Creative Loafing Tampa — January 20, 2022

JANUARY 20-26, 2022 (VOL.35, NO.03) $FREE • CREATIVE LOAFING – CLTAMPA.COM

Paul Tash talks retirement, navigating

the Times and what’s next for him

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PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf STAFF WRITER Justin Garcia FOOD and THEATER CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge FILM & TV CRITIC John Allman EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS, CC BY 2.0

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SeaWorld in February, animal rights CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora claiming the practice of keeping wild ILLUSTRATORS Joe Newton, Dan Perkins, d dangerous. But even though public Coryanimal Robinson atmany SeaWorld rights don’t in seeFebruary, a parallel between the kind claiming the practice of keeping wild EXECUTIVES k, and the SENIOR practice ofACCOUNT displaying animals nd dangerous.

But even though public Anthony Carbone, Scott Zepeda asking for too much?

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ck and the practice of displaying animals EVENTS DIRECTOR s asking for tooAlexis much?Quinn Or is Chamberlain it time for a ent” animals?

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MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Lauren Caplinger

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The newspaper is produced and printed on Indigenous land belonging to Tampa Bay’s How was your Date?

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eporters write about other people every day, and becoming EIC in the summer of 2019—has but the copy often reveals more about our- given me money. selves than we realize. Still, there are times I start my days when my son gets up between 6 when you shouldn’t have to read between the a.m.-7 a.m. and take more meetings than I did last lines, and this is one of them. Just like last year, year. I started going to concerts again, but omicron I’m ripping off a tradition Orlando Sentinel col- has temporarily changed that (I’m vaxxed to the umnist Scott Maxwell hijacked from one of his max, 5G style, too). I’m not on a diet anymore, but I former colleagues, columnist Charley Reese. still stress-eat McDonald’s alone in my car. My resThe idea is that if columnists are going to tell olution for 2022 is to write a thank you card every readers what they day; if you send me think, then they a note and tell me a little about yourshould also tell them where they self, I promise to send one back (204 stand. As another Bay area columE Henderson Ave., nist Joe Henderson Tampa, 33602). once wrote, Because Florida “Transparency is a closed priisn’t something we mary state, I am can demand unless still a registered we’re willing to be Democrat. I abhor honest about who both parties but still refuse to do we are.”

There’s a mental gymnastics slightly longer trying to both-erize version of this diseverything to death. closure online, but I also believe that here’s what you people on opposite should know about sides of the political me. spectrum can actuI’m an OK ally work together, guardian for the just not in the kum12-year-old rescue WHERE I STAND: For us, my bias. baya way (more like pup my wife and I the we’re both getadopted the summer before our wedding. I’m ting screwed by the same people, so let’s organize the father of a happy two-year old, too. My wife and shut that shit down kind of way).

The housing crisis freaks me out. Walking kept him healthy in utero, and keeps him safe out here in the world, but he’s my participa- home and listening to Phoebe Bridgers cover tion trophy for being there at conception. My Tom Waits made me cry. Outside of the office, kid is the reason I get up every day—not nec- people sleep in their cars. When I leave late, it’s essarily because I love him so much (I do), but quiet enough to hear them breathe and cough through their windows. because if I don’t get up and go to work, then there’s no That breaks my heart. And way I could afford to pay for it makes me want to do more. daycare, which is more than Actually, it’s what motimy share of the mortgage. vates me to come to work Speaking of, my wife and every day lately. I’m lucky I have been buying our house back from the to work alongside folks who give the deepest of bank since 2007. We do that using two sources fucks about this city and the people who seem of income: my salary from Euclid Media Group, to get ignored in the broad conversations being which owns CL (in 2021, I averaged $1,836 per had about politics, news, art, music food and paycheck after taxes and bonuses) and her pay more. Yes, we write about everything, but our from a local hospital where she’s a nurse. We contributors and staff want to do the work and have separate bank accounts. This year, I picked make a difference. Being with them makes me a up one assignment for The Athletic. Other than better person every day. I hope I can pass some that, no one else besides CL—where I started of that energy to you and do this disclosure freelancing in 2011 before going full-time in 2016 again in 2023.

“I still stress-eat McDonald’s alone in my car.”

6 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

Preserve that ‘burg

Preservation, tweed lead list of things to do in Tampa Bay this weekend.

By Sofía García Vargas and Kyla Fields

I

n the midst of an ever-changing state, historic properties continue to be threatened by development ideas. In an effort to dignify and protect these sites, Green Bench Brewing Company and Preserve the ‘Burg host “An Evening with the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation on Thursday.

Speakers of the night, President and CEO of the trust Melissa Wyllie and legislative affairs chair Mark Zubaly, will provide an overview of the nonprofit and discuss some of its current actions toward preservation, such as advocating for a new Florida Historic Tax Credit and lobbying the funding for more preservation grants.

The trust will also discuss its annual “11 to Save” list unveiled last year. Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. $10-$20 (one drink ticket included; face masks are encouraged). Green Bench Brewing Co. 1133 Baum Ave. N, St. Petersburg. preservetheburg.org St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club’s 10th annual Tweed Ride is happening Saturday Time to dust those knickers off because the annual Tweed Ride is upon us when the oldest and largest shuffleboard club in the U.S. will celebrate 10 years of tradition and old-timey threads. The costumed bicycle tour starts with tea and scones and ends with a group photo and afterparty at the club—complete with live music provided by “good old fashioned stompy jazz” band Junco Royals. There will be swing dancing.

The club expects 450 participants for 2022’s Tweed Ride, which will be guided by a safety team and the St. Petersburg Police Department.

Although there is no exact route planned, waterfront views of Mirror Lake and Tampa Bay are expected.Tickets include a gourmet boxed lunch as well, which will be provided to guests after the ride. Saturday, Jan. 22. 2 p.m.-8 p.m. St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club. 559 Mirror Lake Dr. N, St. Petersburg. stpeteshuffle.com Tampa’s Tiger Bay Club hosts key players in the justice system to discuss how they collaborate to fix problems On Jan. 21, Tampa’s Tiger Bay Club will host a public defender, Hillsborough’s state attorney, and the county’s chief judge, as they discuss how they work outside of the courtroom to address problems together.

State Attorney Andrew Warren, Public Defender Julianne Holt, and Hillsborough County Chief Judge Ron Ficarrotta will discuss how they work to tackle outstanding issues within the justice system in front of the Tiger Bay audience. The public is invited to purchase tickets through Tiger Bay’s ticket portal ($25$35). Only members of the non-partisan political group are allowed to ask questions of the guests.

Tom Scherberger, President of Tiger Bay Club, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that putting the event together started with the idea that there is usually an adversarial process that is built into the judicial system, but for big picture issues, it is sometimes put aside for the greater good. Friday, Jan. 21. noon. $25-$35. The Cuban Club, 2010 N Avenida Republica de Cuba, Ybor City. tigerbayclub.com—Justin Garcia

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1/14/2022 4:51:27 PM

POLITICS

ISSUES

OPINION

Times up

Paul Tash is leaving the Tampa Bay Times, some say his departure is long overdue.

By Ray Roa wrote in an email to CL in the hours after his announcement.

Best of times, worst of times In a longer phone call with CL, Tash said he made good on the Times’ ambition to become a news organization representing all of Tampa Bay all while doing high impact journalism at a high standard, adding that “The Times achieved those things in the midst of the worst economic challenges for publishers in at least 100 years.”

It’s undeniable that the Times newsroom is an invaluable asset to the community. Its reporters and editors work tirelessly to put out the best possible stories day in and day out. The CL newsroom reads and reacts to the Times and its editorial board on a near-daily basis.

A Jan. 13 Times story announcing Tash’s retirement gave the 67-year-old his flowers. Most notably, it lauded Tash, who became editor in 1992, for being at the helm as the paper went on to win seven of its 13 Pulitzer Prizes, including three in the local reporting category. The latest medal—for Kathleen McGrory and Neil Bedi “Targeted” series investigating the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office— ended a five-year Pulitzer drought for the Times.

The prize also came as a welcome relief for a newsroom that, over the last five years, has endured not just the pandemic, but also staff buyouts, layoffs, pay cuts, furloughs, print reduction, and the regular departure of its bright stars. Last fall, many remaining staff members were asked to put their name on a public media style fundraiser that the Washington Post compared to Yelp.

Some say Tash’s pivot to digital—including the adaption of the Post’s ARC content management system after years of using an archaic CMS—came too late. “If there was a Pulitzer Prize for fixing bad websites, he would’ve 100% done that sooner,” Scott Pollenz, who worked in marketing at the Times for five years, told CL.

LOCAL NEWS

“After the Ice Palace naming rights extension, Tash guided the Times to one of its most controversial decisions to date.”

TAMPA BAY TIMES

P

aul Tash liked to tell some employees that newspapers are a seasonal business, and last week he told what’s left of the Tampa Bay Times that his season as CEO has come to an end. He will also step down as chairman of Times Publishing Co.’s board of directors on July 1.

Tash’s retirement comes 47 years after he arrived at the now-vaunted daily paper of record as a summer news intern and 18 years after St. Petersburg Times CEO and chairman Andrew Barnes tapped Tash to take over the 138-year-old newspaper. Tash is the longest-running CEO in Times history.

“The longest so far,” Tash told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay during a phone call last Saturday.

Times Publishing Co. President Conan Gallaty—who joined the company in 2018 as its first chief digital officer before a promotion to president in 2020—was hand-selected

by Tash to take over as CEO; he is expected to become chairman of the board when Tash leaves the post this summer.

Gallaty becomes the fourth person to steer the Times since 1978 when former owner Nelson Poynter (whose dad bought the paper in 1912) died and tapped Eugene Patterson for the role. Nelson is the last individual to own the Times. To keep the paper independent, he left ownership to his nonprofit Poynter Institute.

In 1988, Patterson named Barnes CEO and chairman; Barnes moved Tash into the role six years later. In a statement Tash said, “I have full confidence in Conan’s capacity and his character.”

Asked if he considered any people of color, or one of the many women on the Times masthead, for CEO, Tash told CL that he’s been thinking about the selection of his successor since he took the job on May 15, 2004.

“Through the years, women and Black people have been very prominent among my considerations. That’s not how things played out. Conan is an exceptional leader and the Times is fortunate that he will follow me,” Tash

ABOUT TIMES: A retirement announcement gave Paul Tash his flowers, but his time has not been all roses.

Others point to questionable financial decisions in their argument that Tash should have retired much sooner.

In 2002, board members at the St. Petersburg Times (as the paper was called until a rebrand in 2012) unanimously agreed to pay $2.1 million annually for 12 years to get naming rights on the Ice Palace hockey arena. The deal was valued at about $30 million. In 2011 the Times and Lightning extended the agreement through the summer of 2018.

Tash said the arrangement helped put the publication in front of younger people, be “associated with fun” and “establish ourselves as local in a place where our name could signal that we were from somewhere else.”

Tribulations After signing the Ice Palace naming rights extension, Tash guided the Times to one of its most controversial decisions to date: the 2016 purchase of the Tampa Tribune, the Times’s main competitor, which began daily publication in 1895 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966.

Some say the Tribune was weeks away from closing anyway. The New York Times reported that about 265 people lost their jobs when the Times purchase forced the Tribune’s closure.

To commemorate the five-year anniversary of the bloody sale, former Tribune (and Times) columnist Joe Henderson recollected memories from a day when he watched Tash tell everyone to put their phones down as their new owner continued on page 10

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 9

continued from page 9

Paper and people Exactly 1,768 days later, Tash watched the Times’ own printing plant complete its final paper. Roughly 150 people lost their jobs that night. The $21 million sale of the plant built in the late-1950s transferred ownership of the building and land beneath it to vulturistic global hedge fund Alden. Tash called the plant’s last run one of the saddest days of his career.

