Creative Loafing Tampa — June 10, 2021

CREATIVE LOAFING • CLTAMPA.COM JUNE 10-16, 2021 (VOL.34, NO.23) • $FREE

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each or try all three

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PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf FOOD and THEATER CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge FILM & TV CRITIC John Allman

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JEANNIE MOUNGER

CONTRIBUTORS Josh Bradley, Rachel Covello, Justin Garcia, Yuki Jackson, Alexandria Jones, Joe Newton, Stephanie Powers, Jennifer Ring, Cory Robinson, Dan Savage INTERNS Apply for fall via rroa@cltampa.com

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora

SeaWorld in February, animal rights SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES claiming theAnthony practiceCarbone, of keeping wild Scott Zepeda d dangerous. But even though public atmany SeaWorld in animal rights MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND don’t seeFebruary, a parallel between the kind claiming the practice of keeping wild EVENTS DIRECTOR k, and the practice of displaying animals Alexis Quinn Chamberlain nd dangerous. even though publicfor a asking for tooBut much?

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ck and the practice of displaying animals EVENTS COORDINATOR Lauren Caplinger s asking for too much? Or is it time for a ent” animals? EUCLID MEDIA GROUP

Looking at the proposed developments makes you realize how precious the land is.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Andrew Zelman CHIEF OFFICERS 40 Music: Tampa BayOPERATING Blues Fest ...........................

Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Music Week ................................................... 42 VP OF DIGITAL SERVICES Stacy Volhein Music: Tampa Fest ...........................

40 Concert review:Bay ArticBlues Monkeys ..........................

42 DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Jaime Monzon Music ...................................................

42 The ListWeek ..........................................................

46 Concert review: Artic Monkeys .......................... 42 Movie reviews .....................................................

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euclidmediagroup.com

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New documentary captures beauty of USF forest preserve, p. 33.

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Movie ........................................................... reviews..................................................... 63 Puzzler 66 Puzzler ........................................................... 66

EDITORIAL POLICY — Creative Loafing Savage Love ......................................................

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

Creative Loafing Tampa is published by Tampa Weekly, LLC, 204 E. Henderson Ave., Tampa, FL, 33602. The physical edition is available free of charge at locations throughout Tampa Bay and online at cltampa.com. Copyright 2020, Tampa Weekly, LLC. The newspaper is produced and printed on Indigenous cltv How was your Date?Bay’s land belonging to Tampa m/cltv cltampa.com/movies Tocobaga andyour Seminole How was Date?tribes.

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It’s the end of the era.

St. Petersburg artist Dan Painter is selling his iconic ‘Tiny Town,’ p. 43.

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/music Say bye to your money, concerts are back /news ILOVEFL /arts Grant money for artists photos.cltampa.com Most anticipated new restaurants

Sat. June 12th

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For the records

PrideFest, RSD and tiki among things to do this weekend.

By Ray Roa

P

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just the same as they do any other day doors are open. recordstoreday.com Aloha Room Pop-Up at Intermezzo There’s just 400 feet of sidewalk between the new Burnt Ends Tiki Bar at Dr. BBQ and downtown St. Pete bar scene staple Intermezzo, but who said there’s a limit on how much tiki the rounded corner at 11th Street and Central Avenue can handle?

Certainly not Intermezzo owner Jarrett Sabatini who, in a press release, promises tiki flair and cocktails at this pop-up where, “We have sourced recipes and taken inspiration from the originators of the 1940’s and 1950’s tiki movement to bring something authentically inauthentic to St. Pete.” The pop-up runs through the month and culminates with a Pride Luau Party on June 26.

For kicks, we asked Sabatini what ingredients were in his “authentically inauthentic” Navy grog. We haven’t heard back yet, but it’s also kind of awkward to think about a Pride Luau at Sabatini’s bar. While Jarrett has distanced himself from past comments made by his brother (blackface-wearing, mask lawsuit-filing Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini), CL asked Jarrett if there was anything to say to those who point out that, in February, Anthony pretty much set the blueprint for Florida’s new trans sports law when he filed legislation that would, in part, bar transgender girls from competing in girl’s sports.

CL didn’t hear back about the luau in time for press either, but we’ll update this post online with any new comment. Pop-up runs through June. Pride Luau on Saturday, June 26, 7 p.m.

Intermezzo Coffee & Cocktails, 1111 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. intermezzo.co

RAY ROA

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ride month rolls on, and a re-imagined celebration format has hit its stride in St. Petersburg. This weekend, as part of PrideFest’s “family week,” organizers invite the community to Straub Park and the St. Pete Pier on Saturday, June 12 for a “We Are Family” gathering of LGBTQ+ families and allies. It’s $5 a ticket and runs from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. More information on the event—and the rest listed below—is available via cltampa.com/magazine.

Ink the Bay A three-day tattoo convention and competition gets off the ground in downtown Tampa starting Friday when Ink the Bay arrives at the convention center. There are daily tattoo contests (no blood) and a Saturday pinup contest judged by a four-person panel that includes Miss Tampa Pinup 2019 Mayzie Mac, but the rest of the weekend also promises aerialists, pole fitness demos, bands, DJs plus dozens of tattoo artists from across the country (all introduced on the convention’s Instagram page, @inkthebay). June 11-13 (doors 1 p.m., noon and 10 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively). $15-$20 (kids 0-3 free; 4-14, $10). Tampa Convention Center, 333 S Franklin St., Tampa. inkthebay.com Record Store Day Because COVID, limited edition drops for Record Store Day 2021 are being split into two afternoons, with the first happening on June 12. Bay area shops are handling things differently with most local favorites offering limited-capacity shopping and different opening hours (8 a.m. at Mojo Books and Kingfish, 9:30 a.m. at Daddy Kool, 11 a.m. at Microgroove) while other beloved shops like Steelworker sell their unique daily inventory

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Record Store Day is happening on two days in 2021, including June 12.

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POLITICS

ISSUES

OPINION

Choke point

As USF ponders developing forest preserve, filmmaker highlights habitat’s importance.

A

documentary highlighting the importance of the USF Forest Preserve (USFFP) premiered on Tuesday at New World Brewery in Tampa— and organizers saved a seat for university president Steve Currall (as of press time, it was unclear if Curall attended, look for an update online).

The fate of the preserve is uncertain as students, teachers and activists push back on USF leadership’s inquiry into development of the land.

That’s why Luke Myers directed and produced “Choke Point” with his colleagues. He aims to show just what is at stake should development take place.

“Standing next to those gigantic Cypress trees makes you feel pretty young,“ Myers, 33, tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “Being out there, then looking at the proposed developments makes you realize how precious the land is, how we take its existence for granted. And how easily it could be destroyed.”

The 12-minute short film follows USF biologists Jeannie Mounger, Christian Brown and Stephen Hesterberg as they hike through the preserve, observe its wild wonders, and discuss why they fight to save the land with the activist group Save USF Forest Preserve. The biologists and activists were present at the event, and had a Q&A session after the film.

The documentary is titled “Choke Point” because USFFP connects the Cypress Creek floodplain—which includes the Cypress Creek Preserve and the Cypress Creek Flood Detention area—with the Green Swamp and Richloam Wildlife Management Area. If any of the property were to be developed, animals would be unable to easily enter or leave the Cypress Creek watershed, thus choking out the wildlife there.

USFFP also connects to the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve, Hillsborough River State Park, Upper Hillsborough Preserve, and Colt Creek State Park. Under the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which protects migration paths for animals, USFFP should be protected from any type of development. Still, USF is accepting ideas for construction there.

WUSF reports that the university has already received eight different proposals to develop the preserve, with plans that pitch things from affordable housing to a football stadium.

Myers says that the title is a double entendre.

While it references the environmental features of the area, it also refers to USF’s exploration of development on the land.

“It’s disgusting,” Myers says. “And it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Myers, who graduated this spring with his MFA from USF, says he’s not surprised that the university leadership is still exploring development suggestions. He, along with other USF students and faculty, say that they were not notified when the college leadership began seeking out developer ideas for the 769-acre property (which also includes The Claw golf course). They found out instead through an article published by The Tampa Bay Business Journal in April.

