 120 hour weeks. Last year, she was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol. Separating her from her breastfeeding 11-month-old, Patishtan-Gomez was booked into the Pinellas County Jail under Gualtieri’s authority and later deported. Even just getting swept up in low-level arrests can separate someone from their family. An analysis by Suncoast Searchlight called it “Florida’s jail-to-deportation pipeline,” and said it’s “one of the main engines of Trump’s mass-deportation push.” Prison Policy Initiative representative Wanda Bertram told Searchlight it "allows federal

immigration enforcement agencies to use jails like a dragnet to find people who are undocumented.” “It’s kind of like shooting fish in a barrel for ICE.” At a time when indiscriminate deportations are separating families and sending people to countries they’ve never been to, it’s worth asking why Pinellas’ sheriff has played such an outsized role in enabling the mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gualtieri’s unique positioning As a Florida sheriff, Gualtieri gets more freedom than most police officials. “One of the greatest things about the job is you can get stuff done,” Gualtieri said during the “Fifty Six” podcast produced by his PR department. “You can make things happen because you get to unilaterally make all the decisions. But one of the worst parts of the job is that you’ve got to unilaterally make all the decisions.” Gualtieri has denied every recent interview request from Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Instead, Fifty Six and other interviews he’s granted are referenced several times throughout this article. Gualtieri described his childhood self as a rule follower with a strong sense of justice. “I have a real sense of right and wrong,” he told Fifty Six. “I really can’t stand wrong. I really hate it when people don’t do the right thing and they do the wrong thing by others.” Perhaps that’s in part because of the integral role cops and counsel played in Gualtieri’s upbringing. His father was a district attorney in New York. His grandfather was a judge, and he told Fifty Six that “everyone” in his family was a lawyer. Gualtieri’s first law enforcement job was as a detention deputy in the Pinellas County Jail. Back then, he told Fifty Six, detention deputies didn’t carry weapons or cuffs. He recalled one of his first tasks at the jail: getting a guy with “mental health issues” to leave his cell. Gualtieri entered unarmed; both men left wearing each other’s blood. He told the hosts of Fifty Six that he doesn’t do much outside of work. He goes to hockey games sometimes, and otherwise does work

LOCAL NEWS

BOB THE BUILDER: Hundreds of jails have enacted policies designed by Sheriff Gualtieri. around the house to avoid “getting yelled at.” He goes to the gym, where he doesn’t listen to music. Even as a patrol deputy, he just listened to police radio. Sheriffs don’t typically write new laws or draft contracts. But Gualtieri—a lawyer who once held the roles of deputy sheriff and general counsel at the same time—gets his kicks from novel legal challenges. “You just have to take the bull by the horns and deal with it,” Gualtieri said during the same episode of Fifty Six. “With me, the buck stops here. There’s no ‘out basket’ to send it to. I just believe in getting it done, just taking care of it. … Just step out of your bounds if you have to. Step out of your lane.” He’s regularly taken initiative since being appointed to office in 2011. He created a mental health diversion facility, shaped school safety police following the Parkland shooting, and has weighed in on national gun laws.

Gualtieri told the podcast that in 2020, he successfully lobbied against the campaign to end qualified immunity. Perhaps his most consequential lane-hopping started when he first decided to tackle immigrant detention. Gualtieri’s first run at immigration law Nearly a decade ago, Gualtieri proposed a legal way to do what the Constitution previously made impossible: keeping someone in jail with no criminal charges. The distinction between being unlawfully present (an “illegal immigrant”) and breaking state law might seem trivial, but it’s important. Immigration is generally a civil matter, like divorces and traffic tickets. It’s typically not punishable with jail time like state crimes are. The Constitution bars imprisonment without a crime. continued on page 17

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 15

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continued from page 15 Since ICE detention is civil and not criminal, detainees lack constitutional protections. They can be held indefinitely and aren’t guaranteed an attorney. That’s why local jails were found legally liable for holding immigrants when ICE requested they do so. In 2016, Gualtieri voted to install Donald Trump as the head of the federal government, where he attempted to turn ICE into a deportation machine. But ICE only had 2,000 beds for detainees in Florida. They continued pushing local sheriffs to open up their jails to ICE detainees, but fearing legal liability, many declined—prompting ICE to create a public list of denied detainer requests. The practice of detaining immigrants in local jails may have died after a few more lawsuits if Gualtieri hadn’t stepped in to find a workaround. In June of 2017, he surprised the National Sheriffs Association with a presentation outlining his plan to allow jails to work for ICE. Physically, the same thing would happen: ICE would ask the jail to detain someone, the jail would say yes, and that detainee would become a part of the jail’s regular population. But on paper, the detainee was in ICE’s custody, not the jail’s. If their detention was deemed illegal, it was ICE who was liable, not the sheriff. Gualtieri presented the unsolicited idea to ICE, and worked closely with the agency to develop specific implementation plans.

In 2019, working closely with federal officials, Gualtieri helped create a new form of 287(g) agreement. The only requirement was an eight-hour online training, and it enabled officers to serve civil immigration warrants. The Warrant Service Officer model is now mandated in every jail in Florida, and is used in over 500 agencies across the country. The anti-sanctuary law Gualtieri is the legislative committee chair and former president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, one of the state’s largest pro-police lobbying groups. FSA gets a significant portion of its budget from police gear markups; it purchases items like police cruisers through negotiated contracts and sells them to police departments with a small markup. While they argue that the scheme saves police time and money, crit-

LOCAL NEWS

Trump’s second term and Gualtieri Gualtieri was reelected without opposition in 2024, the same year Trump was elected to a second term. Gualtieri quickly seized on the renewed drive for mass deportation. “When President Trump took office a month ago and ICE ramped up the detainer process, 26 of Florida’s 67 county jails were unable to honor the immigration detainers that would

SEBASTIÁN GONZÁLEZ DE LEÓN Y LEÓN/SAN PEDRO GAZETTE

Solutions emerge from ‘The Gualtieri Memo’ A few workarounds eventually resulted from Gualtieri’s initial proposal, dubbed “The Gualtieri Memo” by a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups questioning the legality of the practices. One answer was the Basic Ordering Agreement. Usually, a BOA is a standing contract for a government agency to order products at a fixed price. Instead, it was used to order prison stays for immigrants. Another was piggybacking on existing agreements with agencies like the US Marshals Service that allowed federal prisoners to be detained in county jails. Intergovernmental Service Agreements, or IGSAs, are still used in some Florida counties, including Pinellas. Gualtieri also proposed each jail could enter a formal agreement with ICE that deputized individual deputies to enforce immigration law. That program, called a 287(g) agreement, required a weeklong training course. In 2018, he officially launched the plan alongside ICE officials in Pinellas, backed by 16 other sheriffs joining the initiative. Months later, he reassured a crowd at a contentious immigration forum that “if you don’t get arrested and don’t commit a crime, you’ve got nothing to worry about, because it only applies to people that are in the jail.”

police check even during simple traffic stops. Instead of the law just affecting so-called “criminal illegals,” even a broken taillight could land someone in ICE custody. Even in light of this, the since-expanded anti-sanctuary law prevents sheriffs and police departments from scaling back their involvement with ICE. Tampa’s mayor was threatened with removal last year for a policy that prevented victims and witnesses of crimes from being reported to ICE.

HER FLOWERS: Supporters rally for Rosa Patishtan-Gomez. ics say it amounts to taxpayers funding their lobbying efforts. Gualtieri helped draft and advocated for an anti-sanctuary city law in 2019 (alongside a far-right anti-immigrant group). Speaking to the legislature, he said the bill would prevent a situation like in Portland, where an immigrant released from custody “got out and raped a 65-year-old woman,” in Gualtieri’s words. Gualtieri said the law had nothing to do with people who had been in the country for decades and assimilated, becoming productive members of their communities. Instead, he said, it only affects immigrants who have been booked into jail for breaking a law. He didn’t mention that the majority of people detained in jail are still awaiting trial and therefore presumed innocent. After the law was passed, ICE loaded immigration warrants into a database that Florida

keep people like this in custody because there were no 287(g) personnel trained and deputized who could make these immigration arrests because Biden gutted it,” Gualtieri said at a February, 2025, press conference. He said that on day one of the Trump administration, Florida “immediately began” moving forward to get 287(g) agreements signed with the remaining 26 county jails. Since then, his lobbying efforts and position on the newly-created State Immigration Enforcement Council have led to a massive increase in state collaboration with ICE. Gualtieri tried creating a new form of agreement where sheriffs would transport detainees to ICE field offices before their 48-hour holds expired. ICE denied the plan, citing legal concerns.