“I felt keenly the passing of a great era of newspaper printing and production when those

10 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

wonderful machines would rumble every day.

But the world is going digital, and the pandemic accelerated those trends very, very much,” he said.

Eight months after that, Tash sent employees a letter mentioning a federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) takeover of the Times pension plan after the paper’s parent company was unable to pay the benefits. At the time, a spokesperson for the Times told CL that the Times employed about 350 employees across all

its full-throated endorsement of a new Rays stadium in Ybor City. One of the editorials didn’t mention that the prospect of a new stadium moving to Ybor directly benefits Darryl Shaw, who was among those who loaned money to the Times. The board's also been soft of Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, another FBN partner.

Tash—who’s being criticized for paying himself back before retiring—does feel an obligation to FBN partners, and was keen to make sure

LOCAL NEWS

CREATIVE LOAFING TAMPA BAY

addressed an auditorium packed with suddenly former Tribune employees.

Tash told CL that he remembers looking out at that room of people and recognizing the gravity and grief of the moment.

“I did suggest as one newspaper man to other newspaper people, ‘Let’s give this moment some real dignity. And let’s not have our cameras and our phones and our other devices on.’ I did say that, and I’m glad I did. That was out of respect and regard for the very sad moment in the life of the Tribune that was about to happen,” he said.

Henderson wrote that he thought it was “strange for a news person, especially one from a paper as vocal as the Times about transparency.”

Axios’ Selene San Felice, who was a University of Tampa intern at the Tribune when it was bought, remembers feeling shaken by the takeover and that same all-staff mandatory meeting, which she was not on site to attend.

“They were all being told, ‘You all just lost your job. We are shutting you down, and we now own you.’ I was emailing my editor Dennis Joyce and saying ‘I’m really sorry, this is terrible news, but do you want my story?,’” San Felice told CL. Joyce, who went on to work at the Times and is still there as assistant metro editor, replied.

“He was like, ‘There is no Tampa Tribune.’ I think that was my last email to my editor,” San Felice added. “‘There’s no more Tampa Tribune, good luck.’ It was just devastating.”

“Tash also didn’t allow the Tribune the common courtesy of printing a farewell edition, a completely classless move. He said he didn’t believe in long goodbyes,” Henderson added. “In one of the most callous statements I can recall, Tash would later say that sometimes bad things must happen, so good things can. Too bad, so sad, all you now-unemployed Tribune suckers.”

“I would not have done that differently. And I’ve heard that criticism, but I’ve never heard the criticism from anybody in the community.

I’ve never heard that criticism from a reader.

I’ve only heard it from former Tribune staffers.

I’ve never heard that from a reader,” Tash told CL. “And I’ve never heard that we treated the Tribune or its people badly through that difficult transition. In fact, we treated the Tribune employees—not just in news but in a lot of places—with dignity and compassion.”

TRIB-LING NEWS: The May 12, 2016 cover of CL. departments and that 143 staffers would stop receiving benefits from the plan as of Nov. 30.

Florida Politics pointed out that PBGC liens against the Times total more than $103 million.

The pension fund development, a signal of financial distress, came after news that the printing plant sale would help pay back investors who contributed to a $15 million loan to help float the Times. The group was called FBN Partners, for “Florida’s Best Newspaper.”

Last year, the Times editorial board, of which Tash is a member, came under fire for

the paper could fulfill those obligations whether it sold the plant or not.

“What drove the sale of the plant was the economic realities and the public health realities of the pandemic, not the need to repay that loan before I retired,” Tash countered. “I would have been thrilled to see those presses humming every night of the week long past my own retirement.”

Tash pegged the sale on a “relentless logic”—the world stopping, Times advertising cratering—that led to bi-weekly printing,

“‘There’s no more Tampa Tribune, good luck.’ It was just devastating.”

leaving the Times with an underused plant that either had to start printing for other publications or move elsewhere.

“Gannett was disinclined and other publishers were disinclined to come to us,” Tash said.

“Once that printing is placed somewhere else, then that means that the plant should be sold rather than sit empty as an unproductive asset.”

But the loan from local bigwigs— with some investors remaining anonymous to this day—is just a slice of the tension during Tash’s tenure at the Times.

Over the last few years reporting about the Times, CL has talked to at least a dozen current and former staffers; none have ever gone on record to talk about the culture and general atmosphere at the paper, and only a handful have ever provided insight on background.

After the news of Tash’s retirement, one former reporter told CL that Times alumni have and still feel invested in the paper’s future for understandable reasons, adding that there was always internal speculation about when Tash would bow out. On background, they added that it was hard not to be skeptical of leadership at the Times—especially and specifically Tash’s role, given his tenure—when the financial measures to keep the Times solvent so often disproportionately impacted staff.

Tash’s large salary was also a topic of concern and interest in the newsroom both before and after the FBN Partners loan.

Tax records show that Tash is not compensated in his role as chairman of the board of trustees at Poynter—he made much more as CEO of Times Publishing Co. Poynter Institute’s 990 tax form showed that in 2014, Tash received $503,990 in total compensation, including $181,476 in base pay and $322,514 in bonus and incentive pay. Tampa Bay Business Journal points out that the figure was down from his 2013 pay package of $516,040.

His total compensation in 2017 ($485,000) and 2018 ($488,000) was also significantly higher than reporters’ salaries.

A different former Times staffer told CL that in discussions with editorial colleagues, the lowest full-time editorial salary they’d heard of was $37,000 and that it was not uncommon to see an entry-level reporter earning a salary in the low $40,000 range. Staffers were also told about a pay discrepancy study, but it’s unclear if the study was even completed or if it examined discrepancies in pay between men and women or white people and people of color.

Asked about the criticisms over his salary, Tash again said he hasn’t heard them.

“You may be correct, but you’re saying something that’s not known to me,” Tash said. He pointed to his deeper paycut—15%, which he took with three other execs—as an example of how he wanted to show the entire company, not just the newsroom, that he too felt the sacrifice.

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Saturday, Jan 29 ● 10 am—2 pm Safety Harbor Resort & Spa LONELY PLACE: Tash hopes to bring employees back to the office—in St. Petersburg (pictured) or Tampa—before he retires.

But the same former reporter who discussed salaries with CL said that the un-tiered February 2020 pay cuts were also a point of contention. Forgoing 10% of your pay hurts less for someone making substantially more, after all.

A 15% pay cut on Tash’s reported 2019 compensation of $489,182, is roughly $73,377, leaving him with about $415,804. A reporter making $42,000 would be left with about $37,800 and scrambling for ideas about where they’re going to come up with a few months rent.

Tash said he’s never had any complaints about his compensation—even when he was a reporter making $13,000.

“I have no complaints about my pay, because it’s been an honor to do the work. There were days I couldn’t believe they were paying me to do this job,” he told CL. “As a young reporter, I would marvel, ‘I can’t believe they’re paying us to do this.’”

Still, you can’t scan your Times press badge at Aldi and get a special discount on your Mama Cozzi’s pizza, Winking Owl wine, cheese, Earth Grown meatless tenders and cauliflower rice.

While he’s heralded as a business guy, Gallaty does have a background in journalism and spent his formative years as an editor.

“My roots, my passions, they’ve always been in high quality journalism. I’ve spent my career working in local publishing and local journalism, so it’s at my core, and it’s at the core of the Times,” Gallaty said. “I think I can contribute in a meaningful way.”

For now, Tash thinks employees will be back in the office before his last day.

“We’ve made the decision to bring people back a number of times, we just haven’t been able to act on it because the damn virus keeps firing up,” he said, adding that he misses the happenstance encounters with staff. “I would have liked to have brought everybody back to the office a month after we scattered on March the 13th of 2020, but it’s gone a little longer than that.”

And it won’t be much longer until Tash—a selfproclaimed Midwestern optimist—has to figure out what to do after the Times, and in a city he thought he might only stay in for three or four years after landing that reporter job.

“I could not have imagined how important the Times would become in my life. It has held me in its embrace longer than my mother, my wife or my daughters,” Tash said. “So it’s a little jarring to think about my life beyond the Tampa Bay Times, but I’m sure it will be a wonderful and rich chapter to come, though it will be different from the last four-plus decades.”

Still, Tash concluded, “I have no complaints.”

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“I could not have imagined how important the Times would become in my life.”

End game And while a lot has changed since the late-’70s, when Tash got to the Times as a reporter, a lot is still the same—mostly the high-quality journalism that Gallaty told CL will remain at the forefront of the Times’ mission. Gallaty will be tasked with making decisions about the newsletters, apps, website design and new newspaper formats that’ll come across his desk.

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JUSTIN GARCIA

Get out

Residents being mass evicted say there’s been dirt in their water for months.

By Justin Garcia

R

esidents being evicted from Holly Court Apartments in North Tampa say that what once felt like a home now seems like a jail.

A black security gate surrounds the property.

Inside, tall metal poles jut up toward the sky between the gray apartments. Cameras point in every direction from each pole, which line the center of the property. Signs posted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) let residents and visitors know that the property is under 24 hour video surveillance and that law enforcement has “full access” to the cameras.

But inside the apartments, what the sheriff can’t see through cameras is how disturbing residents’ lives have been for two months now.

One resident sent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay video showing dirt coming out of their faucet water, which runs off a well on the property. They’ve had to shower in the dirt water for months, they say, and drink bottled water instead of being able to use the tap. The dirt water started around the same time that Palm Communities LLC took over the property in November, they said.

Since then, representatives from the company have come to the property several times accompanied by HCSO deputies. Six people have been evicted at Holly Court since November, Hillsborough County Court records show.

During this time is when the gates and new surveillance system were installed.

“They showed up, put bars around our houses, then all of a sudden say, ‘get out’ with hardly any notice,” said Valerie Smith, a tenant who asked to use a pseudonym out of fear of retaliation from the landlords, and possibly losing her security deposit, which she needs to find new housing.

She, along with several other tenants in the 33-unit complex, many disabled and elderly, now face an uncertain future, after they were led to believe things were stabilizing.

Smith said that while the property managers initially seemed invested in making the apartments safer, on New Year’s Eve, they showed up with HCSO again, this time to serve 30-day notices of eviction to several of the remaining tenants. At the end of January, they have to be out. Bay News 9 first reported on the mass evictions earlier this week, focusing on the experience of a disabled veteran who lives at Holly Court. “They don’t want us talking to anyone about it after Bay News 9 showed up with their cameras and were talking to people, that’s why they barely let you around here,” Smith said.

The property management company did make it difficult for this CL reporter to speak with residents.

HOUSING

As I pulled up to the property and called to the tenants inside to see if they wanted to speak with me, a tenant approached the gate and said “I’ll let you in.” A property manager jumped out of his car to let me know I was trespassing, and that HCSO is keeping an eye on the property.

The tenant backed away. Even after seeing my press credentials, the manager said that I’d have to talk to residents off the property. The tenants motioned to me to go around to the other side of the apartments, and that’s when Smith came out and spoke with me across the street.

“I’m looking for a trailer for me and my family to live in now, but the only thing we can find that’s the same price is in Seffner,” Smith told CL. “That’d be hours on the bus for me each day, because I work in Tampa and I don’t drive.”

She currently pays $850 a month at Holly Court; it’s all her family can afford.

When looking at trailer rental prices in Tampa, she couldn’t find any that were big enough for her family that she can afford.