Activists add that USF leadership admitted in meetings that they failed to consult with any experts about the importance of the land, its biodiversity, its Indigenous cultural heritage sites, and its value as a core educational facility.

USF says that it is simply exploring options that might be available on the property.

“The Request for Information allows USF to gauge interest and obtain information to consider the best strategy for a potential project that could provide greater financial resources to support the university’s mission and benefit our students, faculty and staff,” Adam Freeman, Director of Media Relations for USF, said in a statement.

WUSF added that after evaluating submissions, an advisory committee will provide recommendations to USF President Steven Currall who will then decide whether to advance to a more formalized “request-for-proposals” stage that would include a more competitive submission process.

JEANNIE MOUNGER

By Justin Garcia

ENVIRONMENT

“It’s disgusting and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

PLANTASIA: USF is taking development proposals for its fragile forest preserve property.

Students and faculty know USFFP as a crucial ecosystem, supporting thousands of species of wildlife, including over 20 endangered plant and animal species. Important learning opportunities can be found only within the preserve, and the forest helps clean the waters of the Hillsborough River as it flows into Tampa Bay. Since April, Save USFFP’s fight against development has ramped up, and has gained over 20,000 signatures on its change.org petition. In May, they held a rally in front of the preserve, which was co-hosted by USF’s Students for a Democratic Society, a group that was technically

suspended by the university’s leadership for their activism last year.

Activists say that they have no plans to back away from defending the preserve, despite the university’s claim that they are just looking into options. But, they’re open to productive dialogue should USF leadership wish to participate.

“And of course we’re saving one seat for @ presidentcurrall,” Save USFFP wrote in their announcement about the documentary, tagging USF President Steve Currall in the post.

Visit cltampa.com/magazine to find a link to the documentary.

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What to do with a problem like Joe Manchin?

More important: What to do about the problem Manchin refuses to see?

By Jeffrey C. Billman

O

n Saturday, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s chief of staff, former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, spent the waning weeks of the administration pushing the Justice Department to investigate the Trump campaign’s election conspiracy theories. Not just the nowfamiliar baseless allegations of fraud in Georgia, but also a YouTube fantasy that Italians used satellites to switch ballots from Trump to Joe Biden.

While this was happening, emails released on Friday show, Trump and Rudy Giuliani were leaning on the president of Arizona’s state senate to audit the results in Maricopa County, which the Senate later engineered to comic effect.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, Republicans in Pennsylvania pressured friendly county officials to allow a contractor to look for fraud. Only one county went for the audit; it, of course, found nothing.

Not that it matters. The Big Lie can never be disproven. To those outside the MAGA bubble, the lawsuits and audits were absurd; to those inside, they were smoke indicating a fire that Trump’s enemies covered up. That’s what justified the Jan. 6 insurrection. And that’s what justifies the crackdowns on voting rights all over the country.

This is treacherous terrain. Last week, Trump’s felonious first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, endorsed a coup. This weekend, the ex-pres told the North Carolina Republican Convention the 2020 election “will go down as the crime of the century, and our country is being destroyed by people who perhaps have no right to destroy it,” suggesting the audit in Arizona, as well as possible audits in Pennsylvania and Georgia, will show he won.

Trump, in fact, reportedly believes he could be reinstated by August, an idea he got from the MyPillow guy. That won’t happen, clearly. But it’s more grist for the mill. For more than half of Republicans, it’s now an article of faith that any election Democrats win is illegitimate.

A once-unthinkable scenario is no longer implausible: In 2024, the Democratic candidate—Biden or someone else—wins the popular vote by five or six points and wins more than enough states to secure an electoral majority. The Republican candidate—maybe Trump, maybe some Trump acolyte—claims fraud.

Republican secretaries of state in purple states refuse to certify Democratic electors, or legislatures in, say, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or Texas override

those slates. Congressional Republicans, after winning the House and Senate through voter suppression, name the Republican president.

As the historian Timothy Snyder writes: “No one is seeking to hide that this is the plan. … If your platform is that elections do not work, you are saying that you intend to come to power some other way. The Big Lie is designed not to win an election, but to discredit one.

Any candidate who tells it is alienating most Americans, and preparing a minority for a scenario where fraud is claimed. This is just what Trump tried in 2020, and it led to a coup attempt in January 2021. It will be worse in January 2025.”

And that brings us to Sen. Joe Manchin, a man proud to not see the thing right in front of his eyes.

On Sunday, Manchin wrote an op-ed in his hometown Charleston Gazette-Mail pledging to vote against the For the People Act and to never weaken the filibuster. In an evenly split Senate, that dooms both that ambitious voting-rights bill and much of Biden’s agenda. Manchin’s

they’re holding hostage not just the progressive agenda but the future of our democracy due to naivete, vanity, or calculation. But I know this: There’s a war being waged. If Democrats—all of them—can’t bring themselves to acknowledge its existence, much less to fight, they’ll lose. If they lose, the country loses.

This is the most important story in national politics right now. Either authoritarianism will win, or the filibuster will go.

Since Manchin thinks he can split the difference, here’s an easy test: Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which he not only endorsed in his op-ed but claimed has “bipartisan support” (he named one Republican).

The bill would reinstate the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirements for state and local changes to voting rules and stop some of the worst ballotaccess offenses before the 2022 elections.

Go find 10 Republicans to break the filibuster and report back to us, Joe. Put up or shut up.

Subscribe to Informed Dissent at billman. substack.com.

“Either authoritarianism will win, or the filibuster will go.”

MARK WARNER (CC-2.0)

INFORMED DISSENT

argument boils down to the notion that bipartisanship is more important than democracy.

“The truth, I would argue, is that voting and election reform that is done in a partisan manner will all but ensure partisan divisions continue to deepen,” Manchin writes, going on to say that Democrats are ignoring how the filibuster has been “critical to protecting the rights of Democrats in the past.”

Manchin, of course, is ignoring the filibuster’s long, unambiguously racist history, as well as the fact that Mitch McConnell has employed it in a way that renders the Senate dysfunctional.

If the Senate is dysfunctional, Democrats can’t fulfill their promises. That is the point.

Manchin isn’t the only Senate Dem who thinks this way. He can afford to be the most outspoken because, coming from the very red state of West Virginia, it’s good politics back home. The same can’t be said of his partner in obstinance.

Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema’s Joe Lieberman schtick will walk her straight into a primary abattoir come 2024. I can’t tell you whether

JOE BLOWS: The man playing dumb about the filibuster’s long, unambiguously racist history.

cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 13

Issa vibe

Gulfport theft saga culminates in happy ending at Salty’s.

By Rachel Covello/Outcoast.com

G VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE The City of Tampa Parks & Recreation Department is working to reimagine our parks and recreation services through a Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

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ulfport, Florida is known for quirk. This LGBTQ-friendly epicenter of St Petersburg, with its motto “If it’s too weird for Gulfport it’s too weird,” is famous for hosting quirky events and queer people. It's home to a pink goat that struts around during Valentine’s Day, an annual Gecko Fest Celebration, a Fairy Festival, a tree adorned with flip flops, parrots that ride shoulders of bicyclists, and more LGBTQ residents than one might find throughout the entire statea. So when something quirky happens in Gulfport, it’s typically not a big surprise.

That is until a bucket of vibrators go missing a week before Gulfport’s Pride Charity Vibrator Race.

On May 17, two women entered Salty’s Gulfport bar and left with 13 stolen vibrators in a purse. The purpose of the vibrators? A vibrator race fundraiser to support the LGBTQ resource Center during Gulfport’s first official Pride celebration.

The next day, J.P. Brewer, owner of Salty’s, posted on Facebook: “Unfortunately, the Pride Charity Vibrator race has been cancelled. Funny, but not funny, these 2 pieces of [$#!&] came in the bar yesterday and decided to steal the bucket of vibrators lol! I would love nothing more to know her name as the police have already filed the report and watched the cameras. Any news would be appreciated …” Included was a photo of the women who had been captured on security cameras.