Other law enforcement leaders often take Gualtieri at his word. In a 2025 email obtained by CL, Gualtieri told Pinellas police chiefs they were required to “do certain things” regarding immigration enforcement or face removal from office by the governor. Within days, all of them signed 287(g) agreements, even though they were not required to do so. This has earned the police chiefs significant pushback from their communities. Pinellas County Jail rebooking An investigation by ProPublica found that the Pinellas County Jail was repeatedly booking immigrants, briefly releasing them into ICE custody, then rebooking them. This reset a 72-hour detention time limit. Gualtieri—known for his hands-on management style, per Fifty Six—said he didn’t know ICE was rebooking immigrants until around October. In a press conference last week, he said he put a stop to it when he found out, but ProPublica found that rebookings continued until the following July. Gualtieri—who told the Fifty Six podcast that lack of transparency in policing breeds “suspicion and contempt”—did not inform the public about a waiver ICE sent that allows the jail to hold immigrants for longer than 72 hours. He also didn’t tell ProPublica about the waiver until five days after their investigation was published. Social media commenters have asked how much Gualtieri was getting paid for the rebooking practice. But housing immigrants is a net loss for the sheriff’s office. While Pinellas gets paid $140 per night for people jailed on behalf of ICE, it costs about $150 to house them, according to the sheriff’s FY2026 budget presentation. Investigation prompts some backlash The ProPublica report came days before Gualtieri hosted a press conference to defend unpopular Flock cameras. Afterwards, he fielded questions about the rebookings. Outside of the press conference, Conni Berns held a sign decrying ICE as a murderous agency. She lives two minutes from the office where Gualtieri conducts his affairs. “I was born in Germany during the bombing of Berlin,” Berns told CL. “I was very small. I remember bombs, I remember sirens. … I always knew what the Germans had done to millions of Jews, and it left me with an intense pain.” Berns fears that future generations will feel similar guilt over ICE’s treatment of immigrants today. Thomas Kennedy, an analyst with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, told CL that Gualtieri helps sanitize deranged-sounding rhetoric that often comes from those supporting the same policies he boosts. continued on page 19

“With me, the buck stops here.”

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THERE WERE SIGNS: Anti-ICE demonstrators in St. Petersburg. continued from page 17 “When there’s a committee hearing, they need to cover themselves with a rational voice,” Kennedy said. “So they’ll pull out Sheriff Gualtieri in the committee. And he’ll come in with his uniform steamed, looking very professional with his gun, and he’ll go on talking in very technocratic terminology about the application of these contracts.” Kennedy also said that Florida policy influenced by Gualtieri often goes national. “So Florida serves as this laboratory,” he told CL, “and he’s one of the evil scientists within it.”

And one study by the libertarian CATO Institute found that regions with 287(g) agreements didn’t have lower crime rates, but that they did have higher numbers of assaults on police officers. The left-leaning Center for American Progress says that immigrants, even ones who are not lawfully present, contribute to the economy more than they burden it. They also highlight that many arrive in the US because conditions in their home countries were hostile, and they simply needed a better place to live faster than the legal system could offer. Even the Center for Immigration Studies—an antiimmigration think tank founded by self-proclaimed eugenicist John Tanton, a man the Southern Poverty Law Center called “the racist architect of the modern antiimmigrant movement”—warns against arresting victims of crimes. Gualtieri’s refrain to critics of ICE policy is often passing the buck, telling them to “talk to congress.” While it’s a strategy he’s found useful, he also believes trying to get congress to budge is useless. Guns and immigration, he told Fifty Six, are the two issues congress will never move forward on because of their divisive natures and the filibuster. Now that Gualtieri is facing backlash, immigrant advocates like Berns hope he’ll have a change of heart. “It is actually a physical pain to me,” she told CL. “I feel for the many people that are being mistreated cruelly, inhumanely. And I almost feel that if habeas corpus doesn’t represent them, then it can’t represent me. We’re all in the same boat.”

LOCAL NEWS

The reasoning behind Gualtieri’s immigration stance Gualtieri didn’t respond when CL asked for his comment on this article. But he’s spoken publicly about the reasoning behind his tough-on-immigrants policies. Gualtieri said that 287(g) agreements make the community safer. Crime and its causes are connected in complex ways, so that’s a difficult statement to prove or disprove. But evidence suggests civil immigration enforcement does very little to impact local crime rates. Gualtieri has pointed to individual incidents where immigrants with deportation orders have committed crimes. But a National Institute of Justice-funded study found that immigrants lacking legal resident status commit less than half as much crime as natural-born citizens. A study by a left-leaning think tank found that cities with sanctuary policies had lower crime rates and greater economic strength. They attributed the decreased crime rates to witnesses and victims who are immigrants feeling more comfortable working with police.

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Diamond life

Billionaire Rays owner used private jet to take a Jacksonville councilman to a game.

acksonville City Council President Nick Howland hopped on a billionaire real-estate developer’s private jet on Aug. 30 to attend a Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field, a trip that Howland, when asked by the Florida Trib about the excursion, said was connected to his political committee. Howland joined Patrick Zalupski, the founder and chief executive officer of Jacksonvillebased Dream Finders Homes, on his plane for the game, along with others. A person spotted Howland at the private terminal where Zalupski’s Gulfstream G280 took off. Zalupski, also appointed to the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees by Governor Ron DeSantis, bought the professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg last year and recently secured an agreement to build a new stadium in Tampa. Zalupski and his company employ several lobbyists registered with Jacksonville City Hall. He was also an advocate for City Hall’s financial investment in a planned UF graduate campus in downtown, to which city officials committed millions of dollars worth of public land and $100 million in direct support. According to publicly available flight data, Zalupski’s corporate jet took off from Jacksonville International Airport Sunday morning, spent 40 minutes in the air, and landed at St. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport. The jet, registered to a company connected to Dream Finders Homes, returned to Jacksonville later that evening. Howland told the Trib that he attended the game “to help raise funds for my political committee, Florida Freedom PAC.” He declined to share more specifics about the fundraiser but repeated that “it will all be disclosed in the committee’s finance reports as required by Florida law.” It’s unclear why Howland decided to hold a fundraiser hours south of Jacksonville. Howland, and other elected officials in Florida, are prohibited from accepting gifts valued at more than $100 from lobbyists or their employers. Florida’s lax campaign finance laws allow elected officials to use their political committees – which can receive donations in unlimited amounts – to pay for junkets as long as they are connected to some kind of campaign activity, like a fundraiser. In such a case, elected officials can price the seat on a private plane as an economyclass seat on a commercial airline, effectively discounting such trips by thousands of dollars.

Zalupski himself has two lobbyists registered with the City of Jacksonville, while Dream Finders Homes has employed six lobbyists with different firms registered with the city, including former Mayor Lenny Curry, who was also in St. Pete for the game, according to his social media posts, and Curry’s former chief of staff, Jordan Elsbury. Controversy around travel has been a recurring theme for years in Jacksonville politics. When mayor, Curry often financed his travel with his standing political action committee, partially funded by the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Gifts given directly to the elected official have to be disclosed, but no gift disclosure is required if given to a committee associated with the official. Any reimbursements for travel would show up in the committee’s expense reports. Zalupski did not return multiple requests for comment. Matt Schellenberg, a former Jacksonville City Council member, said he wouldn’t have taken a private plane during his elected official days but would have instead traveled the nearly four-hour trip by car. “He’s supposed to be a leader,” he said of Howland. “We’re in a political environment where everything is suspicious, and this, in my opinion, looks very suspicious that he didn’t do it in the open.” Using his political committee to pay for the excursion with Zalupski “actually sounds worse” than just paying out of pocket, the former council member told the Trib. “What you’re going to have to do is get better council people. Period. I don’t think the law will change what people do behind the scenes,” Schellenberg said. “You have to depend on elected officials to be as transparent as they can be. No law is going to change that.” Molly Farrar is a Report for America corps member and The Florida Trib’s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter. She can be reached at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org. This article first appeared on The Florida Trib and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The Trib is a nonprofit newsroom producing high-impact government accountability and investigative journalism in the public interest. The Trib’s mission is to shine a light on systemic problems and solutions, hold those in power accountable, and focus on undercovered topics through collaboration with other news organizations across Florida.

LOCAL NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

By Molly Farrar/The Florida Trib

LOBBY HOBBY: Patrick Zalupski and his company employ several lobbyists registered with Jacksonville City Hall.