In the Tampa Metro Area, rent went up 24% last year (the highest in the nation); two weeks ago, Zillow named Tampa the “hottest” housing market in the U.S. The City of Tampa celebrated on social media, but left out the fact that in the Tampa metro, rents skyrocketed last year and are expected to rise again in 2022.

CL reached out to Palm Communities LLC to see if it had any input on why Smith and other residents at the 33-unit apartments are getting the one-month notice to move out. CL also asked if the company could explain why there

are claims that there was dirt in the well water, and why the residents were asked to pay rent in such conditions. The company has not responded, but this post will be updated if it does.

HCSO’s public information officer told CL Tampa Bay that the property manager of Holly Court Apartments contacted them last December, expressing concerns about what the manager claimed to be drug activity and prostitution happening at the property.

“Several members of HCSO made proactive attempts to help make this community safer,” HCSO wrote. “They took the time to meet with the property’s new owner to share ideas such as better lighting and parking pass authorization to help deter criminal activity in the parking lot.

Deputies met with neighbors as well to address their complaints and help them feel secure, as we do with many communities throughout Hillsborough County.”

HCSO said that while cameras already existed on the property before, Palm Communities LLC requested the upgraded camera system that exists now. The PIO said HCSO did not have any documentation or record of interactions between Holly Court management and the sheriff.

In a post about the evictions, the Tampa Tenants Union (TTU) said it plans to stand by the residents at Holly Court apartments as the evictions unfold. “Many are elderly, disabled, and live on fixed incomes and are unable to move,” TTU wrote. “Tampa Tenants Union is ready to stand with them and fight for justice!”

“They don’t want us talking to anyone about it.”

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 13

All quiet

Tampa City Council OKs new noise ordinance, legal precedent says it may be unconstitutional.

By Justin Garcia

A

fter uproar from Ybor City residents and business owners about new noise ordinance amendments, several people showed up to yesterday’s city council meeting to speak against the changes. Despite outcry from the community, and a lawyer pointing out “unconstitutional” aspects of the amendments, city council passed the controversial ordinance 5-1. Only Guido Maniscalco voted no; Luis Viera was absent.

The changes won’t take effect for six months.

In the meantime, council called on city staff to address the most controversial aspects of the new rules and discuss them at a workshop on April 28.

If no changes are made before implementation, the ordinance could ban all amplified sound in Ybor after midnight and allow the police to fine businesses with no warning should they have outdoor music at certain decibel levels. It also restricts decibel levels to conversational volume between 1 a.m.-3 a.m., which is often prime time business hours in Ybor.

Luke Lirot, a local lawyer who has several clients in Ybor, called the ordinance “unconstitutional”, specifically the First Amendment, which includes the right to free speech and the right to assemble. “I believe this is the fifth decade that I’ve been able to talk to the Tampa City Council about First Amendment issues,” Lirot said to council during the meeting. “And I want to stress that that’s exactly what this is for my clients and business operators in Ybor City.”

Lirot explained that music is what his clients in Ybor present as a form of expression and communication, and therefore is protected under the

First Amendment. Any attempt to silence that form of expression, as the ordinance aims to, would violate the constitution for that reason, Lirot said.

“It’s completely unconstitutional as it stands right now,” Lirot told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay today. “But I think the city can be more surgical in the way this ordinance exists, and I look forward to working with them on that.”

Lirot sent CL a list of Florida Supreme Court (FSC) cases that ruled against local noise ordinances because of their unconstitutionality. He said that he also sent it to the city as well.

In Sarasota in 2012, the Florida Supreme Court ruled against a city noise ordinance that aimed to ban drivers from playing loud music in their cars, calling it “unconstitutional.”

Also in 2012, the FSC struck down a state law that regulate music playing at loud volumes from cars because it violates the first amendment.

In 1996, a noise ordinance in Lee County was shot down by the FSC for the same reason.

Lirot said that he understands that there needs to be a balance, but the ordinance is not the way to achieve the goal of regulating noise, saying that the entire original ordinance is flawed.

With 10 seconds left in his speech to council, Lirot said, “I’ll simply say ‘Let’s all get together and fix this before something’s adopted that will bring on nothing but headaches and litigation.’”

The city has not yet responded to questions about Lirot’s claims.

During the presentation of the ordinance, Carole Post, administrator of development and economic opportunity for the city said that the

city was aware of the “debate and discussion” leading up to the meeting.

“The council actually initiated this almost two years ago to update what we believe is a tangle of rules and regulations that have become confusing, and if not really kept pace with the needs of our evolving city,” Post said. “The goal that the council set forth was to simplify and provide consistency and predictability for all businesses and residents, but we recognize it’s a sensitive issue.”

Business owners from Ybor spoke about how the ordinance rules would destroy the culture they’ve helped build there.

Belle Amoroso, who has owned the Las Vegas Tattoo company for the past 20 years with her husband. They moved to Ybor from Las Vegas specifically for its nightlife. “We love it and the tourists love coming here,” Amoroso said. “If you start altering that, you’re going to end up with something quite pathetic actually.”

While most business owners focused on their bottom line, Eric Schiller, who has owned Gaspar’s Grotto with his wife for 18 years, talked about how Tampa taxpayers could be affected by such an ordinance. “If that [outdoor sound] is curtailed, it will have a disastrous effect on our tourism, our hospitality on a hotel room nights on our convention business in particular,” he said.

In contrast to the large turnout against the ordinance, a couple Tampeños spoke in favor of the new rules that will affect Ybor, saying that the noise there disrupted their lives, and several more complained about separate noise

LOCAL NEWS

CHANGE IS COMING: Ybor City’s new noise rules take effect in six months.

14 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

issues in South Tampa. But specifically in reference to Ybor, Lirot pointed out that anyone who came to Ybor (known for its nightlife for over 40 years) and is now complaining, is participating in “coming to the nuisance.”

According to tort law, if the issue that’s being complained about was happening before the complainants who own homes or live in the area impacted by the nuisance (noise), and if the owners were aware of the nuisance-creating activity at the time they purchased the property, the defendant may invoke the defense of coming to the nuisance.

Several business owners and residents pointed out that people should not have moved into a party district only to complain, inadvertently referencing the law.

Tom DeGeorge, spokesman for the Ybor Merchants Association and owner of Crowbar, which he opened in 2006, says that he was especially shocked by officer Brett Owen of the Tampa Police Department pushing to remove the warning for loud noise, because business owners there have tried to work with TPD to address problems there.

He also said that while this ordinance being passed felt discouraging, those who have helped make Ybor what it is over the years aren’t backing down easily. “I’m not happy with the way the city treats the small businesses here as adversarial, we should be working together to figure out a solution,” DeGeorge said. “We’re gonna fight the ordinance, because it’s faulty in the first place.”

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cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 15

Ball games

Rays stadium protest planned, Dick Vitale rips split-season.

By Colin Wolf

D

espite support from a small handful of local rich guys and the Tampa Bay Times editorial board, not everyone is onboard with spending millions in tax dollars on a new Rays stadium, especially one that’s designed to sit empty for half a season.

In response to what he says is a “total scheme,” local podcaster and former WDAE radio host J. P. Peterson is planning a “Save Our Rays Full Season” rally in Ybor this February to protest principal owner Stu Sternberg’s “sister city” split-season plan calling for new stadiums in both Montreal and Tampa’s Ybor City. “’Save’, because he’s threatening to move the team,” said Peterson in a phone call with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “’Our,’ because it’s not just Stu Sternberg’s team, it belongs to Tampa Bay, and obviously, ‘Full Season,’ because, you know, we’re vehemently against the half season idea.”

Arguing that the MLB Players Association won’t approve a season where players are forced to live in Montreal and Tampa, and that the temperature from local fans is overwhelmingly

negative, Peterson says two soon-to-be released Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) feasibility studies will show that the “sister city plan” just doesn’t make sense on paper.

“Look, the TSA is going to say that this half season thing is unworkable,” Peterson says. “The numbers don’t work. It’s not worth $350 million of public money to have half the baseball games in a ‘boutique stadium,’ we’re not going to do it.

But doesn’t matter to Stu, he wants two municipalities to pay for half the stadiums, right?

And then he get three television contracts. One English Canadian contract, one French Canadian contract and then the Tampa Bay one.

That’s where the money is for him.”

As the blog Field of Schemes points out, one of the TSA studies is being “conducted by Irwin Raij, who has previously worked for MLB on both the relocation of the Montreal Expos and the pursuit of an Oakland A’s stadium deal.”

“So you know he’s impartial,” the website added.

“No, not ‘impartial,’ what’s that other word…”

It's worth noting that no exact dollar amount has been attached to the new stadium.

LOCAL NEWS

However, a recent poll sent out by Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s reelection campaign asked residents it they would be fine with publicly subsidizing $350 million in stadium money, while Sternberg pays another $350 million.

But Peterson and his 40-50K listeners aren’t the only ones against the concept.

Despite the weirdly inaccurate framing of a recent Tampa Bay Times headline, Mayor Jane Castor actually says in she’s opposed to the split season idea. On top of this, last October a Canadian nonprofit unveiled a new billboard along I-275, right next to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg reading: “Dear Rays, Montréal won’t pay for your new stadium.

Sincerely, Taxpayers.”

As of now, no specific date has been planned for the “Save Our Rays Full Season” march, but Peterson is asking that any fans groups interested in participating to email him at jp@ thejppetersonshow.com. “So far, Lightning fan groups, Buccaneer fan groups are all reaching out and saying, ‘We’re all in, what do you want us to do?,’” added Peterson.

The JP Peterson Show airs weekdays 10 a.m. -noon EST.

“It’s not worth $350 million of public money to have half the baseball games in a ‘boutique stadium.’”

NON, MERCI: How do you say, ‘Fuck no’ in Français Canadien?

16 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

Legendary sportscaster Dick Vitale blasts Tampa Bay Rays ‘sister city’ plan Sarasota resident, massive Tampa Bay Rays fan and legendary sportscaster Dick Vitale is not saying “This is awesome, baby” to principal owner Stu Sternberg’s “sister city” plan.

Dickie V took to Twitter on Jan. 13 to point out that not everyone agrees with a recent letter to the Tampa Bay Times signed by a bunch of local rich guys, who not only support the idea, but also benefit from a taxpayer funded stadium plopped in the middle of Ybor City.

Vitale then ended the post by stating he agrees with Peterson, a local sports podcaster and former radio host who is currently organizing a protest against the split-season concept later this spring.

Essentially, the “sister city” plan would allow his team to score two publicly-subsidized, halfused stadiums in Tampa and Montreal. No exact dollar amount has been publicly announced for Tampa’s new “boutique” stadium, which would be built in Ybor City, but a poll sent out by Mayor Jane Castor’s reelection campaign asked residents if they were cool with spending $350 million for the idea, with Sternberg reportedly paying another $350 million.

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Bad, getting worse

Report: Pandemic widened Florida’s Black homeownership gap.

By Sofía García Vargas

T

ampa Bay is facing a major housing crisis only made worse by the surge of the pandemic, and now we’re starting to see some of the consequences of being the “hottest market in the country.”

A report published last week by real estate listing giant Zillow, found that the COVID-19 pandemic has only widened the gap to homeownership for Florida’s Black community.

Zillow examined the home value index by race and found that Black-owned homes in October 2021 were worth 16.7% less than the typical U.S. home, according to data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

Last month in Tampa, the average Blackowned home was valued at $292, 801, versus a Latin-home worth $319,511, an Indigenous at $322,616, a white non-Hispanic at $336,235 and an Asian-owned at $338,013.