Reactions to the news varied from humor to disbelief to flat out anger.

“This may be the funniest post I’ve seen in ages!” wrote Sarah Wilson, a St Petersburg local.

“I Truly feel sorry for those vibrators!” chimed in Treasure Island resident Christine Giammarco.

I even chimed in! “Maybe we should do a BYOV for the race??”

There was also confusion over what a vibrator race entails.

“My wife says to have the race anyway. What is it like a 5k?” asked another commenter. “I think they wear em. Lol,” Rebecca Jackson replied.

Others offered to donate money and vibrators to provide a happy ending for all. Shortly after images of the perpetrators went viral, the women were caught. Due to the low value of the theft and a 14-day follow-up window, arrests have yet to be made.

The value of the stolen vibrators was estimated by Gulfport police to be $200, although Brewer claims it’s probably much higher. “I had just picked up three that were priced at $75 each,” Brewer reported to the Gulfport Gabber after the incident.

On May 29, seven vibrators were lined up on a plastic shingle roof adorned with rainbow and race tape. As vibrators were turned on, attendees surrounded the setup and waited patiently for the race to begin.

Attendees were encouraged to purchase tickets to bet on which toy would finish first. The vibrators were even given names and personal stories like “Destiny, Josie and Karen.”

As shaking toys took off down the grooved slope, participants went wild cheering on their favorite dildo. An excited energy pulsed through the crowd. In the end, the baby blue vibrator “Bella” performed the best and stimulated the crowd with a victory.

In the end, the women were caught, OutCoast. com and Smoking’ J’s Barbecue pitched in to replace the vibrators, and the Gulfport Vibrator Race was a success, raising over $1,000 dollars for the LGTBQ Resource Center.

This post originally appeared on Outcoast. com.

LOCAL NEWS

RACHEL COVELLO/OUTCOAST.COM

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SLIP ‘N SLIDE: Vibrator Races at Salty’s in Gulfport, Florida on May 27, 2021.

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Salted goat

Meditations on flavor and giving a damn.

By Yuki Jackson

Himalayan Pink Salt my server says he knows he needs salt but he doesn’t trust it I say back: well, we’re made up of it, right? he rings me up and tells me he has a rock of pink Himalayan salt in his car Himalaya, also a fair ride, a series of cars holding two at a time spinning together in a circle a scenic view painted at the top in high-class graffiti style

there is all the chanting I’ve been doing for his happiness and victory I think of him when asked, if you could connect someone to a power source who would it be the Power issue ended with “Song--with Instruments” this is how energy works, arriving at enlightenment through connection

the space that birthed the Buddha has become a lamp known as goal-oriented only a G.O.A.T. would climb a mountain just to get a lick

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What allows them to do what seems impossible: their feet and their will. Coincidentally, I’m walking through Ybor as I write to explain my “Himalayan Pink Salt” poem and a young man “randomly” walks towards me wearing a shirt and pair of shorts that both just say “GOAT” in bold letters. Surprised and not surprised, I stand on the street corner, documenting this moment.

I turn around to see which direction he may have gone and my heart jumps because he’s standing behind me, with his back turned, facing a wall. I walk away, occasionally glancing behind. He continues facing the other direction.

After I reach my destination several minutes later, I order what I came for. And as I do, the young man wearing GOAT enters. He looks surprised and not surprised.

POET’S NOTEBOOK

this abode of the snow in Sanskrit where the language of my faith begins

thanks to a cord and a lightbulb

I recently watched a video of mountain goats risking their lives to lick some salt. One hell of a climb, requiring them to be completely sideways.

This makes sense in a backwards-ass world that considers them the devil’s animal. I thought it was ironic that in this video, the goats were climbing up a dam. Apparently, you have to give a damn in order to climb one, defying gravity, the force designed to pull you down.

What are the odds? I have, at this point of my life, experienced this kind of connectedness many times. As a poet and writer, it’s convenient. But at times I’ve cursed this same sense, thinking it’s what prevents me from living a “normal” life.

So I’ve been directing my intentions during my daily chanting to more “normal” matters, in order to ground myself. What would a normal person want? Then today, for the first time in a while, I chanted about what was in my heart. By doing so, I re-opened the lines of poetic connection I’ve been avoiding. And rightfully so. I’ve been hurt.

Which makes sense, considering my goals are high, like a G.O.A.T.

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The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said a large alligator found its way into Mark and Pam Pomfret’s lanai and started banging on the window at around 2:30 a.m. It is mating season for the reptiles, but that’s past booty call hours, right?

Surprising no one, Nikki Fried says she’s officially running for governor. More surprising will be whether or not every gubernatorial candidate softens their stance on legalizing weed if the Florida Department of Agriculture head starts burning up in the polls.

the world of sin, was hospitalized with COVID-19 this week.

An “urgent TRUNEWS/SCREENGRAB BY CL prayer request” emailed to TruNews subscribers noted that anyone making fun of Wiles for being a giant hypocrite will surely end up in hell. Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

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Speaking of jokes that write themselves, Michael Flynn, The Pillow Guy and other far-right clods will speak during the June 17 “Mask-Free Freedom Fighting Reopen America Tour” conference at Tampa megachurch The River which is run by conspiracy theorist and coronavirus-truther Rodney Howard-Browne who peddles ideas like the Vegas shooting of 2017 that killed 58 people being a false flag operation, saying chemtrails and weather manipulation are real, and the people that rule the planet are Satanists who perform human sacrifices and drink blood. Grift on, people!

News breaks that Rick Wiles, a Florida rightwing anti-vaxx pastor who once referred to the coronavirus as a plague sent by God to purge

Shit, online, in real time, via cltampa.com/ news.

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20 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

RESTAURANTS

RECIPES

DINING GUIDES

Super size me

Three weeks worth of food blogs.

B

y our count, it’s been almost a month since Creative Loafing Tampa Bay posted a rundown of the latest openings and closings in our physical edition. To get caught up, here’s a quick recap of what’s happened in the Bay area food scene in the last three weeks. Bookmark cltampa.com/food to get updates in real time.

Open Bamb Bao A new delivery-only concept from a downtown Tampa favorite. Owner Lynn Pham told CL that BB allows her to “put a Bamboozle spin on different cuisines (like our bao with chicharrones or our lemongrass thai chili wings) and serve it in a way where you can enjoy it with others like at a happy hour, a corporate event, or just having friends over to watch a game.”

Order items like Bao Bun sliders, dumplings, chicken wings, and fried rice via Uber Eats. @bambbao on Instagram Cru Cellars The popular Bay area chain’s third location is now open in a 2,400-squarefoot space at the Westshore Marina District.

The menu includes Cru classics like tuna tartare, along with what a Facebook post called “some fun new dishes exclusive to our third location.” 2506 S MacDill Ave., Tampa. crucellars.com DalMoros Fresh Pasta To Go The fastcasual Italian chain is now open in the U.S. thanks to this location where you can pair its wares with sauces like pesto, boscaiola, cacio e pepe, bolognese, and Napoletana. Other toppings, desserts, and drinks like beer, fountain drinks and wine are also offered. 653 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. dalmoros.us Fado Chef Rui Borges brings the Portuguese sister concept of his Orlando restaurant Lison to the ‘Burg. Menu items include pastéis de bacalhau, bife à Portuguesa (Portuguese steak) and serradura for dessert. 435 5th Ave. N, St. Petersburg. fadofl.com Kroger But delivery only, and only within a 90-mile radius of the Midwest grocer giant’s Tampa Bay fulfillment center. Look out Publix? kroger.com Kuba en la Playa Kuba Cocina chef and owner Phe Lacalle now serves Cuban sandwiches, lobster empanadas, Cuban fried rice,

salchipapa and a plantain-crusted snapper sandwich by the sea. And yes, the Seminole Heights location is still in the works. 7525 Blind Pass Rd., St. Pete Beach. kubacocina.com Paradeco Coffee Roasters Take a break from shopping at Plaza Tower & Courtyard Shops to enjoy a variety of espressos, teas, smoothies, chia pudding, bowls, and sandwiches inside one of the most Instagram-ready interiors in Tampa Bay. 11 2nd Ave NE No. 101, St. Petersburg. paradecocoffee.com Pipo’s Pronto An offshoot of Tampa Bay chain Pipo’s Cuban Cafe now serves Latin-style street food via The Kitchen food truck outside Mastry’s Brewing. Cuban-influenced handhelds (Abuelita’s Empanadas, Flying Pig Sliders) and small plates (grilled pork belly, mojo cotija fries), and yes the sando, are all on the menu. 7701 Blind Pass Rd., St. Pete Beach. @pipospronto on Instagram Shake Shack Cross this off the list of “fast-food chains that aren’t in Tampa Bay, but need to be,” then head to Midtown Tampa for your Shack sauce fix paired with sidecars of chicken nugs and sandos, mushroom burgers, shakes, hot dogs, and the concept’s own Brooklyn Brewery “Shackmeister Ale.” 1011 Gramercy Ln., Tampa. shakeshack.com