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After two years of renovations, St. Pete’s Historic Manhattan Casino finally reopens

fter closing its doors in 2022, the Historic Manhattan Casino in St. Petersburg is finally ready for its debut. The space, which once hosted some of the most famous Black jazz and blues performers back in the day, will open its doors at 642 22nd St. S on Sept. 19 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony runs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and will include a rededication of the Elder Jordan statue, who was the 1925 founder of the Manhattan Casino, originally named Jordan Dance Hall. Hosted by Mayor Ken Welch, the marked occasion will also have an original poem read by City Laureate Denzel Johnson-Green, live music and the unveiling of a 14-by-23-foot mural on the casino’s exterior by artist Egypt Hagan. The space will be available to the public to rent for live music, weddings and other community celebrations. “The reopening of the Manhattan Casino honors the Deuces legacy while creating new space for arts, culture and economic opportunity,” said Mayor Welch in a press release. “We are thrilled to welcome the community back to this historic venue and remain committed to continuing the important work of investing in the Deuces Corridor.” After being closed for four years, City Council approved $4 million in 2024, plus a state grant of over $1 million, for a total of over $5 million to redesign the space. The St. Petersburg landmark now includes a newly refurbished first floor event space, featuring a guest lobby, a conference room, a green room, as well as a bar and kitchen. The second floor added new drapery, a raised ceiling and refinished floors, creating more than 4,000 square feet of event space to accommodate 180 guests for seated events or 300 with auditorium-style seating. After the ceremony, the city will have “Deuces Day Out,” where residents are invited to Deuces Corner Park for refreshments and music sponsored by The Burg Bid. There will also be free admission as part of free museum day at the Woodson African American Museum of Florida.

Co-owner of Armature Works wants to bring a Trader Joe’s to Seminole Heights One of Tampa’s most prominent local developers wants to bring a popular, private-label, grocery store to his neighborhood. Armature Works co-owner Adam Harden is currently pushing to bring Trader Joe’s fourth Tampa Bay location to Seminole Heights. It all started this summer with a mysterious “Hey Joe” campaign, which so far includes a dedicated website, social media posts and even physical signage in the neighborhood. Last week, Harden told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he’s the person behind the effort. He and his kids, along with the local landscaping company J. Macias Tree Services, volunteered last Saturday to help put up a banner at the old Save A Lot location on Hillsborough Ave. The banner, showing a coyote playing guitar along with the phrase,“Hey Joe! Bring Trader Joe’s to Seminole Heights,” features a QR code linking to an online petition. Harden has not yet told CL how many people have signed on. The Save A Lot, located at 305 W Hillsborough Ave., closed last July. But Harden’s AMH Family Holdings LLC, together with construction lawyer David Harper’s Millers Marina Holdings LLC completed a $3.3 million purchase of the property last month, according to property records. Hardens’s newly-formed Sustaining New Heights LLC owns the parcel. After speaking to the community, Hardens says the neighborhood chose a Trader Joe’s. “Rather than quietly putting up a “For Lease” sign, we wanted to ask the neighborhood what it wanted,” Harden told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “The response was immediate that people wanted another grocery store, and Trader Joe’s was overwhelmingly the name we kept hearing.” For decades, the former Save A Lot location has hosted various, now shuttered, grocery stores, which is why Harden feels the 14,500-square-foot property is ideal for a TJ’s. “We’re trying to preserve the 65-year grocery store that’s been at the edge of our

CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR

By Leif Helland

FOOD NEWS

DEUCES: A St. Pete icon re-opens this month. neighborhood,” Harden said. “It opened in 1960 as a Carnival Food and was changed into a Kash n’ Karry in 1963, and later became a Save A Lot. Understanding that it was going vacant, we thought it was important that our neighborhood maintain a grocery store.” Asked about the joke that a Trader Joe’s is the final gentrification boss for a neighborhood, Harden called BS. Seminole Heights, he said, has produced some of the city’s most notable citizens, including mayors and the principal people who have buildings named after them on Franklin Street and Ybor City. “I think we try to focus on quality urban development, and in this instance, it’s four blocks

from my house,” Harden said. “The nature, the brand of the grocery store, it’s going to save a 65-year-old grocery store location is gentrification? I just disagree with that.” Harden, who loves the teeny tiny avocados and seeded bread at TJs, also said that if Trader Joe’s doesn’t end up choosing to lease the location, he will look to other grocery stores. “If we are unable to get Trader Joe’s attention, then we would need to move on and look at other grocers that are active in the market,” said Harden. The location would be within six miles of another Trader Joe’s location at 3808 W Swann Ave. in South Tampa.

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 27

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The menu: Food and drink event happenings in Tampa Bay

COURTESY

Sorta Pretty Good is hosting its second Salsa con Ron Latin dance party featuring Rum & Coke, the three-person Afro-Caribbean all-vinyl DJ collective playing music from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Think of the kind of tunes that spark a core memory that makes guests say: “I haven’t heard this song since I was at my grandma’s,” in the best, nostalgic way. Kress Contemporary once again opens its beautiful doors, atriums and balconies overlooking Ybor City’s old bricks to bring people together for a day party full of music, dancing, dominoes, food by Chicken and Pig, along with plenty of margs and mojitos to go around. The DJ collective entrusted with spinning the good stuff is renowned in its world, holding one of the longest running residencies in Miami, happening monthly at Dante’s for the past five years. “They’ve played VIP parties at the World Cup, and this last one we did at the end of May was their first time coming to Tampa” Sean O’Brien, one half of Sorta Pretty Good, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “They tag in and out and play for five hours straight. You name it, they can do it.” On a big open balcony that holds 30-40 people, people from all walks of life—from 18-year-old kids to folks in their 70s—were vibing, playing dominoes, moving, grooving, and having a good old time.

Sandra Aguilar-Carson, baker and owner of WeVegan Cafe and a regular at Iroko Dance Academy told CL: “This is literally like a Latin party.” Aguilar-Carson’s girlfriends from the Latin dance studio showed up and asked her: “Where did you find these guys?” after hearing the collective’s deep cuts they were pulling out at the last one. “It’s like a house party at your aunt’s house with good food, good drinks, and open windows,” she added. Speaking of food, new joint Chicken and Pig (of Ichicoro’s Noel Cruz and King of the Coop’s Joe Dodd) will be offering up lechon sandwiches and beans and rice for anyone looking to grab a bite. “This particular event is really special,” Effren Denson, Sorta Pretty Good’s other half, told CL. “It’s really something different. And it’s important right now, especially for Ybor. Ybor’s kind of got this cloud hanging over it with the closing of Crowbar; I love Ybor during the day. And to find this beautiful space, with its huge balcony and two atriums, with these three incredible DJs, and everybody showing up to dance, eat and enjoy, it’s all smiles.” “Last time we sold-out,” Aguilar-Carson said. “People were texting and calling us the day of, but we couldn’t get them in.” The dance party starts at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12 and runs until 9 p.m.

30 | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | cltampabay.com

Advance tickets are $15 and day-of tickets are $20. See more food & drink events coming to Tampa Bay from Sept. 13-17 below.—Annalise Mabe

Restaurant Ebbe: Ten Michelin-Star Chefs Dinner Wednesday, Sept. 16. 6 p.m. $1495 & up. Restaurant Ebbe, Tampa. chefebbe.com

Drag Queen Brunch Sunday, Sept. 13. 10 a.m. Sold out. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

September Blind Wine Tasting Battle Wednesday, Sept. 16. 5:30 p.m. $32.90. Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg. bookandbottlestpete.com

Nonna Summer Supper Sunday, Sept. 13. 12:30 p.m. $80 & up. Bernini of Ybor, Ybor City. berniniofybor.com It’s All Greek to Me! Greek Wine Tasting Monday, Sept. 14. 6 p.m. $43.43. Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg. bookandbottlestpete.com Mad Hatter Tea Party & Treats Tuesday, Sept. 15. 5:30 p.m. $55. Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg. imaginemuseum.com Tampa Bay Food Fight Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m. $135.23. The Coliseum, St. Petersburg. tampabayfoodfight.com Made in Market: Pizza Class Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m. $65. Market at Tampa Edition, Tampa. editionhotels.com Peruvian Cooking Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m. No cover; waitlist open. Largo Public Library, Largo. largopubliclibrary.org Appy Hour Cooking Class – Taco Party Wednesday, Sept. 16. 6 p.m. $55. Foodie Labs, St. Petersburg. thefoodielabskitchen.com