For comparison, in Jacksonville a Blackowned home is worth about $80,000 less than a white non-Hispanic home. These trends were also found in areas like Orlando ($45,000 less) and Miami ($86,000 less).

While overall home values are projected to increase, Black-owned houses are still valued less than others, says Zillow. Since the early 2000s, Black homeownership across the country has decreased from 49.7% in 2004 to a current 44%, says the report.

The report suggests that prospective Black homebuyers see further setbacks due to limited access to traditional financial services that can help them save money to pay mortgages or down payments.

According to Zillow, Black mortgage applicants are also denied mortgages 84% more than white applicants, and credit history is listed as the main reason they get denied.

Zillow stated that “given typical Black incomes and savings rates, our research shows it could take an additional decade for Black applicants to save the same size down payments as all applicants.”

Nationally, almost 20% of Black applicants were denied a mortgage in 2020, the highest among races and 10.7% higher than white applicants.

Zillow says that Black applicants had the highest denial rates in Mississippi (31%), Louisiana (26.1%), Arkansas (26%) and South Carolina (25.8%). While Florida rates ninth in the country for mortgage denial rates, with 21.8%.

The recent finding comes as Tampa Bay is on track to be even more difficult to live in for non-homeowners. A different report from Zillow last August predicted that Tampa is currently on track to be more rent-burdened than Los Angeles.

HOUSING

NOT THE SAME: Black homebuyers and owners face different obstacles than their white counterparts.

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 19

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Rights stuff

Tampa City Council moves forward on ‘Tenants Bill of Rights.’

By Justin Garcia

O

n Jan. 13, the first reading of an ordinance that mirrors Hillsborough County’s Tenants Bill of Rights was presented to Tampa city council. The reading passed city council 6-1, but not without some questions and arguments about the content of the resolution. A second reading is set for Feb. 3.

If passed, the resolution would require landlords to provide tenants with a notice of their housing rights and a list of tenant assistance resources. Just like the county ordinance, the city’s would also prohibit landlords from discriminating against renters who use government assistance, including Section 8 housing recipients.

Tampa City Attorney Morris Massey said during the council meeting that the content of the city ordinance is “virtually identical” to what the county adopted in March of 2021 by the county.

Still, there was some scrutiny over the ordinance before it moved forward. Councilman John Dingfelder said he was concerned about “mom and pop” landlords who own four properties or less being made to show tenants their rights and resources under the ordinance.

Councilman Charlie Miranda, the only no vote, went on a confusing screed about the ordinance, talking about people buying and selling houses for a profit and how everyone blames the president for the price of gas, not directly addressing the context of the ordinance.

Councilman Joseph Citro said that he wished that state politicians would enact something like the local ordinance statewide, but still voted yes.

Dingfelder’s yes vote came with a compromise.

The council decided that if the ordinance is adopted in February, city staff has six month to send a staff report reviewing how the ordinance is affecting tenants and landlords. “Hesitantly but in the spirit of compromise I’ll vote yes,” Dingfelder said.

Councilman Luis Viera said that he strongly supports the resolution because he’s “seen the need with his own two eyes.”

“I do believe this is an ordinance that responds to something that is not only a problem, but that is a crisis that is getting worse.”

Kennedy Blvd.—to demand rent control as the housing crisis rages on.

While Tampa Bay was recently ranked by Zillow as the “hottest” housing market in the nation for homeowners, this spells bad news for renters, who already saw a drastic spike in rent last year.

“Tampa Bay’s rent increased by a record 24% in 2021, the highest in the nation,” TTU wrote in a post announcing the rally. “In the middle of a pandemic, this massive increase in rents is pricing many out of their homes and even into the streets.”

By all indications, the hot housing market will likely shoot Tampa Bay’s rents up even further. The union said that working families simply cannot afford these massive leaps in rental prices, as a majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

According to Hillsborough and Pinellas Clerk of Court records obtained by CL Tampa Bay, over 8,400 Writs of Possession—the final stage in the eviction process—were issued in 2021. Thousands more evictions were filed with the courts and are being processed. And currently, even “affordable” housing in Tampa Bay can still make those looking for housing rent burdened—spending 30% or more of their income on rent.

According to 2021 Income Limits and Rent Limits data from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, a one person household that makes $41,350 a year can still be charged $1,107 a month for one-bedroom rental under affordable housing guidelines. That’s 32% of the renters’ income. Paying over 30% of one’s income on rent officially makes them rent burdened, leaving them with less money to pay for other important necessities of life like food and transportation.

The City of Tampa has told CL that Florida Statue 166.043, which restricts rent control, presents an obstacle that could be costly and complicated. But she did not say rent control is impossible. The rally comes six days before city council hosts a workshop about a “rent stabilization ordinance” on Feb. 24.

TTU said that with skyrocketing rents, there has never been a more necessary time to fight for rent control than now. “Join us to send a clear message to city council: working people of Tampa demand rent control, nothing less!,” TTU wrote.

AEVAN/ADOBE

HOUSING

“I do believe this is an ordinance that responds to something that is not only a problem, but that is a crisis that is getting worse.”

Tampa Tenant Union plans city hall rally demanding rent control On Feb. 18, the Tampa Tenants Union (TTU) will host a rally at city hall—located at 315 E

RISING HIGH: It’s getting harder and harder to be a renter in Tampa Bay.

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 21

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Taken time

HART says Metro Rapid seats will be reinstalled by next month.

By Justin Garcia

A

month after Tampa Metro Rapid’s removed bus seats first came to light, some stops have seen piecemeal seating reinstalled, while several stops are still gutted. The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART)—which initially said the seats would be fully re-installed by early last December—said that there have been setbacks, and is now aiming for the beginning of February.

That’s when HART hopes to have six seats at all of the Metro Rapid stops, said Nikki Frenney, director of communications and marketing for the transit organization.

“We’ve had some delays because of the holidays and people getting sick with COVID and being exposed to it,” Frenney told CL. “But it’s all hands on deck now to get it done. As of last week, our internal crew has teamed up with our contractor, Insite, to speed up the repairs because we know this is a critical issue for the community.”

Five days after the story broke on Dec. 1, HART told CL the seats would be reinstalled by the end of that week, then later pushed that date to the end of December. It said that the Tampa Police Department (TPD) had requested the removal of the seats in February of 2020, citing general crime such as loitering, vandalism and drug dealing.

After initially letting TPD influence a major transit decision for the county, HART said that despite the concerns of the police, the seats

would be reinstalled because HART’s dedication to riders is “paramount.”

Frenney said that HART’s goal is for six seats at every stop by February, but several stops previously had capacity to seat nine bus riders.

At some stops where there were previously nine seats, Frenney said it may be harder to get to that number because the metal housings where the seats previously sat seem to be vandalized; they are bent and damaged.

When asked if the damage could be from people trying to uncomfortably sit on the housings instead of seats for years, Frenney said the HART team doesn’t think that’s the reason for the damage, and said that the housings instead looked like they could have been “kicked or hit.”

As of today, several Metro Rapid stops up and down Nebraska Avenue are still gutted. Many riders are still doing their uncomfortable balancing act on the metal housings where the seats used to be. Disabled, elderly and other vulnerable people are still forced to stand at several stops. After CL’s article about the problem, some bus stops have seen improvements, where two to three seats have been reinstalled, allowing passengers to sit while waiting.

A handful of stops have all of the seats reinstalled, but they are few and far between, and some stops still have zero seats. If the seats are fully re-installed by February, that will make it two years since TPD requested their removal.

LOCAL NEWS

“If the seats are fully re-installed

by February, that will make it two years since TPD requested their removal.”

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Quit playing games

I can’t figure out Fox News’ favorite Democrat.

F

or the life of me, I couldn’t figure out Kyrsten Sinema’s game. Frustrating though he might be, Joe Manchin at least makes a kind of sense. He’s the last major Democrat standing in a state Donald Trump won by 40 points. Despite being a fixture of West Virginia politics, he was barely reelected in 2018’s blue wave. If he runs again, he’s almost certain to lose in 2024; any chance of winning will require him to distance himself from the Democratic Party.

Besides, Manchin has never claimed to be progressive or liberal. The Maserati-driving coal millionaire is only considered a “moderate” because the Republican Party has skewed our perception of what conservatism looks like. And by all accounts, he really does get high on his own can’t-we-all-get-along supply.

The point is, he doesn’t need the Democratic Party. There’s nothing Chuck Schumer or Joe Biden can do to or for him. But they need him to accomplish anything. He holds the cards.

Sinema is a different story. Sure, so long as she’s one of 50 Senate Democrats, the Arizona senator can block legislation the same as Manchin—and she has. She’s been an enthusiastic thorn in the administration’s side on raising the minimum wage, reining in Pharma, taxing the wealthy, addressing climate change, and most recently, protecting voting rights from statelevel Republican attacks.

Of course, Sinema doesn’t say she opposes voting rights legislation. But she—like Manchin—refuses to contemplate tweaking the Senate’s filibuster to allow that legislation to pass in the face of a Republican blockade. Effectively, it’s the same thing.

Unlike Manchin, however, Sinema has something to lose. Or, at least, you’d think she does.

Sinema’s obstinance hasn’t endeared her to her home state. Her approval ratings are slightly underwater. Interestingly, the bulk of her support comes from Republicans; most Democrats don’t like her. In fact, nearly three-quarters of Arizona Dems say they’d support someone else in a primary.

Arizona is a just right-of-center swing state.

Sinema and Biden won it narrowly in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Politically, it makes sense to buck the party occasionally.

But ostentatiously knee-capping the

president’s agenda at every turn isn’t the only path to victory. Mark Kelly, the Democrat who won a special election in 2020 to serve the rest of John McCain’s term, is slightly underwater, too. But depending on the GOP nominee, his race is considered a toss-up or lean Dem. Sinema, on the other hand, is a dead senator walking. She’ll either get primaried in 2024 and lose, or she’ll run as an independent and lose. When given a choice, the Republicans who tell pollsters they approve of her performance—which is to say, they approve of her being a roadblock—will opt for a true believer.

She must know that.

Then again, former colleagues have described her as brilliant but self-absorbed, convinced she’s the smartest person in the room. Perhaps she thinks she sees something everyone else missed.

It’s possible she’ll leverage her big-donor connections into a high-powered consultancy or corporate position when her term ends. On Twitter, Amy Siskind, the president of the women’s advocacy organization The New Agenda, said an Arizona insider told her Sinema plans to run for president in 2024 “as the candidate of the middle. She has convinced herself this is her calling.”

I wouldn’t put it past her, if only because it’s clear Sinema’s only North Star is her own ambition. Ideology is beside the point. She ran for office as a Green Party activist, and now she’s Fox News’ favorite Democrat.

Her fealty to the filibuster makes sense when viewed through this prism. She can pay lip service to voting rights legislation while ensuring the bill never sees the light of day.

So last Thursday, just before President Biden came to Capitol Hill to urge Senate Democrats to create a filibuster carve-out for voting rights, Sinema took to the Senate floor to announce that she would not. “We have but one democracy,” she said. “We can only survive, we can only keep her, if we do so together.”

Surely, she’s not dumb enough to believe that.

Surely, Sinema knows that the filibuster’s origin story is not as a protector of democracy but a defender of white supremacy—that before its use became de rigueur, white supremacists deployed the filibuster against civil rights and anti-discrimination bills in 1874, 1875, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1963,

GAGE SKIDMORE

By Jeffrey C. Billman

INFORMED DISSENT

“The modern-day filibuster produces a perpetual stalemate, which leads to a dysfunctional government.”