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

Coming soon Del Taco Would you eat a burger from a taco joint? Find out next year because the left coast fast food staple plans to open seven locations in Tampa Bay. Sarasota and Bradenton will probably get theirs first sometime in 2022, according to Senior Vice President of Development Jeff Little. deltaco.com Jay & Luigi Set to open in July at a former Burger 21, the new trattoria-style pizzeria concept from Ciccio Restaurant Group and Forbici’s co-founder Jason Brunetti wil also serve modern and traditional fare with pastas, salads, small plates, cauliflower rice bowls, and two types of pizza: New York and Roman-style aka pizza al taglio. Plant-based options are also a big focus on the menu. 3201 4th St. N, St. Petersburg. @ jaynluigi on Instagram

BREWBUSBREWING/FACEBOOK

By Stephanie Powers and Alexandria Jones

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS: Seminole Heights’ Brew Bus is moving two blocks north.

OCC Road House & Museum The restaurant and entertainment that is a joint venture between Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers and local hospitality giant Keith Overton, and it’s having a grand opening on June 25-27 in concert with the opening of the Road House’s neighbor, Bert’s Barracuda HarleyDavidson. “Dust on the Bottle” country singer David Lee Murphy plays the 25,000-square-foot pavilion on opening night. Pinellas Park, rise up.

10575 49th St. N, Clearwater. occroadhouse.com Moving Brew Bus Seminole Heights’ Brew Bus Brewing closed at 4101 N Florida Ave. after May 31, but documents from the City of Tampa pretty much say the brewery has plans to re-open after sprucing up an existing building just a couple blocks away. Ahead of the closing, Brew Bus founder and CEO Anthony Derby wouldn’t elaborate, only saying, “We look forward to sharing some exciting announcements in the near future…” And don’t worry, production of Brew Bus beer continues at the new Florida Avenue Brewing Co. facility located in Wesley Chapel. brewbususa.com Closing Kojak’s House of Ribs Owner Chris Forney—running the South Tampa staple founded by his dad and uncle in ‘78—couldn’t refuse an offer from developers who want to tear

down the 1927-built bungalow and put up new apartments. Yes, he’s looking for a new location. 2808 Gandy Blvd., Tampa. kojaksbbq.net Union In part citing the cost of running a multi-roaster with no other food elements to offset the cost of paying humane prices for coffee and making sure employees get livable wages, Joel Davis closed his coffee shop at Pickford’s Counter. But fear not. The team at the soda shop will still run the coffee program Davis built, and two of the longtime Tampeño’s finest products—Commune+Co. Pressure Brew and Get Along doughnuts—aren’t going anywhere.

ICYMI St. Pete chef David Benstock beat Bobby Flay on Food Network Il Ritorno’s head honcho did it with a remix of his popular short rib mezzaluna, which you can always get some kind of variation on at his St. Pete restaurant. Two local chefs recently did the same thing; Cena’s Chef Michael Buttacavolli beat Flay with a meatball sandwich, and Chef Rosana Rivera did it in December 2019.

Tampa Bay baker Alicia Wolding launches Delta-8 edibles line The baker and TV personality (Netflix, MTV) calls her new rainbow-colored company “Lisa Dank.” Expect 20mg gummies and vape cartridges, with flavors and packaging decked out in animal print and slices of cake. lisadank.co

cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 21

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cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 23

Because of coronavirus, it’s best to call or visit brewery websites to check on offerings and policy.

3 DAUGHTERS BREWING One of the Warehouse Arts District’s most popular hangouts, and a beautiful facility in which to drink some great brews. 222 22nd St. S., St. Petersburg. 727-495-6002, 3dbrewing.com

CLEARWATER BREWING CO. Community-oriented and socially and environmentally conscious. 1700 N. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. clearwaterbrewingcompany.com COPPERTAIL BREWING CO. Some of Tampa’s best beer, in one of its best tasting rooms. 2601 E. 2nd Ave., Tampa. 813-247-1500, coppertailbrewing.com

3 KEYS BREWING South-of-the-Skyway restaurant and brewery specializing in small batches. 2505 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton. 951-218-0396, 3keysbrewing.com

COTEE RIVER BREWING Craft beer in the heart of historic downtown New Port Richey. 5760 Main St., New Port Richey. 727-807-6806, coteeriverbrewing.com

7VENTH SUN BREWING Some of the best sours, IPAs and collabs going. Two locations. 1012 Broadway, Dunedin.

727-733-3013/6809 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa. 813-2315900, 7venthsun.com

CRAFT LIFE BREWING Small-batch local brews and a sort of playground or LoL’s craft brewing guild. 4624 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes. 813-575-8440. facebook. com/CraftLifeBrewing

81BAY BREWING CO. South Tampa’s first craft brewery boasts a wide variety of styles. 4465 W. Gandy Blvd., Tampa. 813-837-BREW, 81baybrewco.com

CROOKED THUMB BREWERY Safety Harbor’s first brewery boasts homegrown flavor and local guest taps. 555 10th Ave. S., Safety Harbor. 727-724-5953, crookedthumbbrew.com

ANGRY CHAIR Crazy-good Tampa beer, open Tuesday-Sunday. 6401 N. Florida Ave., Seminole Heights.

813-238-1122, angrychairbrewing.com ANTIBREWERY Dunedin’s secret Sundays-only nano.

1367 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Dunedin ARKANE ALEWORKS A wide variety of styles and flavors from the second brewery to open in Largo. 2480 E. Bay Dr., #23, Largo. 727-270-7117, arkanebeer.com AVID BREWING This Grand Central brewing supply shop added a taproom for its beers crafted in-house. 1745 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-388-6756, avidbrew.com BARRIEHAUS BEER CO. Lager-specific brewery, carrying on an over 150 year brewing legacy. 1403 E 5th Ave., Ybor City. barriehaus.com BAY CANNON BEER CO. West Tampa's first craft brewery, offering a variety of ever evolving beers, beer slushies and wine that pair perfectly with appetizers and entrées from the kitchen. 813-442-5615, baycannon.com BIG STORM BREWING CO. Stop by this Pasco brewery’s Storm Room for a flight, or visit their taproom on 49th Street in Clearwater, too. 2330 Success Dr., Odessa.

727-807-7998, bigstormbrewery.com BIG TOP BREWING Perhaps Sarasota’s premier purveyor of locally crafted beer, Big Top’s reputation has spread far beyond the region. 6111 Porter Way, Sarasota.