Where in the Vino: Central Europe at Steelbach Wednesday, Sept. 16. 6:30 p.m. $150. Steelbach at Armature Works, Tampa. armatureworks.com From Hive to Bite: A Honey Tasting & Flight of Bites with Café Clementine x Noble Nectar Apiaries Thursday, Sept. 17. 5:30 p.m. $40 & up. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. mfastpete.org Night Out Cooking Class - Modern Greek Mezze Thursday, Sept. 17. 6 p.m. $95. Foodie Labs, St. Petersburg. thefoodielabskitchen.com Our Lady of Guadalupe Wine Dinner Thursday, Sept. 17. 6:30 p.m. $95 & up. Birch and Vine, St. Petersburg. thebirchwood.com Taste of Grand Central: Cheers to 100 Years Thursday, Sept. 17. 6 p.m. $100. Coastal Creative, St. Petersburg. coastalcreativetv.com

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MOVIES

THEATER

ART

CULTURE

Up to speed

17 movies you probably didn’t know were filmed in Tampa Bay.

ampa Bay History Center’s new exhibit, drug trafficking network. You’ll see a ton of “Cinema in the Sunshine State,” opens this familiar local spots, like Alpine Liquors, the month, tracing Florida’s history in the movie Franklin Exchange building, since-shuttered industry. Running through March 21, the dis- Cephas’ Hot Shop, the Tampa Riverwalk, the play utilizes original movie posters and lobby Tampa Theatre, Tampa International Airport, cards going back to the 1920s and also celebrates the Aloft Tampa Downtown, Le Meridien Tampa, the Tampa Theatre’s upcoming centennial with Columbia Restaurant, and more. artifacts from the historic theater’s history. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar With photogenic spots like Ybor City, Children (2016) Locations: St. Petersburg, Pinellas County beaches, an industrial port, Largo, Tampa One of two films Burton has opted and our historic neighborhoods, it shouldn’t to film in Tampa Bay, the main character’s house, be too shocking to learn that the Tampa Bay and all its peculiarity, can be found in Largo. Plus, region has hosted some pretty big film studios. you’ll see the Gandy Bridge, shots of downtown Over the years, directors like Ron Howard, Tampa, the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, and shots Tim Burton, Alfonso Cuarón and more have around Sun City Center, Gibsonton and Ruskin. chosen Tampa Bay as the backdrop to tell their Sex Ed (2014) Locations: Downtown stories. Here you’ll find some of the more memo- Tampa, The Hub, Sacred Heart Academy, rable films shot in our backyard, and a few newer Sarasota, Lakeland Tampa saw some love ones you should definitely with this film (the preput on your watchlist. miere was even held at Zola (2020) the Studio Movie Grill in Locations: Tampa, St. University Mall), and as Exhibit opening: Petersburg, St. Pete you can see, downtown’s Cinema in the Sunshine State Beach, Largo In 2015, The Hub gets some solid

LOCAL ARTS

Next Saturday, Sept. 19. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $18.95 A’Ziah King composed screen time. Watch Tampa Bay History Center. 801 Water St., Tampa a Twitter thread telling Haley Joel Osment play a tampabayhistorycenter.org a personal story about first-year, virgin teacher her life during a 48-hour in an inner city middle period in Tampa Bay. The thread went viral, so school (Sacred Heart Academy), who is strugmuch so that King’s story is now a professionally- gling to teach teenagers sex ed. produced movie, titled “Zola.” The film was shot Spring Breakers (2013) Locations: St. in Tampa Bay and features a variety of well- Pete Beach, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, known locations, like the Atlantis Gentlemen’s Treasure Island, and Gulfport Starring Club, The Ranch House Grill, Publix at Dolphin James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Village Shopping Center, the Westshore Grand Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Gucci Mane, Tampa, the Dolphin Beach Resort in St. Pete Spring Breakers mostly shot in the St. Pete Beach, Alpine Liquors, and more. Beach and Sarasota areas. You’ll see a lot of Fear of Rain (2020) Locations: Tampa, familiar spots, like the Undertow Beach Bar, St. Petersburg This psychological horror film The Molloy, Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Ringling put Tampa, and much of Seminole Heights, front College of Art and Design, New College, B & M and center. Besides Harry Connick Jr., Madison Country Cooking, and more. Iseman and Katherine Heigl, you’ll also see Magic Mike (2012) Locations: St. Pete quite a bit of downtown Tampa, Julian B Lane Beach, Ybor City Channing Tatum was literRiverfront Park, Davis Islands, Hillsborough ally a male stripper in Tampa in his younger High School, Oaklawn Cemetery, and more. days, and this film finds a fictional version of The Infiltrator (2016) Locations: himself and Matthew McConaughey stripping all Downtown Tampa, St. Pete Beach and over town. There are plenty of familiar locales Gulfport Set in Florida, circa 1986, Robert in this film, including The Bricks Ybor, Amalie Mazur (played by Bryan Cranston) is sent under- Arena, tons of shots of downtown Tampa, Fred cover attempting to infiltrate Pablo Escobar’s Howard Park in St. Pete, and others.

A24

By Colin Wolf

PULL THE THREAD: One of Twitter’s most epic posts became a Tampa-centric movie, ‘Zola.’ The Punisher (2004) Location: Tampa A classic Marvel comeback tale, Frank Castle (played by Thomas Jane) will stop at nothing to avenge his family, who was brutally murdered, and apparently this involved kicking ass all around Tampa. You’ll noticed a ton of Tampa spots like Fort DeSoto Park, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Honeymoon Island, and the Port Tampa Bay silos (visible from the Selmon Expressway) were used as his hideout. Ocean’s 11 (2001) Location: St. Petersburg The Sunshine City makes a brief but memorable cameo in Steven Soderbergh’s classic remake of ‘Ocean’s 11.’ The Derby Lane dog track is where Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) tries to convince Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner) to come out of retirement and join the team in their upcoming Las Vegas heist. China Moon (1993) Locations: Lakeland, Bartow, Tampa Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe, and a young Benicio del Toro star in this murder mystery about a homicide detective who has an affair with a woman who accidentally kills her abusive husband. The film shows quite a bit of Polk County, including Palm Court restaurant, Clipper Barber Shop, and Brown’s Billiards Cop and a Half (1993) Location: Tampa Directed by Henry Winkler, this early-’90s buddy cop-comedy starring the late actor and onetime Tampa Bay Bandits owner Burt Reynolds was shot pretty much all over Tampa, and features a fantastic skateboard chase scene down Franklin Street. Also, look out for the D.W. Career Center and a fantastic Port Tampa Bay speed boat chase. Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) Location: St. Petersburg A week before retirement, police detective Robert Murtaugh (played by Danny Glover) is roped into an important case with his partner Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson), and you know it all ends with the famed Soreno Hotel in downtown St. Pete getting blown to bits.

Goodfellas (1990) Location: ZooTampa Goodfellas was mostly filmed in New York City, but early in the film the mob classic also features the “Tampa City Zoo,” aka ZooTampa (then called Lowry Park Zoo). You’ll recognize the lion habitat as the same place where Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro dangle a guy upside down. Edward Scissorhands (1990) Locations: Lutz, Lakeland The goth classic “Edward Scissorhands” was filmed all around Tampa, and the brightly-colored neighborhood from the film can be found in Lutz (though the pastels paint job is log gone). You’ll also noticed the shopping mall in Lakeland, and fun fact, the original home from the movie was for sale back in 2022. Great Expectations (1998) Locations: Fort De Soto Park, Sarasota Director Alfonso Cuarón’s adaption of the classic novel used the famous Ca’ d’Zan historic residence in Sarasota for his film, and you’ll notice Fort De Soto is where a young Finnegan meets an escaped convict. Summer Rental (1985) Location: St. Pete Beach Carl Reiner’s classic comedy Summer Rental stars the late John Candy in his prime, and it was filmed mostly in Pinellas County. Look out for Billy’s Stonecrab Seafood & Steaks in Tierra Verde, the Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach, John’s Pass, and the old St. Petersburg Pier which can be seen during the final leg of the regatta. Cocoon (1985) Locations: Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Lakeland This Oscar-winning sci-fi fantasy tells the story of a pool that embodies the properties of the Fountain of Youth, and featured much of Pinellas County as the backdrop. The movie’s pool scenes were all filmed at the “Casa de Muchas Flores” in St. Petersburg, which was recently for sale. You’ll also notice the Southgate Shopping Center in Lakeland, the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, the Suncoast Manor Retirement Community, the Coliseum, and Snell Arcade buildings, as well.

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Sun 11am-11pm / Mon-Wed 11am-12am Thu 11am-1:30am / Fri-Sat 11am-3am

Cracked up: Tampa Bay’s best comedy gigs for September September is more than the beginning of football and hockey seasons. It’s also a good time for laughter, and local venues have dozens of opportunities to provide it this month: Fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias) has his makeup date from an April reschedule on Sept. 25 at Benchmark International Arena. Def Comedy Jam alum Bill Bellamy visits the Funny Bone Sept. 11-12, Saturday Night Live vet Kevin Nealon is at McCurdy’s Sept. 17-19 and Kill Tony’s Timmy No Brakes is at Side Splitters that same weekend. Each club has a full roster of headliners as well, from national touring acts to talented locals with plenty of experience.