OPPOSITE OF DEMOCRACY: Surely, Kyrsten Sinema knows the filibuster originated as a defender of white supremacy.

1964, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1984, as well as anti-lynching litigation in 1921, 1922, 1925, 1935, and 1938, the creation of a monument to Black World War I soldiers in 1926, an extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1982, and the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day federal holiday in 1983.

Surely, Sinema knows the filibuster is being used to the same effect here—not to aid democracy, but to break it. And by refusing to junk it, she’s not only taking the country further from majoritarian rule but also—in this

case—allowing Republican legislatures to make it harder for Black and Brown people to vote.

That’s the opposite of democracy.

It’s also the opposite of a functioning government. The modern-day filibuster produces a perpetual stalemate, which leads to a dysfunctional government. A dysfunctional, ineffective government erodes trust in institutions, which gives rise to conspiracy theories and radicalism—which leads to a more dysfunctional government.

Sinema probably knows that, too.

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 25

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Shit Happened MIGUEL DISCART, CC BY-SA 2.0

Terry Bollea, a sentient burnt hot dog covered in tanning oil (more commonly known as Hulk Hogan), was once again flamed for antivaccine shit posting in Facebook comments, where one person speculated that Saget’s death was caused by a vaccination shot. “Wellll many directions we can go with this, but I will take jab for $500 Alex,” said the commenter. Hogan then replied, “100% Betty and Sidney were also jabed their dropping like flies but they’ll never say it.” For the record, there’s zero evidence that Saget, Betty or Sidney Poitier died after getting vaccinated. You’re an idiot, brother!

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WEDNESDAY 12 The “Paid Jailer” report highlights how campaign money donated to law enforcement has harmed incarcerated people. Included is an examination of Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri’s connection to private security company G4S Security Solutions, a firm that provides private security services to law enforcement agencies. No one is surprised.

MONDAY 17 Palm Beach Sen. Lori Berman (D), has a “Safe Waterways Act” that would require the Florida Department of Health (DOH) to notify a municipality or county if there’s a health advisory against

28 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

swimming due to elevated bacteria levels in a public bathing place (including enterococci, which is usually found in human and animal feces). Given how much waste water finds its way into Tampa Bay every year, any warning about poop is better than no warning about poop.

TUESDAY 18

BIG BOUNCE USA

MONDAY 10

Speaking of poop, the Guinness-certified world record holder for “World’s Largest Bounce House” announces plans to inflate in Tampa this February outside Raymond James Stadium. I can’t wait for all those kids to accidentally pee in it.

SATURDAY 22 Besides running out of places for people to live, one of the other issues with Tampa Bay’s rapidly increasing population is that we’re also running out of phone numbers, and starting Saturday some of us will be forced to have an incredibly gross 656 area code. At least now we’ll know who got here before it was completely unaffordable.

Shit, but thawing out from this week’s “cold snap,” via cltampa.com/news.

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Brick house

‘Diners Drive-Ins and Dives’-famous modern Chinese restaurant Blackbrick coming this spring.

By Kyla Fields

L

There’s also an extensive selection of dim sum on the menu, featuring traditional small bites like pork and shrimp shumai and har gow crystal shrimp dumplings, alongside Chef Hale creations like the “Miami-style” fried chicken dumpling. Browse the Blackbrick menu to fully prepare for its Tampa debut in a few months.

The New Orleans-native chef is no stranger

and the Institute of Contemporary Art, and has been highlighted by several news outlets, like Bon Appétit magazine. Last year during the height of the pandemic, Miami’s Blackbrick was featured on a special take-out episode of Food Network’s “Diners Drive-Ins and Dives,” so maybe Hales’ bestie Guy Fieri will take an interest in its upcoming Tampa location too.

MIDTOWNCHINESE/FACEBOOK

ast year, Creative Loafing reported that Chef Richard Hales was planning to open his modern American concept Bird & Bone out of the former Pop ‘N Sons diner, adjacent to Raymond James Stadium. But as restaurateurs know, plans change.

Now, Hales and the Grateful Hospitality Group will now be opening Blackbrick—a modern Chinese restaurant— out of the space at 4812 N Dale Mabry Hwy. instead.

“The pause in opening Bird & Bone (caused by delays in licensing) gave Chef Richard Hales a moment to study the Tampa Bay market firsthand, to live in, and become part of the community,” Dominique Mealey, Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy for Grateful Hospitality Group, tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “As part of that process, he realized Blackbrick was needed and a better complement to Tampa’s ever growing dining scene.”

Although the Blackbrick website states that the new restaurant is opening in February 2022, Mealey suggests that it will debut in March instead. Grateful Hospitality Group, which Chef Hales operates with his wife Jenny Hales, are the folks behind popular concepts like Hales Society BBQ, the recently shuttered Bird & Bone in south Florida, and the flagship Blackbrick location in Miami.

Bird & Bone was supposed to continue the old-timey diner feel that Pop ‘N Sons carried for years, and push a menu of American comfort classics—but Blackbrick is vastly different from its sibling.

Traditional Chinese cuisine with a southern twist, Blackbrick’s award-winning menu has two different categories of entrees—Our Specialities, that “represent the chef’s style” and Chinese Classics, a self explanatory ode to centuries of tradition. Some of Hales’ specialties include General Tso’s Florida gator, Sichuan cumin beef with crispy noodles and fried rice loaded with lobster, shrimp, Cantonese-style BBQ pork, bacon and eggs And if you’re unsure of what to order when the Tampa Blackbrick location opens soon, there’s always The Blackbrick Platter—a massive spread of cumin-spiced lamb chops, fried chicken wings and BBQ spare ribs.

It typically serves two people, but can be a solo dinner if you want a little challenge.

HALES YEAH: Richard Hales’ lobster Cantonese with garlic & black bean. to the Bay area as grew up here, but Blackbrick will be Hales’ very first restaurant in his hometown. Hales and his family made the move to Tampa earlier this year, so their hospitality group is now based out of the 813.

Blackbrick’s only other location is in downtown Miami, nestled between the Wynwood Walls

Open Crypto Street According to the Tampa Bay Times, Crypto Street Restaurant owner Ricardo Varona opened the restaurant to do something unexpected. Crypto Street Restaurant’s menu is jam-packed with American and Cuban dishes named after the digital currency like “Crypto

Cuban,”, “Blockchain Club,” “Dogedog,” and the “Bitcoinana Split.” The restaurant said it finally accepted its first Bitcoin transaction back in November. “Our first Bitcoin transaction accepted & processed! Thank you for coming in and leading the path for payment with crypto currency!,” said a Facebook post. 309 Coronado Dr., Clearwater Beach. cryptostreetrestaurant.com—Alexandria Jones Coming soon Clasico Italian Sarasota’s Clasico Italian Chophouse is opening a location at the Brandon Town Center Mall. The Sarasota menu includes an assortment of dishes ranging from seafood to pastas and pizza. Their weekend brunch has our midday faves including Benedicts, chicken & waffles, and sandwiches. No word yet on an official opening date for the second location, so in the meantime, take a drive down I-75 to the Sarasota location at 1341 Main St. clasicosrq.com—Alexandria Jones Flip Crepes and Waffles Ex-patrons of the recently-closed bakery swah-rey might miss its mini cupcake and artisan marshmallows, but there’s another cafe opening in its previous downtown St. Petersburg space that’s set to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Flip Crepes and Waffles will open either at the end of this month, or at the beginning of February. Co-owner Leana Monrazel told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay what the Flip menu will look like, how the current build out is going, and where the inspiration for this new crepe and waffle concept came from.

Read more at cltampa.com/food. 625 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. @flipcrepesandwaffles on Instagram Raising Cane’s Yet another challenger has entered Tampa Bay’s ongoing and hotly contested tendy war. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Louisiana-based restaurant chain Raising Cane’s, known for chicken tenders and sauces, purchased a Village Inn lot in Clearwater. Notably, the lot is directly across the street from a Chick-fil-A restaurant.

It’s unclear when Raising Cane’s plans to open.

But when it does, the concept will have to compete in an already saturated tendie market here in Tampa Bay. 2525 Gulf to Bay Blvd., Clearwater. raisingcanes.com—Colin Wolf

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 31

THE FUTURE IS FEMALE JANUARY 20

Join us for a marathon performance by celebrated pianist Sarah Cahill featuring more than sixty women composers from around the globe.

Cahill kicks off with a blind listening session in which she plays compositions by both men and women, questioning what we conceive as gender in music through the ages. Lee Krasner’s masterful painting, Re-Echo, is showcased during the performance. Audience members are encouraged to drop in and listen for any length of time.

2-8 pm, Marly Room.

Free with museum admission.

These programs are generously sponsored by

OUR WALLS

JANUARY 24–30 Participate in a week-long community art display on the front lawn of the MFA. Using Hughie Lee-Smith’s The Walls, we invite adults and children to create a response to the barriers that walls create in our everyday lives.

Free on the front lawn of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Hughie Lee-Smith, American, 1915–1999, The Walls, 1954, Oil on board, 24 x 36 in., Art Bridges. © 2021 Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith / Licensed by VAGA at ARS, NY

SPIRAL FULL CIRCLE JANUARY 27

Enjoy a multi-genre evening of performances celebrating Spiral, a collective of Black artists formed in the mid-1960s who navigated both the Civil Rights Movement and their individual artistic practices.

Featured performing artists: Tenea D. Johnson, author Speculative fiction inspired by Emma Amos Cranstan Cumberbatch, actor Performance centered on Romare Bearden Butch Thomas, musician Musical suite inspired by Norman Lewis 7–9 pm, Marly Room.

Free with museum admission.

Enjoy special pricing every Thursday after 5:00 pm.

Admission for adults is only $10 after 5:00 pm

32 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

MOVIES

THEATER

ART

CULTURE

That’s my DJ

The Bucs’ DJ Ekin helps kids understand the industry.

“I

just want to do shit that matters,” DJ Ekin tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. The 43-year-old Tampa-based DJ has made a name for himself in the entertainment space, appearing on-screen and on-air across numerous radio stations, at plenty of clubs, and even inside of a massive treasure chest—his personal DJ booth at Raymond James Stadium where he emcees Tampa Bay’s biggest football party.

Ekin has always wanted to make a difference. He’s been founding initiatives toward aiding and inspiring youth since at least 2008, but now, with his latest program, Hip-Hop Study Hall (HHSH), he is attempting to complete that goal on a much larger scale. HHSH is a two-day educational program that aims to teach children about the ins and outs of the music industry, specifically in hip-hop. But it also consists of a podcast and an upcoming app.

HHSH manages to encompass everything Ekin is passionate about: helping youth, sharing industry knowledge, networking, and of course: hip-hop. If there’s one thing he’s proud of, it’s his upbringing as a “hip-hop kid,” which he still describes himself as today.

“I consider myself the epitome of the hip-hop kid because I’ve been in this hip-hop thing from the beginning,” Ekin says.

Baseball and music were Ekin’s two loves growing up. When was 12, he asked his dad for a stereo system like all of his friends had.

Instead, dad showed up and plopped two turntables and a mixer on his desk. “I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a DJ, I had asked him for a stereo system. I didn’t appreciate it back then,” Ekin says.

He says he probably touched the tables once every two weeks. However, he knew that he had a talent for it, he just didn’t know if that was the career path he wanted to follow. At 17, his dad’s time in the military led him to London. The casual DJing eventually turned into his very first paid gig there—and soon after he discovered his name.