941-371-2939, bigtopbrewing.com BOOTLEGGERS BREWING CO. This Brandon taproom from Bootleggers Beer & Wine Home Brewing Supplies offers house-made suds and guest beers. 652 Oakfield Dr., Brandon. 813-643-9463, bootleggersbrewco.com BRASSERIE ST. SOMEWHERE Award-winning Belgian farmhouse ales from veteran Bay area brewer Bob Sylvester. 115 S Ring Ave., Tarpon Springs. 813-503-6181, saintsomewherebrewing.com BREW BUS BREWING BB brews its own suds, boasts 20 taps and offers food at its Eatery, too. 4101 N. Florida Ave., Tampa. 813-990-7310, brewbususa.com BREW HUB Some of the area’s best beers are produced here along with suds for their own label. 3900 Frontage Rd. S., Lakeland. 863-698-7600, brewhub.com

CUENI BREWING CO. Located off the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin. 945 Huntley Ave., Dunedin. 727-266-4102, cuenibrewing.com CYCLE BREWING One of St. Pete’s favorites. 534 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-320-7954. cyclebrewing.com DARWIN BREWING CO. Unique beers crafted with South American influence. 803 17th Ave. W., Bradenton. 941-747-1970, darwinbrewingco.com DE BINE BREWING CO. This addition bolsters the Northern Pinellas craft beer scene. 933 Florida Ave., Palm Harbor. 727-233-7964.

DISSENT BREWING CO. Unique flavors and adventurous style outside downtown St. Pete. 5518 Haines Rd. N., St. Petersburg. 727-342-0255.

DUNEDIN BREWERY Florida’s oldest. Beer, eats and live music.

937 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. 727736-0606, dunedinbrewery.com DUNEDIN HOUSE OF BEER This beer stop brews its own, and also has 40 guest taps. 927 Broadway, Dunedin. 727 216-6318, dunedinhob.com ESCAPE BREWING CO. Another very worthy Odessa/Trinity destination. 9945 Trinity Blvd., Suite 108, Trinity. 727-807-6092, escapebrewingcompany.com FIVE BRANCHES Veteran-owned brewery, small batches from IPAs to stouts. Serving up brews and a clear view of the Tarpon Bayou. 531 Athens St., Tarpon Springs. fivebranchesbrewing.com FLYING BOAT BREWING COMPANY St. Pete aviation history and tasty homegrown suds. 1776 11th Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-2999, flyingboatbrewing.com

BREW LIFE BREWING Ultra-small batches, and a lot of ‘em. 5765 S. Beneva Rd., Sarasota. 941-952-3831, brewlifebrewing.com

FOUR STACKS BREWING An always-changing lineup of local and regional guest suds, along with trivia, live music and more. 5469 N. US HWY 41, Apollo Beach. 813641-2036, fourstacksbrewing.com

BULLFROG CREEK BREWING CO. A multitude of styles from former garage brewers is on tap in Valrico.

3632 Lithia Pinecrest Rd., Valrico. 813-703-8835, bullfrogcreekbrewing.com

GRAND CENTRAL BREWHOUSE 10,270 square-foot brewery, taproom, beer garden, and event venue with a lager-focused tap list. 2340 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-202-6071, grandcentralbrew.com

CAGE BREWING Custom brews in the Grand Central District from one of the ‘Burg’s newest. 2001 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg. 727-201-4278

GREEN BENCH BREWING COMPANY A space worthy of the adventurous beers it produces. 1133 Baum Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-800-9836, greenbenchbrewing.com

CALEDONIA BREWING Great in-house beers in the historic Dunedin Times building. 587 Main St., Dunedin.

727-351-5105, caledoniabrewing.com

GOOD LIQUID BREWING CO. Thirty taps and food (and a coffee roaster!) from a husband-and-wife duo. 4824 14th St. W., Bradenton. 941-896-6381, thegoodliquidbrewing.com

CALUSA BREWING Family owned and operated, opened Tuesday to Sunday. 5701 Derek Ave., Sarasota.

941-922-8150, calusabrewing.com

GRINDHAUS BREW LAB Small batches and no extracts. 1650 N. Hercules Ave., Clearwater. 727-2400804, grindhausbrewlab.com

CARROLLWOOD BREWING CO. “Secret” brewing action inside the Carrollwood location of craft-bar chain The Brass Tap. 10047 N. Dale Mabry HWY, STE 23, Tampa. 813-969-2337

GULFPORT BREWERY + EATERY Small batches with an artisanal food menu. 3007 Beach Blvd., Tampa. facebook.com/GulfportBrewery

CIGAR CITY BREWING Tampa’s most famous craft brewery. There’s also a taproom at Amalie Arena. 3924 W. Spruce St., Tampa. 813-348-6363, cigarcitybrewing.com

HIDDEN SPRINGS ALE WORKS This Tampa Heights brewery features a rotating tap selection. 1631 N. Franklin St., Tampa, 813-226-2739, hiddenspringsaleworks.com

24 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

HOB BREWING CO. Rotating taps, with some brewed on-site and alongside a combination of local breweries plus local and international craft beer makers. 931 Huntley Ave., Dunedin. hob.beer

PESKY PELICAN BREW PUB This beachy restaurant also offers up its own beers thanks to an in-house nano system. 923 72nd. St. N., St. Petersburg. 727-302-9600, peskypelicanbrewpub.com

KEEL FARMS AGRARIAN ALE + CIDER Tasty brews from the folks behind Keel & Curley winery. 5210 W. Thonotosassa Rd., Plant City. 813-752-9100, keelandcurleywinery.com

PINELLAS ALE WORKS Dog-friendly environment in addition to tasty brews. 1962 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg.

727-235-0970, pawbeer.com

IF I BREWED THE WORLD A self-described “mixtape of breweries” with a bit of everything from the classic to the fun and outrageous. 2200 1st Ave. S., St. Petersburg.

727-201-4484, ifibrewedtheworld.com IN THE LOOP BREWING Family-friendly with a lot of community support and plenty of events. 3338 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., Land O’ Lakes. 813-997-9189, intheloopbrewingcompany.com INFUSION BREWING CO. Another great location in the good-beer-packed Trinity/New Port Richey area. 7813 Mitchell Blvd. Ste 103, Trinity. 727-312-4512.

INOCULUM ALE WORKS These folks are crazy for sours, and know how to craft ‘em. 554 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg. inoculumaleworks.com JDUB’S BREWING COMPANY You know ‘em, you love ‘em. A statewide phenomenon. 1215 Mango Ave., Sarasota. 941-955-2739, jdubsbrewing.com KING STATE Food & Wine's No. 8 coffee shop in the U.S. is also home to brewer and Flying Boat Brewing Co. alum Aric Parker, who’s making some of the cleanest core beers plus a dynamic offering of rotating taps and bomber options available onsite in limited capacities. 520 E Floribraska Ave., Tampa. 813-2212100, king-state.com LAGERHAUS BREWERY & GRILL A Palm Harbor bar and eatery that offers seasonal brews to complement their regulars.

3438 East Lake Business, Palm Harbor. 727-216-9682, lagerhausbrewery.com LATE START BREWING Beloved Tampa label does its thing inside the Pour House. 1208 E. Kennedy Blvd. #112, Tampa. 813-402-2923, latestartbrewing.com LEAVEN BREWING Riverview’s first brewery is run by folks who’ve got experience brewing big and small.

11238 Boyette Rd., Riverview. 813-6777023, leavenbrewing.com MAD BEACH CRAFT BREWING Brews, ciders, and meads by the beach. 12945 Village Boulevard, Madeira Beach. 727-362-0008, madbeachbrewing.com MARKER 48 Hernando production craft brewery with tasting room and beer garden 12147 Cortez Blvd, Weeki Wachee. 352-606-2509, marker48.com MASTRY’S BREWING CO. From CD Roma’s restaurant to sweet new digs on St. Pete Beach. 7701 Blind Pass Rd., St. Pete Beach. 727-202-8045 mastrysbrewingco.com MOTORWORKS BREWING A taproom and beer garden featuring full liquor and wine as well as 30 taps. 1014 9th Street West, Bradenton. 941-567-6218, motorworksbrewing.com MR. DUNDERBAK’S The longtime restaurant, biergarten and homebrewers’ hangout is serving up its own beers. 14929 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa. 813-9774104, dunderbaks.com NAUGHTY MONK BREWERY Naughty Monk brings a love of Belgian styles to Manatee County. 2507 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Bradenton. 941-708-2966, naughtymonkbrewery.com OVERFLOW BREWING St. Pete’s newest, courtesy of local Rapp head brewer Troy Bledsoe and company. 770 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-914-0665, facebook.com/overflowbrewingco PEPPER BREWING The Angry Pepper Taphouse’s in-house label, available “on a limited basis.”