Eric Bailey Friday-Saturday, Sept. 11-12. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Jeff Gerbino Friday-Saturday, Sept. 11-12. 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. Coconuts Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Jacoby Bruton Friday-Saturday, Sept. 11-12. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater Timmy No Brakes Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19. 7 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday. $26 and up. Side Splitters, Tampa Adam Muller Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19. 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel

Jay Legend Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 3-5. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $22.50. Snappers Grill, Palm Harbor

John Carfi Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $22.50. Snappers Grill, Palm Harbor

April Macie Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 3-6. 8 p.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday; 6 p.m. Sunday. $20 and up. Side Splitters, Tampa

Kevin Nealon Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19. 7 p.m. Thursday; 6:30 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $47.80. McCurdy’s, Sarasota

Rio Paris Friday, Sept. 4. 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel

Steve Trevino Friday-Saturday, Sept. 18-19. 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday. $32 and up. Funny Bone, Ybor City

Marcus D. Wiley Friday-Saturday, Sept. 4-5. 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday. $29 and up. Funny Bone, Ybor City Ginger Kelly Friday-Saturday, Sept. 4-5. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Tom Wise Friday-Saturday, Sept. 4-5. 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. Coconuts Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Jake Polin Friday-Saturday, Sept. 4-5. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater Nick Giasullo Saturday, Sept. 5. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel Josh Wolf Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 10-12. 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday. $29 and up. Side Splitters, Tampa

JOE SEER/SHUTTERSTOCK

As always, comedians are subject to change. Check each venue’s calendar for their full schedule. Here are the main weekend lineups.—Michael Murillo

Stephen Henry Friday-Saturday, Sept. 18-19. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Jeff Kelin Friday-Saturday, Sept. 18-19. 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. Coconuts Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach Eric Bailey Friday-Saturday, Sept. 18-19. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater Sam Jay Friday-Saturday, Sept. 18-19. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. $24.80 and up. Coastal Creative, St. Petersburg Thom Tran (Wounded Warrior fundraiser) Saturday, Sept. 19. 5:30 p.m. $27. Side Splitters, Tampa Gabriel Iglesias Friday, Sept. 25. 8 p.m. $49 and up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa

Renard Hirsch Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 10-12. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $22.50. Snappers Grill, Palm Harbor

Bret Ernst Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday. $29. Side Splitters, Tampa

Bill Bellamy Friday-Saturday, Sept. 11-12. 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday. $40 and up. Funny Bone, Ybor City

Tacarra Williams Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Saturday. $27 and up. Funny Bone, Ybor City

Ken Krantz Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Sunshine City Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach

Jordan B. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 8:30 p.m. $23.58. Clearwater Comedy Club, Clearwater

Clayton Fletcher Friday-Saturday, Sept. 11-12. 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $23.80. Side Splitters, Wesley Chapel

Shelly Belly Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 7 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $27.50. Snappers Grill, Palm Harbor

Leslie Norris Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. $20. Coconuts Comedy Club, St. Pete Beach

Lee Syatt Saturday, Sept. 26. 6 p.m. $27. Side Splitters, Tampa

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Spending for Creatives Sunday, Sept. 13. 4 p.m. No cover. Powerstories, Tampa. powerstories.com

Book Discussion: ‘Water Moon’ by Samantha Sotto Yambao Monday, Sept. 14. 6:30 p.m. No cover with registration. Community Room at Seminole Heights Branch Library, Seminole Heights

CHRIS COXWELL

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book Club: ‘Slewfoot’ by Brom Monday, Sept. 14. 6:30 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Portkey Books, Safety Harbor. portkeybooks.com Monday Book Club: ‘Isola’ by Allegra Goodman Monday, Sept. 14. 2 p.m. No cover. Dunedin Public Library, Dunedin Book Club: A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6:30 p.m. $10 & up. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com Book Discussion: ‘Broken Country’ by Clare Leslie Hall Tuesday, Sept. 15. 1 p.m. No cover. Maureen B. Gauzza Public Library, Tampa

Kress Contemporary’s “Oh Cuore Mia: Love Letters to Ybor City” is the gift that keeps on giving, even in its final week. Opened in July, the multimedia exhibition is all about the historic district, specifically how the neighborhood’s history and cultural aesthetic influenced local artists.For this walking tour “Drunk Tampa History” lector Manny Leto laces up his shoes to guide folks past some of Ybor City’s most important cultural sites both standing and long gone. The tour includes a complimentary beverage, “Oh Cuore Mia’ gallery tour, and the aforementioned walk through the district. Tickets for the Ybor City Gallery and Walking Tour with Manny Leto happening four times between Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 10-12 are still available and start at $27.95. See more things to do below and an extended version of this listing at cltampa.com/arts.—Ray Roa

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Art Reception Friday, Sept. 11. 5:30 p.m. No cover. Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa. carrollwoodcenter.org Arts Fest 2026 Multiple times FridaySunday, Sept. 11-13. No cover. New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Tampa Guided Mural Tour w/Jenee Priebe Saturday, Sept. 12. 4 p.m. No cover. Wild Space Gallery at The Factory, St. Petersburg. floridawildlifecorridor.org SPC Day: St. Petersburg College 99th Anniversary Block Party Saturday, Sept. 12. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. No cover. SPC Midtown Center, 1300 22nd Ave. S., St. Petersburg Faces of Tampa Bay: Exhibition Opening Sunday, Sept. 13. 2 p.m. No cover. Sulphur Springs Museum, Tampa. sulphurspringsmuseum.org Jimmy Turrell: Collage, Culture & Creative Practice Wednesday, Sept. 16.

6 p.m. No cover. Harbor Hall at USF, St. Petersburg stpetersburg.usf.edu Hispanic Heritage Month Kickoff Event Thursday, Sept. 17. 5:30 p.m. No cover. Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg. dalimuseum.org Remix: Avant Garde Thursday, Sept. 17. 6 p.m. $55. Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa Writer’s Workshop: Ekphrasis in Motion Thursday, Sept. 17. 5:30 p.m. $10 & up. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. mfastpete.org

BOOKISH

Nonfiction Book Club: ‘While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence’ by Meg Kissinger Friday, Sept. 11. 11:30 a.m. No cover. Mirror Lake Library, St. Petersburg. splibraries.org Anne Karine Quinn (Book signing) Saturday, Sept. 12. 12 p.m. No cover with RSVP. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com Jeffrey P. Armstrong (Book signing) Saturday, Sept. 12. 1 p.m. No cover. Bookends, Ybor City Romantasy Book Club: ‘Throne of Glass’ by Sarah J. Maas Saturday, Sept. 12. 4 p.m. No cover. North Community Library, St. Petersburg. splibraries.org Paris Blatecky (Book signing) Sunday, Sept. 13. 12 p.m. No cover with RSVP. The Book Lounge, St. Petersburg. thebooklounge.com Book Discussion: ‘The Cemetery of Untold Stories’ by Julia Alvarez Monday, Sept. 14. 7 p.m. No cover. Gretchen Del Savio Conference Room 137 at Riverview Public Library, Riverview

Book to Screen Discussion: ‘Wicked’ Tuesday, Sept. 15. 5:30 p.m. No cover with registration. Cecil Branch Conference Room at John F. Germany Public Library, Tampa The Library Book Club: ‘Strangers’ by Belle Burden Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m. No cover with RSVP. The Library, St. Petersburg. oxfordexchange.com Abundance - An Evening with Hafeez Lakhani Wednesday, Sept. 16. 7 p.m. No cover with RSVP. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg

Celebrating 110 Years: The Carnegie Legacy Continues Monday, Sept. 14. 4:30 p.m. No cover. Clearwater Main Library, Clearwater. myclearwaterlibrary.com Secrets, Scandal & Society : The Curious Affair of Benedict Arnold, Peggy Shippen & Major John André Tuesday, Sept. 15. 6 p.m. $10. Dunedin History Museum, Dunedin. dunedinmuseum.org ‘Boyd Hill: Your 245 Acre Back Yard’ Wednesday, Sept. 16. 5:30 p.m. No cover. First Presbyterian Church, St. Petersburg The 1890s...Tampa Takes Off! Thursday, Sept. 17. 11 a.m. No cover. Witt Community Room at Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library, Tampa. tampabayhistorycenter.org