“I was a wild ass hip-hop kid out of the country. And the fact that [my friends and I] were not from England is what really made it great because back then it was a phenomenon to see some kids from New York that have everything you may have seen in a hip-hop magazine,” Ekin says. “In England, I had so many Nikes that they started calling me The Nike Kid. I didn’t like it at all and with the slight case of dyslexia that I have, I turned it around and it became DJ Ekin.”

Following London, Ekin did a short stint in the Air Force then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended parties and networked, hanging out at the recording studio. He had thoughts of becoming a rapper, a dancer, and then a recording engineer, an idea that led him to Florida.

“Something clicked and I thought, ‘There’s more to me than just being the guy in the party,’” Ekin says.

SPORTS

Growing up a hip hop kid Ekin was born Bobby Hack in the Bronx, New York on Dec. 11, 1978. His parents were originally from the south; his mother hailed from Virginia and his dad from Alabama. Growing up in the Bronx wasn’t without its struggles but from a very young age Ekin was exposed to the culture of hip-hop.

He was raised in the birthplace of the genre, all during its monumental explosion. His sister was friends with DJ Kool Herc, a Bronx DJ credited with starting the genre, and he would visit their mom’s house often. Herc’s influence began in 1973 when he DJ’d his own sister’s back-to-school party— it was there that his mixing skills introduced hip-hop to the Bronx and then the world. A year after Ekin was born, The Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight,” the first hip-hop song to ever reach the Billboard Top 40; Afrika Bambaataa then dropped the iconic song “Planet Rock” in 1982. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released the impactful “The Message” that same year.

Riding the beat to Florida Around 1998, at 20 years old, he moved to Orlando to prepare to attend Full Sail University. He planned to study to become a recording engineer. However, after enrolling, he realized that something was off. He noticed that his heart wasn’t in producing. With this, he instead decided to attend Valencia College while continued on page 36

SUPERNOLA STUDIOS

By Aaliyah Selene Pasols

PARTY STARTER: DJ Ekin runs the party for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 33

34 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

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continued from page 33 familiarizing himself with the Orlando nightlife scene. He had left Bobby Hack in Georgia; he was now DJ Ekin.

“Florida was the first decision I made that I was like I’m only going to tell people my name is Ekin and this is the move from here on out,” Ekin says.

Around this time he met a girl who had a radio show at Rollins College. He began getting involved with the show and soon thought that maybe radio could be his future. With this epiphany, around 2001, he began to attend the University of Central Florida to pursue a degree in Communications in Radio and TV with a minor in Marketing.

All of Ekin’s networking paid off when a friend of his thought of him for a huge job. Greg Graham, who was working at the music promotions company Promo Only, told Ekin about an opening at the BET SoundStage, a new club that was just about to debut on Disney’s Pleasure Island.

He landed the role and was soon DJing at the popular club 3-4 times a week.

BET Soundstage helped to put Ekin on the map and soon he found himself accepting a position at Power 95.3-FM. While meeting people through street team work, he became acquainted with rapper Scarface’s best friend G Wallace.

This connection soon became yet another job; Ekin ended up working the street team for Def Jam in 2000.

Ekin stresses the significance of networking; it’s something he wants to make sure he emphasizes to kids in Hip-Hop Study Hall. “I always tell people: your network is really what moves you around this thing. If you can get the right network of people, opportunities will come. You can be the greatest DJ in the world but if nobody knows about you, you’re just the greatest in your bedroom,” Ekin says.

Working for Def Jam sent Ekin driving between Orlando and Tampa every week. His presence in Tampa resulted in more and more DJ gigs in the Bay area. “It felt to my Orlando friends like I lived in Tampa at that point,” Ekin says.

In 2003, Ekin graduated from UCF. All of the time he had spent in Tampa proved useful when he secured a job in early 2004 at 95.7-FM The Beat, Tampa Bay’s urban contemporary radio station. It was his first major role in radio and subsequently, he moved to Tampa full-time.

Although he had the title of Promotions Assistant, he was doing much more, like talking to labels, scheduling music, and writing promos. He was the leader of The Beat’s street team and even helped start the internship program.

One of his proudest accomplishments at the station was his part in shaping the radio’s largely popular “Future Flavors” segment. Sprouted out of an initiative by iHeart, the program aimed to highlight independent artists. But according to Ekin, by “independent” they just meant an artist not already signed to the “big five” record labels at the time (Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group).

SPORTS

SUPERNOLA STUDIOS

“ W h at that meant was if you were on Bad Boy Records you were considered independent, which isn’t fair to an actual independent artist,” Ekin says. “[My coworker Stu Robinson and I] went to the office and we said, ‘We get that this is supposed to be 4U: When he’s not mixing, Ekin helps kids understand the industry.

36 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

for independent artists but let’s focus it on Tampa.’

Our bosses said, ‘You handle it, you got it.’ That’s how Future Flavors was created for Tampa here in Tampa. It became a concentration on music that was only coming out of here.”

He stayed there for six years until 2010 when he was fired due to a change in vision from the station. Then in 2012, he accepted a job at Hot 101.5. Although it was a great opportunity, he says, he didn’t feel like he was using his full potential there. He remembers being asked to alter his voice to sound “brighter,” a comment that he viewed as a micro-aggression.

“Maybe I should’ve asked for more clarity, but since it was something that I had never had said to me before, combined with the format of the station, I took it to mean ‘sound more Caucasian,’” Ekin says. To accommodate the request, he changed his pitch when he was on-air.

“It wasn’t the right situation for me,” Ekin says. “I learned a lot and met a lot of people that I still work with to this day but [while I was there] I felt like I was one of the few people where my career was going backward. I felt like people were getting opportunities that I was ready for within six months of being there. At some point, something had to give.”

In 2017 Ekin left his position at the radio station. A few months later he got one of the biggest offers of his career. Again, through skilled networking, his friends at Street Laced Marketing and Promotions, Greg Wolf and Blaise Potts alerted him to a job he would “be perfect for.”

Fast forward and he was soon roaring up the crowd at Raymond James Stadium as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ official DJ. “Knowing Ekin’s background, his professionalism, and the fact that he has worked within the professional sports space, [Blaise Potts and I] knew that when they approached us with who we felt would be the right individual to put in that position, Ekin was gonna be the guy,” Greg Wolf, Vice President of Street Laced, tells CL. “We knew he was gonna understand the vision, the concept, and he’s gonna know what it’s gonna take to bring it to the next level. Out of all of the 40+ DJs on our roster, we knew he was gonna be the guy. And he has 100% been the guy for that.”

Ekin says that the Bucs job has “been crazy” and that it’s nice to be on a team that is “receptive to his ideas.” He’s also a rotating DJ for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Take one look at Ekin’s Instagram and it’s clear he has major Tampa pride.

“I am Tampa now,” Ekin says. “When I started carrying the moniker of Tampa’s Most Connected DJ, it meant something to me.”

Ekin’s love for his community is not something that stopped with his creation of “Future

Flavors.” In February, he brought together plenty of local talent for his Bucs’ anthem, “Rollin’ In The Bay.” Tampa Bay legend Tom G, along with up-and-coming Tampa Bay rappers PyroThePoet, Priceless Scott, Swavor, and VC rapped over an infectious beat by Spindiana Jones. “‘Rollin’ In The Bay’ to me was a chance to showcase Tampa artists on a big stage. It was about an ode to Tampa Bay,” Ekin says. “I figured I could be the connect between all of these dope artists. One of the things I like to do with these people is inspire them. A lot of times we do these records and we don’t do the business.”

With decades of industry knowledge under his belt, Ekin has seen his fair share of bad record deals, sneaky contracts, and unfair limitations placed on artists. He’s developed a passion for sharing this information with young artists and young people dreaming of the industry.

Saved by the bell “The mindset these young artists should have is that: understand that when you create something, you want to own it. You shouldn’t have to create three different things to put your family through college when there’s some guy who had you sign messed up paperwork putting his kids through college on your creation. The thing about creatives is that we get so caught up in the art form that we forget to do the business,” Ekin says.

HHSH was created about three months before the pandemic hit. It’s a program under Ekin’s nonprofit iCare About Me, which was founded in 2009. The nonprofit aims to increase the self-esteem and self-worth of today’s youth.

HHSH still revolves around this mission while focusing on opportunities in the music business.

His first presentation of the program was at East Tampa’s King High School early last year. He walked into a class of 11th graders with rapper Soljah (who helped start HHSH) and one of the first exercises they did was to have kids sign a music contract. Ekin picked three kids and brought them up to the front to show them the “contract.” On the front was the deal, in the middle there was blank paper, and on the back, space for a signature.

The whole class was screaming for them to sign it. Ekin sealed the deal by telling them there would be a million dollars in it for them. One of the most talkative kids grabbed the pen and “signed her life away.”

“It was blank paper!” Ekin says, explaining that artists often get caught up in the moment and sign contracts without reading them. “We took the one million dollars and broke it down to show the kids what it actually means in the music industry. And it doesn’t mean anything. It continued on page 39

“I felt like I was one of the few people where my career was going backward.”

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38 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

FRI. JANUARY 21

SAT. JANUARY 22

Dan Rodriguez

Seth Walker

THU. FEBRUARY 3

L.A.X. (LaRue/Alexander) THU. FEBRUARY 10

FRI. FEBRUARY 4

iEZRA (of Black Taxi) SAT. FEBRUARY 12

Them Coulee Boys DJEKIN/INSTAGRAM

Oshima Brothers

SAT. FEBRUARY 19

WAHH - World Fusion Band SAT. FEBRUARY 26

SUN. FEBRUARY 20

Moors and McCumber FRI. MARCH 11

Banshee Tree

Will Evans

SAT. MARCH 12

THU. MARCH 31

Will Evans

Michael Glabicki (of Rusted Root)

EARLY MIX: Ekin, 12, with the turntables his dad brought home instead of a stereo. continued from page 36 means you owe people one million but you might only walk away with about $50K.” HHSH is divided into parts—the blank contract exercise was an aspect of “Part One: There’s Rules to This.” This section educates kids about the business behind the music; touching on subjects like networking, signing contracts, and owning their work.

“Part Two: Deeper Than Rap” is where Ekin breaks down all of the other available jobs in the industry like recording engineers, managers, booking agents, and more. He says that he wishes kids would look beyond the big chains, fancy cars, and expensive sneakers and think about the jobs behind the scenes. “We got to start showing our kids that these opportunities are there because all they see now is the glamor and the glitz and the bullshit that is on Instagram,” Ekin says.

The third part is “The Pull Up,” where Ekin plans to bring the studio to the kids with a van fully equipped with all of the tools essential to creating music.

Ekin’s main focus right now is building Hip Hop Study Hall to its full potential. Due to the pandemic, he was only able to implement the 2-day educational program at one high school but he hopes to continue soon now that Florida’s schools have loosened their restrictions. His

target age range for HHSH is seventh grade through college sophomores. Schools, clubs, and organizations interested in bringing HHSH to their kids can call 720-984-ICAM or fill out an inquiry form.

He also wants the educational program to live where the kids are—on the internet—to reel in their attention. He recently ended his former DJ Ekin podcast (which focused more on discussions revolving around pop culture and reality TV) to put all of his energy into his Hip Hop Study Hall podcast, which discusses music industry topics and brings in key speakers. “It’s part learning platform, part inspiration, and all things culture,” as Ekin describes it. He is also hoping to get the app off the ground sometime next year.

From rapper to dancer, recording engineer, and radio host, Ekin can now say that he understands his true calling.