9366 Oakhurst Rd., Seminole. 727-596-5766, angrypeppertaphouse.com

RAPP BREWING COMPANY The late Greg Rapp’s award-winning styles carefully crafted. 10930 Endeavor Way, Seminole. 727-544-1752, rappbrewing.com RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER Video game-centric Grand Central District craft beer spot. 2244 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. 727-360-0766, stpetearcadebar.com ROCK BROTHERS BREWING Brews named for national and local bands have a home in Ybor City. 1901 N. 15th St., Ybor City. 813-241-0110, rockbrothersbrewing.com SARASOTA BREWING COMPANY House-crafted brews, pizza, and sports out toward beautiful Siesta Key. 6607 Gateway Ave., Sarasota. 941-925-2337, sarasotabrewing.com SILVERKING BREWING CO. This spacevcomplements a label that’s been around since 2012. 325 E Lemon St., Tarpon Springs. 727-422-7598, silverkingbrewing.com SIX TEN BREWING Wide variety and a real passion for the craft-brew community. 7052 Benjamin Rd., Tampa.

813-886-0610, sixtenbrewing.com SOGGY BOTTOM BREWING Truly original flavors and inventive brews. 660 Main St., Dunedin. 727-601-1698, soggybottombrewing.com SOUTHERN BREWING & WINEMAKING Multiple brews only available in its tasting room, plus products and guidance for homebrewers. 4500 N. Nebraska Ave., Tampa. 813-238-7800, southernbrewingwinemaking.com ST. PETE BREWING COMPANY Beers crafted specifically for the climate. 544 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg.

727-692-8809, stpetebrewingcompany.com STILT HOUSE BREWERY Friendly joint specializes in high-ABV ales and other styles you won’t find elsewhere.

625 U.S. Hwy Alt. 19, Palm Harbor. 727-270-7373, stilthousebrewery.com SWAN BREWING Nearly four decades of combined brewing experience go into the offerings at this petfriendly joint. 115 W. Pine St., Lakeland. 863-703-0472, swanbrewing.com TBBC Formerly Tampa Bay Brewing Co., local favorite for nearly two decades. 1600 E. 8th Ave., Ybor City/13933 Monroe’s Business Park, Westchase. 813247-1422, tbbc.beer TAMPA BEER WORKS At the former site of ESB Brewing, TBW focuses on American craft styles. 333 N. Falkenburg Rd., Suite D407 Tampa. 813-685-1909, tampabeerworks.com TIDAL BREWING COMPANY Small batches in Spring Hill. 14311 Spring Hill Dr., Spring Hill. 352-7011602, tidalbrewingfl.com TWO FROGS BREWING COMPANY Tarpon Springs’ latest focuses on American ale styles. 151 E. Tarpon Ave., Tarpon Springs. 727-940-6077, facebook.com/ twofrogsbrewing TWO LIONS WINERY & PALM HARBOR BREWERY Wine and beer brewed in-house. 1022 Georgia Ave., Palm Harbor. 727-786-8039, twolionswinery.com ULELE SPRING BREWERY Beer crafted in accordance with traditional Bavarian purity laws. 1810 N. Highland Ave., Tampa. 813-999-4952, ulele.com THE WILD ROVER BREWERY What started as an English pub is now a higher-production facility. 13921 Lynmar Blvd., Tampa. 813-475-5995, thewildroverbrewery.com WOODWRIGHT BREWING COMPANY Traditional German styles. 985 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. 727-2388717, facebook.com/woodwrightbrewing ZEPHYRHILLS BREWING COMPANY East Paco’s first microbrewery. 38530 5th Ave., Zephyrhills.

813-715-2683, zbcbeer.com ZYDECO BREW WERKS Craft brews in Ybor thanks to an award-winning brewmaster, as well as full bars and NOLA-influenced cuisine. 1902 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City.

813-252-4541, facebook.com/Zydecobrewwerks

cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 25

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26 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

June 17t h -

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For a limited time, participating Tampa Bay area restaurants will be offering multiple-course prix fixe menus and more at exclusive pricing!

TAMPABAYRESTAURANTWEEK.COM #TAMPABAYRESTAURANTWEEK

cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 27

featuring

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by:

A PORTION OF PROCEEDS BENEFITS cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 29

30 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

MOVIES

THEATER

ART

CULTURE

CHECKING IN: Zulu Painter’s ‘Mermaid Motel’ at CentCom which houses some Fairgrounds’ most interactive elements.

Time to dream

A Floridian fantasyland is close to opening in St. Pete.

By Jennifer Ring

W

hen I first visited Fairgrounds St. Pete in April 2021, scenic painter Chloe Castillo was painting an ocean on the floor. Nearby, Joshua Hall, aka Baghead, mapped out a postapocalyptic Everglades in painter’s tape next to a gator’s gaping jaws. Co-founder and CEO Liz Dimmitt stood on a ladder surrounded by bins of Florida seashells, which she was sticking into ready-mixed grout on the wall before her like tiles in a mosaic.

“Usually I’m in there with my mother,” Dimmitt said in a phone interview. “My mom is an incredible artist. She had a shell room at her house that I worked on in college… and now, 20 years later, we’re shelling a room at Fairgrounds together.”

Shelling a room with mom is just one of many Florida experiences that inspired Dimmitt’s Florida fantasyland.

Dimmitt grew up in Dunedin. Her parents, both native Floridians, introduced her to Florida’s natural attractions, arts and culture at an early age.

“I am from a family that is very arts-oriented but also very outdoorsy,” Dimmitt told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “When I was little, we did canoe trips, kayaking trips. I’ve been to almost all the state parks. I spent a lot of time exploring Florida and all of its wonderful places, from the kitschy Cypress Knee Museum-type things to epic trips down rivers…”

BOB CROSLIN

She remembers trying to sell shell earrings Tampa, including “The Beach Tampa” in sumas a child, going on Florida road trips with her mer 2016 and “The Art of the Brick” in summer family, and contemplating a career as one of 2017. She also helped bring Yayoi Kusama’s Weeki Wachee’s legendary mermaids.

Infinity Room “Love is Calling” to the Tampa Instead, she embarked on a career in finance. Museum of Art in fall 2018.

She spent 17 years living and working in New As she transitioned back to living in the York City, but says, “you Tampa Bay area, Dimmitt can never really escape the says she knew she wanted to Florida.” do some sort of arty project.

“Florida is in the news all “I wasn’t thinking as largethe time,” Dimmitt told CL. scale as Fairgrounds is now, Fairgrounds St. Pete “You travel to Europe or anybut I was thinking that I 544 Fairfield Ave. S, St. Petersburg place else in the world, and could find a warehouse and fairgrounds.art people seem to know about do some cool stuff,” Dimmitt New York City, L.A. and Florida. That’s what told CL. So she talked to family friends Kara the whole world knows about the United States.” and Jordan Behar.

For Dimmitt and others on the team, “I knew of their architecture office in the Fairgrounds is a coming home of sorts. As Warehouse Arts District in St. Pete,” said Dimmitt worked her way back into Tampa Bay’s Dimmitt, “and I knew that they had roots on art scene, she collaborated with the Vinik Family the ground. So I asked them to keep an eye Foundation on large immersive art projects in continued on page 33

VISUAL ART

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out for any warehouses or property coming up and available.

In 2018, Kara called—she’d found the perfect warehouse in St. Pete. Dimmitt was expecting 5,000-10,000 square-feet, but the Behars suggested a 91,000-square-foot warehouse, with 15,000 of those square feet dedicated to Fairgrounds.

The Behar and Dimmitt families acquired the building together knowing that Fairgrounds could become the anchor tenant, but Dimmitt admits, “I had to start thinking bigger.”

“In early 2019, I was telling people in St. Pete what I was doing, and thinking about how I was going to do it,” Dimmitt told CL. “John Collins of the St. Pete Art Alliance said there was this artist I had to meet, and that was Mikhail.”