PRIDE

37th Annual Queer Film Festival Wednesday-Saturday, Sept. 10-13. Various times and prices. Green Light Cinema, St. Petersburg Sun City Sapphics: POC Sapphics Sunset Picnic Saturday, Sept. 12. 5:30-8 p.m. No cover. Picnic Island Park, Tampa Pride of Tampa: End of Summer Pool Party w/DJ Bill Kody Sunday, Sept. 13. Noon-4 p.m. $20 suggested donation. 18+. Casa del Merman, St. Petersburg

Book Club: ‘It’s Hard to Kill a Bougainvillea: From Slavery to the American Dream’ by Sylvia A. Alvarez Thursday, Sept. 17. 10:30 a.m. No cover. Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa. tampabayhistorycenter.org

Arsenic and Old Lace Select times and dates Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 3-20. $32.50. Bradenton Kiwanis Theater at Manatee Performing Arts Center, Bradenton

Book Discussion: ‘Project Hail Mary’ by Andy Weir Thursday, Sept. 17. 4 p.m. No cover with registration. Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library, Tampa

Eight O’ Clock Theater: Come From Away Select times and dates FridaySunday, Sept. 4-13. $47. Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo

James Ponti (Book talk) Thursday, Sept. 17. 4 p.m. $22.48; no cover for kids. Oxford Exchange, Tampa. oxfordexchange.com

Halfway There Multiple times Saturday, Sept. 5-Oct.17. $60. Early Bird Dinner Theater, Clearwater. earlybirddinnertheater. com

LEARN

THEATER

2 Loud Music Conference Saturday, Sept. 12. 12 p.m. $24.92. 1920, Ybor City

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Select times and dates FridaySunday, Sept. 11-20. $31.75 & up. Richey Suncoast Theatre, New Port Richey

Grow What Belongs Here: A Guide to Florida’s Native Edible Plants Saturday, Sept. 12. 2 p.m. No cover with registration. Safety Harbor Public Library, Safety Harbor. safetyharborlibrary.org

The Marvelous Wonderettes Select times and dates Friday-Sunday, Sept. 11-20. $22 & up. Francis Wilson Playhouse, Clearwater

Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz Saturday, Sept. 12. 10 a.m. No cover. Patti Johnson Farm, Pinellas Park. pinellas.gov Greater Good Gathering: Money Between the Gigs - Savings and

A Night With Janis Joplin Select times and dates Wednesday-Sunday, Sept. 16-Oct. 11. $28. American Stage, St. Petersburg As We Like It Select times and dates Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 17-Oct. 4. $28. LAB Theater Project, Ybor City

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THU SEPTEMBER 10–THU SEPTEMBER 17

C CL Recommends

FRI 11

C Booty Bounce: Newagetension w/00Jordie b2b DJNoturgirl/Post Physique Fall’s not here yet, and that means there’s still plenty of time to make your ass sweat, literally, to the sounds of Miami bass, ghettotech, breaks, and more. Kneepads will not be provided, but there is a $100 cash prize in the bootyshake contest. 10 p.m. No cover. The Bends, St. Petersburg Fem&m x Astrid: Emo Girls vs Rave Girls w/Milkypossum/Charloux Old folks, read no further than these keywords: furry music, hyperpop, internetcore. In many ways, FEM&M and Astrid defy convention. The former plays oversized computer keyboards instead of keytar, use yo-yos onstage and both have turned hundreds of thousands of monthly Spotify listeners into real life people that’ve sold out the 500-cap Market Hotel in New York City, 375-cap Subterranean in Chicago, and more. 6 p.m. $24.06. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa Vanilla Ice/Montell Jordan/Tone Loc/2 Live Crew/more This is how you do it. If you’re trying to throw an old-school concert at least. Montell Jordan is on the bill for this throwback, along with with Mr. “Funky Cold Medina” himself, Tone Loc. 2 Live Crew, probably still as horny as ever, was recently dealt a blow in its right to reclaim its music catalog, but that shouldn’t stop the party. Rapper-turned-HGTV guy Vanilla Ice is also on the bill. 6 p.m. $44.99 & up. Ferg’s Pavilion, St. Petersburg

SAT 12

C Bruno Mars w/Anderson .Paak/Raye One of Bruno Mars’ best performances was in a football stadium in 2014 for Super Bowl XLVIII, and he’s back on the field this weekend in support of a fourth solo LP, The Romantic, released last February. His teammate for the two-night endeavour is Mars’ Silk Sonic bandmate Anderson .Paak, who will appear as his vinyl-toting alter go DJ Pee .Wee. Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 12-13. 7 p.m. $176 & up. Raymond James Stadium, Tampa The Florida Orchestra: The Symphony Era Taylor Swift may be in her honeymoon era, so fans can dive into this immersive orchestral concert instead. Composer Steve Hackman is no stranger to mashups (he’s given Radiohead the Brahms treatment and done the same to Kendrick Lamar and Stravinsky), and recently told WUSF that if he wanted to stay relevant he needed to do the same for the most popular songwriter of our generation. Explicitly not a tribute, and not sanctioned by Swift herself, the

show is almost theatrical and broken down into themes all delivered with the help of singers, a chorus from the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and members of The Florida Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. $43.50 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg C MorFlow Fest: Mersiv w/Caspa/ Wreckno/Super Future/Seth David/ Zen Selekta/FloZone/RJ WLKR Thanks to the commodification of everything, it’s pretty easy to get jaded on live music and the festival scene, too. Mersiv hopes to provide some levity. Born Anderson Benoit Gallegos, the 33-year-old producer has spent the last decade refining his nowsignature deep, heavy, and emotional bass music. A forthcoming LP, Nostalgia, promises more of the guitar he used to try and play as a kid, but not before staging a firstof-its-kind MorFlow Fest, blending bass music and the flow arts (think glovers, hoopers, poi bois and girls, even shufflers). “It’s a full-spectrum cultural experience rooted in movement, intention, and community,” a press release says. U.K. bass icon Caspa is also on the bill along with Wreckno x Super Future, plus a B2B set with Seth David and Zen Selekta, and more. 3:15 p.m. $53 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater C The Strokes After returning to Coachella last April, The Strokes make their way back to Tampa in support of a new album, Reality Awaits, released last June. The Strokes have not been in the Bay area since 2015 when the band headlined day two of the long-defunct Big Guava Music Festival. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s review of that set noted how Casablancas & co. “blazed through a career retrospective setlist that spanned almost two dozen songs and ignited a ticking time bomb of nostalgia…” 7 p.m. $64.35 & up. Benchmark International Arena, Tampa

SUN 13

C Little Giver w/Delaney Staack/ Haslam’s Family Band He’s sold just a tiny fraction of the t-shirts it’ll take to purchase the property, but a St. Pete artist is taking a bit of a victory lap after the family that owns long-shuttered Haslam’s Books acknowledged a bootleg campaign to reopen the beloved shop. “This is more of just like another PR stunt to see if we can get the attention of the family and get them to talk to us,” Filipe Bergson first told Cigar City Sounds after announcing an Aug. 29 concert in the store parking lot. It worked, and the family said people should not attend the unauthorized show. “We are grateful that so many people still love Haslam’s,” it told St. Pete Catalyst. “We ask people who care about Haslam’s not to put themselves or this property at risk.” Now, the 32-year-old is inviting the family to feel the love at the official “re-open Haslam’s” concert where songwriter Delaney Staack will play alongside righteous new indie-rock band Little Giver and “The Haslam’s Family Band.”

Mersiv

STEPHANIE PARSLEY

By Ray Roa

In a recent “acknowledgment of reality,” Bergson admitted that the store may never reopen. “That’s OK, it’s not up to us,” he added, before saying that fans can still come to the show and be around like-minded people. “You should dress as a book, a cat, a librarian, or a character from a book, or anything related to any of those.” 8 p.m. Donations accepted. The Nest at St. Pete Brewing Co., St. Petersburg C Scott Elliott Celebration of Life feat. Talk To Mark Last month, Tampa Bay music fans lost Scott Elliott, the singer, performer, WMNF DJ, vinyl enthusiast, activist, and therapist, who died on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, of pancreatic cancer. Elliott, a New York City native, was 66 years old and driven by music and social justice. Members of his band Talk To Mark help the community say goodbye under the shade of the Skipperdome where Elliott himself delivered many great performances of his own. 5 p.m. No cover. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

WED 16

Modest Mouse w/Robber Robber Guitarist Simon O’Connor was recently dropped from the Modest Mouse lineup after he sent inappropriate messages to a

minor (he says he was being trolled), but frontman Issac Brock has soldiered on to support a new grief-stricken LP An Eraser and a Maze. It’s the West Coast indie-rock king’s first true blue indie release in about three decades and plays looser than anything Modest Mouse has released in the same time frame. 7 p.m. $63.50 & up. The BayCare Sound, Clearwater C W.I.T.C.H. w/The Venus/Deadborns Music fans, online at least, will present devastation when 74-year-old Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda can no longer tour in front of his pioneering Zamrock band W.I.T.C.H. This is a chance to pay respects in the flesh. Influenced by prog-rock, Fela Kuti and The Rolling Stones, W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend to Cause Havoc) has always possessed a revolutionary energy and refuses to rest on laurels from its heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Just look at last year’s new album, Sogolo, where Chanda & co. tap intro desert rock (“(In Memory Of) John”), Sabbath (“Kamusale”), African folk (“Mbangula Sesa”), and more. St. Pete psychedelic and rock & roll warriors, The Venus and Deadborns, make the drive across the Sunshine Skyway to open the show. 7 p.m. $29.67. Oscura, Bradenton See an extended version of this listing via cltampa.com.