“I was so attached to radio for a long time. It was kind of like what I thought made me,” Ekin explains. “But now most of the things that matter to me are for the next set of creators—so that they can have an easier go at it than I did. I just want to leave my mark that way. What matters to me is, ‘What am I giving you?’ ‘What door can I leave open that you can walk through without having to fight to get in?’”

SPORTS

“I was so attached to radio for a long time. It was kind of like what I thought made me.”

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CL Recommends

THU 20

C Anders Osborne Through the years, Swedish-born American singer-songwriter Osborne—as Americana as they come— played alongside Phil Lesh, Derek Trucks and SusanTedeschi and wrote a no. 1 hit for Tim McGraw (“Watch the Wind Blow By”).

Next time get your ticket early, because like Osborne sings “Life Doesn’t Last That Long,” and this one’s sold-out. Ain’t that the damn truth—especially if you don’t wear your mask. (The Attic, Ybor City) Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is on the road—not as the frontman of his iconic British heavy metal group, but instead for a round of spoken-word dates. A press release says the “Evening With Bruce Dickinson” tour will see the iron-lunged belter trading in the guitar pyrotechnics and grotesque Eddie banners of Maiden for a night of solo “storytelling, a-capella singing and audience Q&A. (Tampa Theatre, Tampa) C Todd Snider w/Chicago Farmer Hope you made it to Snider's Wednesday show because this one from one of the hardest working Americans we know has long been sold-out. That’s because the show marks the songwriter’s return to WMNF 88.5-FM’s recently reopened unofficial home, where he last played in January 2020, also in partnership with the community radio station.

A negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the show is required to enter (proof of vaxx will be accepted in lieu of a negative test), so make sure to bring along your favorite Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White American Male to the party. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)

FRI 21

C Dan Rodriguez There’s never, ever, a shortage of solid singer-songwriter shows in the Bay area, and fans of the genre have a hard decision to make on Friday. That’s because Dan Rodriguez, a Detroit-born, Minneapolis-based, bard, is at the quirky Safety Harbor Art & Music Center while Van Plating and Blake Daniels play Hooch and Hive, a West River district venue 20 miles away in Tampa. All three artists are fresh off new releases—Rodriguez’ Quarantine Sessions, Daniels’ indie-pop/Americana gem Break the Cycle, and Van Plating’s simultaneously shimmery, gritty and vulnerable November album The Way Down—and all three put on a hell of a show. It’s a can’t lose, no matter which neighborhood you end up in. (Safety Harbor Art & Music Center, Safety Harbor)

JD Simo & GA-20 It’s blues on blues when vocalist-guitarist JD Simo—who just worked with director Baz Luhrmann on his upcoming Elvis biopic—teams up with Boston trio GA-20 for two wintery Florida shows. Ruth Eckerd Hall’s intimate Murray Theatre welcomes the classic Chicago-style combo for the first time on Friday (with a new allotment of $17.50 tickets made available right when we sent this to press) then it’s over to Lakeland’s even more intimate Union Hall on Saturday. The music will satisfy fans of Black Keys but also more traditional acts like John Lee Hooker.

Whatever style you’re a fan of, wear a mask.

(Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

SAT 22

C Com Truise Seth Haley has a long tour history in Tampa Bay, having opened for Tycho at Jannus Live but also played the now-closed Czar with Glitch Mob and even Orpheum to open for STRFKR. Haley—better known as Com Truise—returns to Orpheum as headliner this weekend in support of his 2019 album, Persuasion System, where he headed in a darker direction. The 36-year-old producer rebuilt and reconfigured his sound for the new mini-album—released, as always, by rulebreaker imprint Ghostly International— bursting with new moods, new tools and new sound possibilities. Though still nodding towards the aesthetics and sonic palettes of 1980s synth music, Com Truise’s music is more subtle and richly orchestrated, well beyond any synthwave trends. (Orpheum, Ybor City)—Matthew Moyer C Dead Mirrors w/ Roxx Revolt & The Velvets/Ghost Front/Mindwash Tampa’s Dead Mirrors—possibly the angriest band in the 813—will help you get your frustrations out with a good ol’ rock show, and you’re going to want to get there early to see why fans can’t get enough of Roxx Revolt & The Velvets which is equally as rocking but with ‘70s NYC glam-meets-Manchester’s-”24 Hour Party People”-scene vibes. Opener Ghost Front features an all-star lineup with Adam Revak on drums, bassist Sean Pomeroy, guitarist Michael Ingold and surreal vocalist Kristina White while “think trash” act Mindwash rounds out the stacked lineup.

(Mindwash frontman Laith Abdel is celebrating a birthday, so buy him tequila.) There’s been a few show cancellations at the Ybor City venue lately thanks to omicron, so if you go please mask up and tip the bartenders like the world is ending. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

that the 50-plus year-old band he co-founded hasn’t been considered for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet. “I would have loved to have the induction take place before Paul [Barrere] passed away,” he told CL. Read our full interview via cltampa.com/music. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)—Josh Bradley Michael Bolton Do you want your parents to rekindle the kind of love they had over 2-4-1 Beringer white zins at Stadium Bennigan’s? A time when you could smoke inside restaurants, Michael Bolton’s hair was long, and his voice was the soundtrack to their procreating? Well, the smooth singer’s luxurious locks may be gone (tell me, how are we supposed to live without those waves?) but his buttery vocals still remain.

Bolton will be in Clearwater this week, so treat your mom and pops (or mom and her new beau) to a couple of tickets. And just when you thought you couldn’t vom in your mouth anymore, check out the Grammyaward singer’s “Jungle Cruise” ride operator sexified culturally-inappropriate cosplay in the ‘95 video “Can I touch you…there?”.

Hey, at least he asked for consent. (Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)

WED 26

C Corinne Bailey Rae & Joss Stone You can’t say that these two U.K. songwriters have led boring lives in recent years—including

during the pandemic. In November, a duet between Rae and Miles Kane, entitled “Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be Good Enough,” dropped onto streaming services. And in September 2020, Stone won the second series of “The Masked Singer” while wearing a sausage suit. This is Rae’s Tampa Bay debut, while Stone once opened for the Rolling Stones when they played Tampa in 2005. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)—Josh Bradley

Also playing (and coming next week) Discord Theory w/Felicity/Television Supervision/Hollyglen Friday, Jan. 21. 8 p.m. $12. Crowbar, Ybor City The Marshall Tucker Band w/Firefall/ Bertie Higgins Friday, Jan. 21. 7:30 p.m. $28.75-$82.75. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater The Righteous Brothers Friday-Saturday, Jan. 21-22. 7:30 p.m. $49-$95. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Selwyn Birchwood Friday, Jan. 21. 8 p.m. $22-$40. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg Ilan Bluestone Saturday, Jan. 22. 10 p.m. $15. The Ritz, Ybor City Authority Zero Thursday, Jan. 27. $20.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg.

Dwight Yoakam Thursday, Jan. 27. 8 p.m. $48.25-$103.25. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

Corinne Bailey Rae

RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

By Stephanie Powers & Ray Roa

TUES 25

Little Feat w/Jack Broadbent Rock and roll notables Elton John and Jimmy Page have cited Little Feat as especially favorable comrades in years past. And while keyboardist Bill Payne is surely happy for his admirers having immense success, he’s concerned

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 41

When it comes to country music, few names elicit the kind of excitement Charley Crockett does. Armed with a classic country sound and a big voice that could blanket the south, the 38-year-old, road-tested and fast-rising songwriter had a busy 2021 that saw him release two albums—10 For Slim: Charley Crockett Sings James Hand and Music City USA—as a follow up to his acclaimed 2020 release Welcome To Hard Times.

BOBBY COCHRAN

Now we get to see what all the fuss is about when Crockett brings his “Jukebox Charley” tour to Tampa Theatre on Tuesday, March 22. Tickets for the show go on sale Friday, Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. and start at $24.50. The show, as far as we can tell is Crockett’s Tampa debut (CL reached out to Crockett to see if he stopped here in his train-hopping days), and should be a fine intro to one of America’s finest purveyors of country that also touches R&B, soul, Cajun and western swing. See more of Josh Bradley’s newly announced, canceled and postponed concert roundup below.— Ray Roa

Karaoke

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It Will Flood (EP Release) w/Low Season/Helena Kletch/Todd Tedder Saturday, Jan. 29. 8 p.m. Free, but stage donations recommended. Hideaway Cafe, St. Petersburg Femmes & Follies Saturday, Feb. 5. 7 p.m. $20-$500. The Ritz, Ybor City

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Stephen Kellogg Saturday, Apr. 30. 8 p.m. $35-$50. The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Tampa.

Koe Wetzel Thursday, May 5. 8 p.m. $36.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Leonid & Friends Thursday, May 19.

8 p.m. $49.50-$79.50. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Jesse Terry Saturday, Feb. 5. 8 p.m. $15.

Hideaway Cafe, St. Petersburg

Suicide Silence w/Carnifex/Lorna Shore/Upon A Burning Body/ AngelMaker/DISTANT/more Wednesday, May 25. 5 p.m. $30-$60. Orpheum, Ybor City

The Arrival Note (Album Release) w/ Planet Loser/Secret World Friday, Feb. 11. 7 p.m. $10 at door. Wild Roots, St. Petersburg

Ted Nugent Friday, Jul. 15. 8 p.m. $33.25$53.25. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

Heart By Heart Friday, Feb. 11. 8 p.m. $24.50-$39.50. Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo

AT

42 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

Tisoki w/X&G Friday, Jan. 28. 10 p.m. Free before 11 p.m. The Ritz, Ybor City

Hanson Sunday, Jul. 17. 7 p.m. $39.50.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Zac Brown Band w/Robert Randolph Saturday, Oct. 8. 7 p.m. Prices TBA. MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa

Dead Horses Thursday, Feb. 24. 8 p.m. $20-$35. The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Tampa

Cancellations/reschedules

Nitti Gritti Friday, Feb. 25. 10 p.m. $15. The Ritz, Ybor City

Baroness at Crowbar, Jan. 19 Rescheduled to March 16

Theory of a Deadman Wednesday, Mar. 2.

8 p.m. $35-$130. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

Tonstartssbandht w/Brother Cephus/ Alien House at Hooch and Hive, Jan. 22 Rescheduled to April 9

Michael Glabicki and Dirk Miller Thursday, Mar. 31. 7:30 p.m. $30. Safety Harbor Art and Music Center, Safety Harbor

Los Lobos w/Taj Mahal at Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Feb. 10 Edwin McCain will replace Taj Mahal

Nurko Saturday, Apr. 23. 10 p.m. Free before 11 p.m. The Ritz, Ybor City

Big Band Of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration Of the Allman Brothers Band at Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Jan. 26 Postponed to Jan. 26, 2023

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Fast and furious

By Dan Savage

The truly important question here isn’t why you want this, SPANK, but how much more time you’re gonna waste sitting on your ass wondering why you want this when you could be out there getting that ass spanked? And even if you came up with a neat and tidy answer, you’re still gonna want older men to spank you. Because getting to the bottom of a kink—identifying some childhood trauma that explains everything—isn’t a cure. Instead of seeing the spankings you want as a riddle you need to solve you should see them as a reward for all the wondering you’ve had to do. If you need a label, SPANK, just say you’re bisexual for spankings. Not bi for blowjobs, not bi for anal, not bi for JO or mutual masturbation. Just bi for spankings.

You could penetrate your BF with toys, or you could take one (or give one) for the team once in a while (by taking ED meds and topping him), or your boyfriend could bottom for other men, seeing as your relationship is already open. Or all of the above. And if it’s the thrusting and/ or being in control that turns you off (or tweaks your gender dysphoria), take an ED med and let your boyfriend ride your hard dick—then instead of you fucking him, he’ll be fucking himself. Power bottom, sub top!