Mikhail Mansion started his career working on electronics, flight and weapons systems in the Air Force, but he’d always been a creative person.

“I was always interested in art and creative work as a kid,” Mansion told CL. “I didn’t recognize it as a practice, but I was constantly tinkering.”

Although Mansion values his Air Force experience, he was conflicted about weapons work. “I took away good things and came back from that experience with more of a determination to do art, but to use technology to make a career as well,” he added.

Art and technology finally came together for Mikhail within the University of Tampa’s Electronics Media degree program, where he met his wife—Fairgrounds Director of Communications Olivia Mansion—in an undergrad class called “Art and Technology.”

“Our whole life has now become about art and technology,” Olivia said.

In 2019, the two formed an arts and technology consulting firm called Trans Mission and started hosting arts and technology meetups at Duncan McClellan Gallery in St. Pete. Mikhail was already contemplating creating an arts & technology space in the Tampa Bay area when Dimmitt reached out.

“We started talking about our visions and art, and we just really aligned,” Dimmitt said.

She became Trans Mission’s second client. But as Mikhail got “deeper and deeper into the Fairgrounds world,” he ended up joining the company and co-founding it with Dimmitt.

“Mikhail is such a talented artist and technologist,” Dimmitt comments on the partnership.

“Having someone with that skill set amplifies everything. [He] makes all the ideas I have even bigger and better because of technology. I think we both really feed off each other and expand each other’s visions.”

Using Florida as their muse, Dimmitt and Mansion divided Fairgrounds into themed spaces like the Mermaid Star Motel which I’d come to see. A colorful mural by Zulu Painter greeted me as I entered the Mermaid Star Motel section of Fairgrounds. As I turned the corner, I saw the Motel’s South Beach-inspired art deco façade. The Fairgrounds team couldn’t find a retro motel sign that fit their vision, so they made their own from scratch.

“It’s the most iconic visual that tells the story of the whole roadside motel and the whole [Fairgrounds] environment,” Mikhail told CL. “We want people to be able to walk in and just get it.”

Mermaid Star Motel is one of Fairgrounds’ anchor spaces, each created by designers and commissioned artists to tell a different Florida story, from the beauty of the Everglades to the Twistee Treats of our youths.

“To put your imagination around Florida stories, you don’t have to stretch too far,” says Dimmitt, “because there are so many wonderful stories out there and incredible storytellers writing and producing things about Florida.”

The Motel combines the real story of people discovering Florida through tourism with a Weeki Wachee-sized dose of mermaid mythology. When Dimmit and Mansion saw the original warehouse space, they envisioned the old office spaces as motel rooms. Then they used art and technology to create stories around these spaces.

“Like, there’s motel owners and they’re kind of mysterious,” says Mikhail Mansion. “And then there’s guests who come to stay there you learn about as you go through the experience.

And they’re up to things…”

“Every element becomes part of the story,” says Dimmitt. “There’s going to be a brochure rack in the motel lobby, and the brochures— we’ve made all of them. They’re really funny and fun. I laugh out loud every time I look at them.”

Even in the incomplete stage I saw it in, Fairgrounds was starting to look like something real. Already, I can imagine walking through their fantasized ‘glades and roadside motels like a teenager walks through a haunted house on Halloween.

Except Fairgrounds isn’t haunted at all. It’s more like a Florida dream, where mermaids are real and anything can happen. It’s a bold and beautiful celebration of the Florida magic and paradise mythology that have drawn people to Florida for years, and it’s poised to become one of this summer’s hottest art attractions.

“We’re in that final sprint where it’s all a bit crazy, but it’s also wonderful,” Dimmitt told CL. “The things that we’ve been imagining for two years are now coming to life, and it’s very rewarding.”

“We’re in that final sprint where it’s all a bit crazy, but it’s also wonderful.”

STEPHANIE ADAMO

continued from page 31

HOLIDAY, IN: It’s going to feel like Christmas when Fairgrounds opens this summer.

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KING STATE: Tyler Riggs’ new movie is a very Floridian love letter to a community that saved him.

C/O TYLER RIGGS

Ty-beca

Tampa native’s directorial debut premieres at famed NYC film fest.

By Ray Roa

O

n Sunday, Tyler Riggs’ new movie, “God’s hopes and dreams. It’s a complicated love letWaiting Room,” premieres at Pier 76—one ter, an unflinching display of the constant war of seven outdoor venues for the 2021 Tribeca between beauty and ugliness in the Sunshine Film Festival. The sold-out screening marks State, the place where I was born and raised; the first time New Yorkers get to be in the new the place America goes to die.”

Save for scant Wiki and Tumblr bits on his Hudson River Park, and it’s the world’s first peek at the Tampa native’s directorial debut. modeling career, there’s not much else about Riggs The 95-minute movie follows Rosie, a fresh- on the internet. For more, you might have to watch out-of-high-school musician played by Nisalda “Boomtown,” where Sabyn Mayfield directed Gonzalez, who meets Jules (Matthew Leone) him alongside Rachel Brosnahan and Dwight whose charm and confidence Yoakam in a 2017 drama set help Rosie fall in love fast. during the Dakota gold rush.

In the same central Florida Further back, there’s “Nobody’s God’s Waiting Room town made steamy by another Darling, ”a 12-minute short Available to stream at home starting Sunshine State summer, Riggs wrote in 2014 and shot Monday, June 14. $15.

Brandon (played by Riggs) is in Texas using a Canon 5D and tribecafilm.com back home after 10 years in a $1,000 budget. It premiered prison and trying to find a way to live life while at the 2015 Gasparilla International Film Festival cohabitating with the scars of his past. Previews (GIFF, coincidentally having its own 2021 dates of the film—which also stars Suvi Riggs (Tyler locally this weekend). is her husband) and Renata Eastlick, co-owner GIFF is where Riggs met Mayfield who comof Tampa Bay’s own Eastlick Coffee Co.—call it plimented him on “Darling” then set him up “expressive and tender,” but locals and the world with “Boomtown” (the year before, “And A Bag at large won’t get to see “God’s Waiting Room” of Chips!,” which Mayfield directed, won the until Monday when Tribeca releases the film for Audience Choice Award at GIFF). The meeting streaming across the U.S. put Riggs on set with David Newbert who was In a statement, Riggs, 35, said the circum- Director of Photography. Newbert had recently stances someone gets issued played heavy on his worked on “Marfa Girl” with director Larry Clark, mind while he was writing the film and added who famously helmed the 1995 classic “Kids” that a “shitty hand” he was dealt early in life written by Harmony Korine, who put Tampa largely inspired the movie. “ ...this film is me: It’s Bay on the map with his own 2012 film, “Spring about who I was and who I could’ve been had I Breakers.” It was a full circle moment for Riggs. gone left instead of right on one of those fateful “Saybyn did all the local casting for 'Spring days,” Riggs wrote. “It’s about young love and Breakers' in Tampa and St. Pete—so I was getting

FILM & TV

to work with these dudes that I really respected,” Riggs told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay on a phone call from his Tampa office. “Darling” only happened because another film he was working on fell apart, which led Riggs to start working on a dialogue about a kid who had a pet greyhound his dad was gonna race before the dog hurt his paw and had to be put down.

“There’s all these moments in my life that I think back on that just led me to where I am.

There was sort of a plan, but there was, like, no plan,” Riggs laughed, “It all just cascaded.

All because I was eating fucking Chick-fil-A at International Plaza, man.” But the road to that food court chicken is complicated.

Riggs was born in Clearwater and grew up in Town ‘n’ Country; he was raised largely by his grandma before eventually moving to a four-acre lakeside Lutz property after his mom met his stepdad. Riggs’ biological father wasn’t a part of his childhood, but they’ve since found a groove as far as how they can interact; now Riggs’ kids can have their grandpa in their lives. Without getting into details, Riggs said he lived in and out of a lot of different places; as a kid in Town ‘n’ Country, one of his best friends was assaulted and left for dead before being found alive in the woods behind the apartments they lived in.