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 39

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DAVE DECKER

Last summer, Indie Night co-founder Andres Hernandez stared at the end of his series’ run at the now-shuttered Crowbar and told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the party would simply have to look for a bigger room the next time it happened. “We’ll keep growing it,” he added, “and just kind of raise the bar for ourselves.” The bar is apparently just a few blocks down E 7th Avenue at The Ritz Ybor where Indie Night and four bands will throw an early Halloween party on in October. The move from a roughly 300-capacity room to another that holds over 1,000 concertgoers was a longtime coming, Hernandez said, noting that they’ve long sold-out smaller clubs plus outings at the larger Floridian Social in St. Petersburg two years ago. “We felt like we’d have enough momentum to bring this to a venue like The Ritz with the help of No Clubs,” he said. The Florida Orchestra: Pirates of the Caribbean Sept. 18-19. Multiple times. $20 and up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg Reverya (opening for Volumes) Friday, Sept. 25. 6 p.m. $32.51. Orpheum, Tampa Chelsea Jade (opening for The Beths) Saturday, Oct. 3. 7 p.m. $36.05. The Ritz, Ybor City Penny & Sparrow w/Caleb Elliot Wednesday, Oct. 21. 7 p.m. $34.95 & up. New World Music Hall, Tampa The Planet Smashers w/Pwrup/ Saganaki Bomb Squad Friday, Oct. 23. 7 p.m. $35.06. Orpheum, Tampa Steve Lacy Wednesday, Oct. 28. 8 p.m. $141.61 & up (resale only). Yuengling Center, Tampa Dany Ome w/Kevincito El 13 Saturday, Nov. 7. 8 p.m. $57.94 & up. Yuengling Center, Tampa Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis Wednesday, Nov. 11. 7 p.m. $67.05 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg

Fans, he noted, can expect an even higher level of production, similarly great bands, but at a larger scale. “Imagine our usual indie night energy but with three times as many people, more lights, more sound, a giant disco ball, everyone wearing costumes, and more,” Hernandez said. Per usual, his band, Rohna (pictured), is on the bill. Expat indie-pop band Parrotfish, now based in Nashville, comes home for the gig and plays alongside the “most chalant” band in Central Florida Kitty Kitty Meow Meow along with Gulf Coast emo outfit Pavola. Tickets to Indie Night Live at The Ritz in Ybor City on Friday, Oct. 23 are still available and start at $21.65 via Ticketmaster. See Josh Bradley’s weekly rundown of new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below.— Ray Roa Scary Kids Scaring Kids/I Set My Friends On Fire (opening for Hawthorne Heights) Thursday, Nov. 12. 6 p.m. $41.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg David Foster and Katharine McPhee Friday, Nov. 13. 8 p.m. $60.35 & up. Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg Russ Taff w/Steve Taylor & Some Band Thursday, Nov. 19. 7:30 p.m. $53 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Miss May I + Born of Osiris w/ Convictions/Downswing Friday, Nov. 20. 6 p.m. $38.25. Orpheum, Tampa Wax Monkey + Jacoozy Wednesday, Dec. 2. 7 p.m. $25.25. New World Music Hall, Tampa American Football w/She’s Green Saturday, Dec. 12. 7 p.m. $49 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City Bam Margera presents Amore Ad Lunam ‘Songs For The End of Daze’ album release party Friday, Dec. 18. 6 p.m. $38.52 & up. Brass Mug, Tampa

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 41

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Run club

social media account. If you look, there are playbooks to study. Take your desires seriously, my dear. See what unfolds from there.

By Caroline DeBruhl

Because to answer truthfully, you have to be quite vulnerable with yourself, and many of us aren’t prepared to do that. So much so that we talk ourselves out of our desires by reminding ourselves of all the ways it could go wrong. The Nine of Swords can be a card not only of anxiety but of spiraling thoughts—the kind that you can’t really break out of. In a sort of perverse way, it can act as self-preservation: if you never allow yourself to go after what you desire, you won’t fail at getting it. You still, of course, won’t have it, but it takes out the possible cruel Cards: The Hermit, Nine variable of hope. of Cups (reversed), Nine of However, my dear, I think Swords, The Chariot you know what you want. The Dear Poli, while we have Hermit knows themselves, Send your questions to oracle@cltampa.com two Major Arcana cards in knows their place in the unior DM @theyboracle on Instagram this spread, I actually want verse, and hears their calling. to start with the pair of nines, because I think They step out to meet life as it unfolds. they speak to why you’ve toyed with this idea The Chariot, too, is someone who goes after for such a long time. what they want. They have the force and drive The Nine of Cups, as I’ve written before, can to get there. With these two combined, I think be both a card of wish fulfillment and projec- you know exactly what you want. I think you do tion. Often, it can be viewing a situation with know what it would take to get there. There are plenty of reasons to be hesitant rose-colored glasses. But sometimes the Nine of Cups appears when we are afraid to name about a political career (money, lack of privacy, what it is that we truly desire. “What do you combative coworkers), but it’s not an impossible want in life?” might seem like an easy enough dream to obtain. The past 10 years have shown question, but when you get below the surface, that outsiders can land on a national stage with it can be hard to figure out. nothing but a shoestring budget and a snappy ear Oracle, for many years now, I’ve toyed with the idea of running for office. Of course, when I was much younger, I had very grand ambitions (President) but as I’ve aged, I thought about doing something on the local or state level. However, I don’t know what that would entail financially, what it would take to run a successful campaign, or whether I could even make it. I want to help people and make a meaningful difference, but I don’t know if that means politics or something else. What do the cards say?—Poli-curious

ORACLE OF YBOR

Dear Oracle, my boyfriend of a year and I broke up a month ago. It was his decision, and I’m left devastated. What feels worse is that my ex was embraced by my group of friends, and they still invite him around. We’re sort of “sharing custody” of them (I’ll agree to leave a party at a certain time so he can come), but I hate it. I know I can’t ask them to stop being friends with him, but it’s so hard when I’m still so sad! How should I handle this?—Misery in company Cards: Three of Swords (reversed), Eight of Wands (reversed), Five of Cups (reversed), King of Pentacles Dear Misery, I am so, so sorry. That situation sounds truly miserable, and I understand your predicament. I’ve been there, and while I said the mature thing of “I would never ask you to stop being friends with X,” what I really wanted was for my friends to consider X dead to them. Is that a healthy or reasonable wish? No. But sometimes, a little fucking loyalty would be nice. I hope that your friends eventually drop your ex, but until then, there are ways to cope. The first thing to tend to, though, is your heart. You are deep in mourning right now. The Three of Swords is the card of heartsickness, the Eight of Wands of being overwhelmed, and the Five of Cups as the breakdown of a relationship. Things are rough right now, and with all three of these cards

reversed, I think they might be rough for a few months. What you need to do first is simply heal. Grief is a process. It is something you have to feel and process. It’s very difficult to do if the fucker is still around—and that grief might feel compounded if you feel like you’re also losing your friends—but this might be a time where you need space and one-on-one time with friends. Big group parties might have to be shelved for a bit unless you know your ex is not going to be there. (And none of this arriving/leaving at a certain time. That sounds so anxiety-inducing!) Eventually, like the King of Pentacles, I think you’ll see a way through. This king is a provider, and I think it’s about you providing yourself with what you need. This might mean you become the social coordinator, inviting people out for drinks, hosting parties, etc. This might mean you are open with your boundaries and saying no to events if you know he’ll be there. This might mean, down the line, getting professional help to figure out how to handle situations where you two might have to be in close proximity (like a mutual friend’s wedding). Whatever it is, you will eventually figure out how to take care of yourself. But for now, I think what you need to provide for yourself is the grace to grieve this loss. How can you take care of yourself in this moment? What is it that you need? It can be hard to see when we’re in the thick of it, but give yourself time and space. Eventually, you’ll come out the other side. Take care, my dear. See more of Caroline and learn about her services via carolinedebruhl.com.