I’m wondering how AJ, the FinDom you quoted at length in your most recent column, wound up on your radar and getting what amounted to free advertising in your column. You said he lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Isn’t that where you live, Dan? And you said his bathroom is always spotlessly clean. How would you know that? Are you his bathroom?—Dan’s Ethics Are Lacking

SAVAGE LOVE

I like the way you walk the talk because gay guys in women’s clothes get me hard and horny and when I see a gay guy dressed in sexy clothing it just makes me want to jerk off and maybe one day I’ll meet a gay guy like you and suck and blow him.—Gooning About Gay Guys In Naughty Gowns Articles of clothing don’t have genders, GAGGING, because anyone can wear anything, as Billy Porter was sent down to earth to teach us. Also, not all gowns are naughty— think night, hospital, dressing, etc. That said, GAGGING, I don’t wear the kind of clothing the cishet patriarchy would have us believe is for women alone. Well, I don’t wear that stuff anymore. I used to drag, GAGGING, and the pictures are out there, but I haven’t worn so much as a skirt for years. So, you can stop thinking about sucking my dick.

I’m hoping to get an objective POV on something. I’m a 31-year-old male bottom. I have been in an open relationship with an amazing 31-yearold male top for 12 years. One year ago I started to suffer some gender dysphoria. At roughly the same time he expressed a desire to be topped. I never had any desire to top someone, I’ve never even felt that male urge to thrust my hips, but I hate that I’ve let my BF down. I can do this, but only with the help of ED meds. How can I get some pleasure out of it?—Topping Burden

I’ve never met AJ in person, there’s more than one city in the Pacific Northwest (and we don’t live in the same one), and I found AJ looking for gay FinDoms on Twitter who might want to answer CASHFAG’s question. That said, DEAL, while I’m far too cheap to be anyone’s finsub (or their sugar daddy, for that matter), I do enjoy cleaning bathrooms—but not in a pervy way. I enjoy cleaning bathrooms in an eat-an-edible-and-listen-to-musicals-and-zoneout-doing-housework-while-the-husband-andhis-boyfriend-are-at- the-gym sort of way. So, while I wouldn’t necessarily say no to cleaning AJ’s bathroom, I haven’t been asked, DEAL, and consequently haven’t had the pleasure.

This is about your recent response to UNCUT, the guy who met men who believed they were uncut when they were very much cut. You suggested that these men were lying about being uncircumcised.

But not knowing might be more common than we assume. This is from Epidemiology, the authoritative textbook written by Leon Gordis of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: “They asked a group of men whether or not they had been circumcised. The men were then examined by a physician.

Of the 56 men who stated they were circumcised, 19, or 33.9%, were found to be uncircumcised. Of the 136 men who stated they were not circumcised, 47, or 34.6% were found to be circumcised. These data demonstrate that the findings from studies using interview data may not always be clearcut.”—Some Truly Are Thrown While it’s true that men lie to prospective sex partners all the time—and, yes, #NotAllMen and

JOE NEWTON

I’m a straight guy but my whole life I have wanted to be spanked by older men. Does this make any sense? Because I’m confused. I don’t like or want penis. Yet I want to be spanked as a punishment by men. I don’t understand myself sometimes.—Sincerely Pondering And Not Knowing

#SomeWomenToo—it turns out that men may not be lying about this. In addition to the textbook example you shared, STAT, other readers sent along a clip of Patrick Stewart on the “Graham Norton Show.” In it, Stewart tells Norton he got into an argument with his wife about his dick one day. He insisted he was circumcised, she insisted he was not. Stewart, who thought he knew his own dick, followed up with his doctor and it turned out his wife, who may have had a larger frame of reference, was correct: contrary to what Stewart believed about his own dick, he was not circumcised as an infant or at any time in his life. The clip, which is easy to find on YouTube (and very funny), is yet more evidence—anecdotal, in Stewart’s case—that some men don’t know from their own dicks.

In your reply to “SADSON” you are clearly taking sides based on how comfortable you must be about withholding the truth from a partner.

You say the father should have “kept his mouth shut” about the affair he had! You know nothing about this couple’s values and decisions! Who are you to push your views on others? Many of us consider lying about cheating reprehensible! And the last sentence of your response (“I hope there were other women”) was astonishingly juvenile, meanspirited, and vindictive—and for what reason? To take sides against a clearly tormented heterosexual woman! Disgusting and shameful!—Thoroughly Appalling Take Enrages Reader This is an advice column, TATER. People send in questions; I answer those questions.

So, I’m not pushing my views on anyone here.

I’m sharing my views. That’s literally my job.

And I’m not the first advice columnist to urge a cheater to withhold the truth from a partner: “The adulterer who wants to ‘set everything right’ by telling all would be better advised to keep his mouth shut and work out his guilt by behaving in a more thoughtful, loving, considerate way and stay out of other beds in the future.”

That’s from the “Ann Landers Encyclopedia,” which was published in 1978. (Ann assumes all adulterers are male; I guess she could also be accused of “taking sides.”)

In the case of SADSON’s parents, TATER, don’t you think SADSON’s mom would’ve been happier if her husband had taken Ann Landers’ advice and kept his fucking mouth shut? Instead, SADSON’s dad told SADSON’s mom about the affair he’d had a decade after it was over. So, it wasn’t the affair that tormented SADSON’s mom, but knowing about it. As for my snarky post-script (“I hope there were other women”), SADSON’s mom has made her husband’s life a daily living hell for 30 years. Why? Because he fucked somebody else 40 years ago. I don’t know about you, TATER, but I think the punishment should fit the crime. And there’s only one way that’s possible here: more crimes, lots of crimes, so many crimes.

Send queries to questions@savagelove.net, follow @FakeDanSavage on Twitter, then get columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love!

cltampa.com | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | 45

46 | JANUARY 20 - 26, 2021 | cltampa.com

creative loafing puzzler IF I WROTE THE DICTIONARY (3)

by Merl Reagle ACROSS 1 Diazepam, commonly 7 Cougar 11 Opposite of 53 Down 18 Legend from Hoboken 19 Take it ___ oneself 20 Tests the fit of 21 (adj.) loud and obnoxious, as chewing-gum commercials 22 Two before “do” 23 (adj.) pertaining to books 24 Horn sounds 25 Indian instruments 28 Card that identifies you in the mobile world 29 First name in scat 30 A Corleone 32 (n.) a French fur trader 36 Modern opening 37 Loft contents 38 Like D.H. Lawrence: abbr.

40 Tortilla creation 41 School org. for bright kids 43 Eats like a cow 46 Avid 48 Secret group 50 Ornamental band around a room 52 Baseball manager Joe 54 (n.) a market system in which personal income becomes government income as soon as possible 56 A little hoarse 57 A little horse 1

2

58 View from the bridge?

60 Main course 61 Sgt. Snorkel’s dog 62 Seethe 63 Newsman Lehrer 64 Intelligence 65 (n.) overeagerness at a wine-tasting 68 Slangy toddler 71 Arrest 72 Bad luck charm 73 Old oil co.

77 Port near the Chunnel 78 Calendar abbr.

79 Sight in a bachelor’s fridge 80 “Robot” coiner 81 (n.) lens spray 83 Blazing 85 Empire builders 86 Nastiness 87 Rector 89 Votes thumbs down 91 President pro ___ 92 Millett or Moss 93 Quatorze 95 The Black, for one 96 Sgt., for one 99 (n.) girlishness 103 Jagger and Taylor 105 Hot spot 106 Archer’s asset 107 To suddenly appear on water 109 Lofty home 110 (n.) an M.D. specializing in the lower tract 114 Get in touch with 115 (n.) a small landfill 118 “Sweet potato” 119 Latin abbr.

120 Snooty 121 Gone up against 122 Electronics giant 123 Return payment?

3

DOWN 1 (n.) a studier of manly men 4

5

6

18

25

29

30

36

50

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21 26 27 30 31 33 34 35 37 39 42 44 45 47 48 49 50 51 53

8

44

20 23 27 32

52

39 46

82

86

87

100

111

112

107 113

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84

85 89

102

106

Gentle Touch

67

93

101

35

with a

64

88

92 99

34

Strong Hands

“Reuniting the separated”

60

79 83

16

@ THE RELAXATION STATION

Tanya More

Specializing twinflame, soul mate, love triangles.

55

59

72

78

91

48

66

81

15

41

54

71

77

14

33

63

70

13

MASSAGE

BY BUTCH

Psychic Reader & Advisor

28

47

58

65 69

12

40

53

62

68

11

22

57

61

10

26

45

51

9

19

38

56

110

9

55 Office machine 85 Off weeks, Singer Baker giant in sports Mates 88 Lowers Suburban ending 57 Eliot, for one 59 Musical chord 90 Pop the question Java dispenser 62 Henchman in The 92 Attire for Akira Dull finish Godfather 94 Singer Damone (adj.) pertaining to 63 Triangular sail 97 Meryl’s The sleeping cars Bridges of ___ the crack of 64 Constrict 65 The ___ rate Madison County dawn 66 Maternity ward co-star Bike or boat beamers 98 Designer Cassini preceder 67 Floor squares 100 Rite, to Gide Bring to life 68 Descend using 101 Protest Giant Hall of rope 102 A Muse Famer 69 Final syllable 104 Relinquisher Raisin city 70 Horse’s pace 105 It means “sun” Mr. ___ 73 Make 108 Spanish dessert (handyman) 109 Living qtrs.

Polite offer of help 74 (n.) any oldfashioned term 110 Pan pal?

Patricia O’Conner describing 111 Electronics giant grammar book, amorous 112 Good wood Woe ___ behavior, such as 113 Sprinted Cambodia’s “pitching woo” or 116 Biological suffix Lon ___ “lovey-dovey” meaning “little” Wind dir.

75 D.C. abbr.

117 A short amt. of Pilfered time British WWII gun 76 Approves Work by Horace 77 At no extra ___ 78 Condition Meager 79 (adj.) resembling Bother PUZZLE FANS ! a small shopping Deli bread For info on Merl's center “Gon” intro Sunday crossword 80 Manuel’s house Still enjoying womb 82 Little fight anthologies, visit service? www.sunday 84 Murdoch’s Ving of Pulp crosswords.com. network Fiction Unclear Solution to You Light Up My Face Sound of a dog S L A V S S A P C A P N T A P E R S with MA D E A S A L E OMOO U T OP I A doubts E V E R Y T H I NGB U T T R E P E N T WA ND E L I HU OME N EGO Real name of I S R SMOK E S P E R SON Roy Rogers, MOA T E AMS T E R E RGO I NCORON A L OG I C A L ORD E R Leonard ___ S U L F A NCO AGOG E SQU E Foreclosed-on P U F F E S SOR WR E S T U S A trailer, for example E E L POO F E ROS A S S I G O R B U Y Y O U R L E A F C L OY Unfeeling RUR SOR E F R E E I R A Credit’s opposite A L A TWE A K T AMP A R I NG QA T A R R E AM N I X A RO L L Late-night first GE T A L ONG L I T T L E S T OG I E name R I A L A L OOK S E E OB I CU B A ND I OX I D E RD S Against A N A DOR F R E T RO H A ND To’s opposite C I RC L E C I GA RN E YWE A V E R T O T H E R A L A N D R E S S D OWN Backstabber I N S E T S S E P T S I S L E N T O Surfing the net

31

37 43

8

7

21 24

2 3 4 5 6 7

94 103

90 95

104

105

108

109

114

115

118

119

120

121

122

123

116

117

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