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Quickies By Dan Savage

ill I ever get over my ex who’s packing? If you mean packing in the “putting things in bags” sense of the term, then your ex hasn’t even moved out yet. Give it a minute. If you mean packing in the “my ex has a massive cock” sense of the term, you may never get over your ex fully. (Here’s hoping you have some pics and/or a Clone-A-Willy dildo to remember him by.) Look, I don’t know whether or not you’re gay—there’s not much info to go on in your letter—but I’ve seen two gay men go from fuckbuddies to boyfriends/husbands and back to fuckbuddies again when the relationship didn’t work out. So, if you can manage to stick the dismount here… if you can keep this breakup amicable… periodic remounts could be in your future. P.S. Being friends with our exes—something to look forward to if you’re gay, something to aspire to if you’re straight.

Finally, a nice, normal, wholesome question from a straight person! So, bad news from the Mayo Clinic: if your wife suffers from recurrent bacterial vaginosis—if her natural bacteria levels are easily thrown out of whack—she is advised to use condoms during PIV and to limit the number of sex partners she has, advice that kind of rules out those nice, wholesome, completely heterosexual gangbang creampies. P.S. We had some good news recently for straight women who suffer from recurring BV infections: if a woman’s male partner is treated with oral and topical antibiotics, her chances of coming down with BV again are cut by more than half. Another thing that reduces BV risk: male circumcision. While asking the men who fuck your wife to get cut (if they’re not already) is a lot, asking them to slather their cocks with topical antibiotics isn’t too much to ask. Read all about it at Dr. Jen Gunter’s newsletter The Vajenda.

SAVAGE LOVE

Can I catch pin worms from eating ass? You can—but it’s rare; hand-to-mouth transmission is more efficient and way more common. And seeing as you can catch worse right now eating blueberries and bagged salad and guacamole and ground beef, you might as well order the ass. Gay man here who enjoys rimming. Is it safe to move from a clean asshole to other areas and back again? All gay men this week? Look, so long as your tongue doesn’t touch a blueberry as you move from asshole to other areas and back again… you should be fine. Let’s not overthink this. Suggestions for gay dudes having random quickies? I can’t exactly carry lube everywhere or quickly douche in a public restroom. Be prepared! If you’re going out cruising and you wanna get fucked, douche before leaving the house and carry a few “single use” lube packets in your pocket. If opportunity presents itself and you’re not prepared to get fucked, remember that oral and JO are not sad consolation prizes, they’re great sex. (So many gay questions in this month’s pile of Quickies submissions!) Is it normal to enjoy the smell of your own ball sweat? To enjoy the smell of your ball sweat is human, to enjoy the smell of another man’s ball sweat is divine. My wife loves to get creampied during gangbangs by guys who’ve had vasectomies. Tips for preventing BV better?

What’s one thing you tried and bailed from almost immediately? For me it was a finger up my butt. Cunnilingus—I’m defining “tried” broadly. Let’s just say, I was heading south and bailed just before making it to the border. I did porn (just five videos) before I met the man I’m going to marry. I have never told him about this as I did them before I knew him. Do I need to tell him? I think you should tell him for your own sake. Otherwise, you’ll be living with the Sword of Pornocles hanging over your head. Do you really need the low-level, constant worry about when or whether he’s going finding out? And from whom? But if you choose to gamble on him not finding out… or choose to wait until it’s harder for him to leave you (after you marry, after you buy a place, after you have kids) in the hopes that he would think twice before leaving you… there’s a good chance he’ll see it as an additional betrayal. P.S. All men have watched porn and a man who wouldn’t marry someone who’s appeared in porn is a hypocrite. You deserve better than that—and you may in fact already have better than that. There’s only one way to find out. A lot of GRWM videos by drag queens have been appearing on my social media feeds lately. A lot of these queens are stunning, and I can’t keep my eyes off of them. However, some of them put entirely too much makeup on. These queens are beautiful before they do a thing to their faces and then they add a pound of makeup. How can I support these queens while also letting them know they are gorgeous with no makeup at all. Thoughts?

Complaining about drag queens putting on too much makeup in their GRWM (“get ready with me”) videos is like complaining about Iowans deep frying too many Twinkies in those GHDWM (“get heart disease with me”) videos they make at the Iowa State Fair.

Incest is sick and so are you! Ewwwwwwwww. You’re so nasty! Weirdo sicko creepo cousin fucker! You’re sitting around thinking about me fucking one or more of my cousins—something I’ve never thought about doing even once—and that somehow makes me the sicko here? Sure, Jan.

My gay boyfriend’s straight roommate flirts with me aggressively. (I am also a gay man. Duh.) It would be easier to ignore if my boyfriend’s roommate weren’t so fucking hot. He’s flashed his dick at me and likes to say (in front of my boyfriend and other people) that he could have me with a snap of his fingers, which is probably true. My boyfriend doesn’t seem to be bothered. We’ve only been dating for three months (he’s my first boyfriend!), whereas he’s lived with his roommate for two years. I’m not sure what is going on here. I don’t know what’s going on here either, but I would watch the live stream. P.S. Your boyfriend’s roommate wants you— whether he wants to fuck you or he just wants to fuck with you and/or your boyfriend’s head remains to be seen. P.P.S. Your question reads like the opening chapter of a dirty gay cuckold story. If your question is real, I hope you stick around long enough to find out how this story ends.

Dan, how many of your calls and letters could be answered succinctly with “be brave and talk to your person?” About half, and some weeks the other half could be answered with some variation on, “Let me Google that for you.” (See: pin worms and anilingus.)

My girlfriend still lives with her wife. They split up over a year ago. My girlfriend says she will find a new place to live just as soon as she feels financially stable enough to move but it’s costing me an enormous amount emotionally to stay in the situation. I am surrounded by their relationship, and her ex isn’t over her and keeps trying to win her back. When I get upset about it, which is now every time I am in that house, my girlfriend sends me away and says I am being unreasonable, and I am not allowed to be in the house if I am going to get upset about the situation. What should I do, Dan? Take “go” for an answer. My husband doesn’t want to have sex anymore. Then your husband doesn’t have to have sex anymore—but he can’t stop you from having sex, if sex is something you still wanna have. If you wanna do this right, you need to have a conversation with your husband about whether your marriage, which I presume was monogamous up to now, is going to be some form of ENM (open, poly, toly, DADT, etc.) going forward. If you can’t bring yourself to have that conversation — if it feels too risky — then do what you need to do to stay married and stay sane… which could mean cheating or could mean going without. My wife says she doesn’t care if I watch porn, but whenever she catches me watching it, she gets furious. So, she clearly cares, right? She clearly cares—she might wish she didn’t care, but she does. And if you’re having this fight more than once every few years, you need to do a better job at hiding your porn use.

I sent a nude to my boss instead of my boyfriend. Now what? Update your resume. I dogsit for my ex. His new girlfriend says it’s inappropriate and that it makes her uncomfortable to know that I still have a key to his apartment. He asked me to give back the key. What do I do? You refuse to give back the key and dogsit for your ex-boyfriend against his will. P.S. Give back the key. P.P.S. I don’t know why straight people insist on living life on hard mode—having an ex who’s happy to dogsit when you’re away is a blessing—but they do. I am hoping you can give me some direction. My boyfriend and I are traveling to San Francisco in the very near future and I am trying to find a shibari studio there or an independent provider who specializes in tying up couples. I would love to have a guy tie me and my boyfriend up together. I’m Googling around and can’t really find a gay place that would do that. Do you have any recommendations? Any contacts? Please help! “SF is a great place with a great kink scene,” said Ropes Sweat and Tears, a Latine gay roper based in Seattle. “While I can’t provide a referral to a particular practitioner in SF, I can refer your reader to Rope Burn, the men’s rope group in San Francisco. If there isn’t a Rope Burn event while they’re in town, they could reach out to Rope Burn to find a local connection. Also, Recon is a social media app for gay kinksters and it’s a good place to meet other kinksters for play while traveling. I’m not sure many ropers specifically advertise themselves as ‘specializing in tying up couples,’ so that would need to be a point of discussion as part of the pre-scene negotiation with a rope top.” Follow Ropes Sweat and Tears on Instagram @ropes.sweat.and.tears. Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love

cltampabay.com | SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2026 | 45

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