Those events were part of that shitty hand Riggs alluded to, but “God’s Waiting Room” is about the gorgeous community that helped the filmmaker overcome. Eventually Riggs ended up at Tampa Baptist School. Religion didn’t save him, but the hardcore music scene being cultivated at the school did. He became a drummer and dove into art. Eventually he found himself in Don Sizemore’s photography class at Gaither High School. Sizemore—who played in old-school Tampa punk band Clairmel—remembers Riggs being a terrible student and having to call home

because was failing. “He was definitely unique and had an edge to him that I liked,” Sizemore wrote in a text message to CL. Sizemore taught Riggs, one of his favorite students, how to develop film. “Working in the darkroom is such an evocative experience and immediately immerses you in the creative process. Teenagers like him walk in the first day and know they’re home. It sounds corny but it’s true,” Sizemore added.

“That was my first exposure to cameras,” Riggs said.

There were bumps (like when he squatted at some friends’ apartments while they were on tour with their band), and days when he made a $6 per diem being the same band’s merch guy, but one day, he had thatcPolynesian sauce on his face when someone asked him to model for a class photoshoot. Eventually he took to modeling and ended up in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and D&G—and in front of photographers like Steven Klein and Cass Bird. Knowledge from Sizemore gave Riggs tools to know enough about what was happening behind the scenes to pick up an unofficial education. “I ended up in the greatest photography school there ever was—modeling,” Riggs explained. Eventually he used saved money to attend NYC’s Esper acting school, which led to more roles.

The story is too long to tell on a print page (see an expanded version via cltampa.com/magazine), but now we’re here waiting on “God’s Waiting Room,” where Riggs embraces a state that saved his life. Riggs’ friends—and even his stepdad’s paving business—are in there. Locals will recognize so many of the shot locations, but the movie will likely also be their first introduction to Riggs.

And while it’s taken a tumultuous life for Riggs to get here, I’ve got a feeling he’ll be telling the world his stories for even more years to come.

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Good gore, man!

Steven Kostanski’s latest is a goofy, gory, good time.

By John Allman

Y

eah, it’s hot as hell outside. That’s why we’re back with this super-sized roundup of the best movies—and a couple of the worst— you can stream at home right now. Head to cltampa.com/magazine to watch trailers for most of these films.

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RATED PG, FOR PRETTY GOOD: Sometimes children find themselves smack dab in the middle of an intergalactic war that fans should feel upon watching “PG: Psycho Goreman.” And, if you don’t already subscribe to the streaming Shudder platform, this is a perfect reason to do just that.

Morgue ★★★½ 81 minutes, streaming, Blu-Ray and DVD Not many first-time writer-directors would dare try and launch a franchise with their first film, but thankfully Hugo Cardozo failed to read that memo.

Cardozo’s debut, “Morgue,” which hails from Paraguay, is a seriously unnerving slice of paranormal fright that manages to find new and creative ways to bring ghosts to the screen while keeping viewers guessing as to whether the

Skull: The Mask ★★★½ 90 minutes, Shudder The latest exclusive to debut on Shudder’s streaming horror platform is a crazy cool import out of Brazil that plays like a vintage thriller from the 1970s packed with gore galore straight out of the 1980s.

Co-directors/writers Armando Fonseca and Kapel Furman craft a vivid backstory steeped in cultural lore, and then pile on the practical effects, which resemble a mash-up of the DIY wonders first discovered in “Dead Alive” and “The Evil Dead.”

The story pays homage to a host of genres, and includes scenes that feel inspired by everything from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to “Dirty Harry.” The titular skull mask, an ancient relic that allows the spirit of a nearly unstoppable demon to inhabit the body of anyone who gets too close, is wickedly awesome and masterfully realized.

Fonseca and Furman delight viewers with unexpected sequences, such as an incantation spell that transports the woman uttering it to another dimension, a hellscape formed in a different cosmos. “Skull: The Mask” is one of those surprise treats that Shudder excels at introducing subscribers to, and we can’t recommend it enough.

FILM & TV

RLJE FILMS/SHUDDER

PG: Psycho Goreman ★★★★ 95 minutes, Shudder and Blu-Ray If you’ve never seen a Steven Kostanski film, I hate to tell you just how much goofy, gory goodness you are missing out on, but that’s the reality.

Kostanski, a longtime member of the Canadian film group Astron-6, has been making killer genre films for 10 years now, but he’s yet to match or exceed his early output (“Manborg” and “Father’s Day”)—until now.

“PG: Psycho Goreman” is one of the goriest, funniest family-friendly films you’re likely to ever see, which is exactly what I believe Kostanski intended. To paraphrase a tired sports analogy, this is his bottom of the ninth, bases loaded grand slam and then some.

“Psycho Goreman” excels not only because of Kostanski’s script, which is razor sharp (more on that in a minute), or his exceptional practical creature effects, but because it’s fully-formed with a rich, detailed backstory for both for its titular alien marauder and his arch-rival Templar angels. Nothing feels forced—not the humor, not the ambitious world-building and not the redemptive arc that finds PG doing his best “T2: Judgment Day” about face in the third act.

“Psycho Goreman” wouldn’t work nearly as well if the two young protagonists, Luke (Owen Myre) and his overbearing sister Mimi (NitaJosee Hanna), didn’t feel like very real, very unpredictable children who find themselves smack dab in the middle of an intergalactic war.

Mimi, in particular, is an abrasive riot.

Imagine Newman from “Seinfeld” spliced with Ferris Bueller and slathered with a healthy smearing of James Spader’s Steff from “Pretty in Pink.” I know, I know. Just trust me, it somehow works. “Psycho Goreman” is essentially “ALF” on a cocaine and Adderall bender, packed with some of the juiciest quotes this side of the Milky Way. It all starts when Mimi and Luke unearth a glowing orb that once activated frees PG from his prison box (similar to the Phantom Zone in “Superman II”) that was jettisoned to Earth in order to save the universe.

PG, it turns out, was a ruthless warrior who basically wanted to crush his enemies and hear the lamentation of their women. His Achilles heel, though, is the orb, which is called the Gem of Praxidice.

Whoever holds the orb controls PG, and now it’s fixed firmly in Mimi’s grasp. She basically turns PG into her show-and-tell alien puppet, which leads to some inspired back-and-forth dialogue, such as when Mimi and Luke introduce PG to their friend Alasdair (who later is turned into a pink blob).

“It was nice meeting you,” Alasdair says.

“It would be nicer if you were dead,” PG scoffs.

“All right, bye.”

Later on, Mimi chastises PG for taking so long to arrive after she summoned him.

“Time is a false construct that only exists for primitive beings unable to phase into the ninth dimension,” PG explains. “Also, I got lost.”

There’s just no shortage to the joy and glee

movie’s main character, Diego (Pablo Martinez), is a good guy in the wrong place at the worst time or a nasty SOB who deserves what’s coming.

The set-up is pretty simple: Diego gets called in to work as a security guard at a local hospital, by himself, patrolling the basement passageways, which includes the morgue. The hook is even more simple: The night before the assignment, Diego is driving home when he hits and kills a man. He flees the scene without calling the accident in.

Guess whose body is the only one on a slab in the morgue when he reports for work?

Cardozo does a bang-up job establishing a thick layer of dread that permeates every action that Diego takes while on patrol, whether it’s checking the morgue occasionally or taking a selfie in the breakroom after he’s been issued a handgun.

Even better, Cardozo makes sure to make full use of his entire frame, often allowing objects and shadowy figures to sneak past in the far cor-

ner of a shot, quick enough to almost be missed but your eye still catches enough to send a chill through your chest.

By the point “Morgue” hits its full-blown, haunted house apex, Diego is fighting off handfuls of angry meat sacks that moan and wail as they shamble toward him, trying to pin him down in a corner.

The ghosts are very well done and impressive, similar in style to other paranormal thrillers but still unique enough to deserve kudos.

As for the franchise launch, stick around through the early credits to see what I mean.

If Cardozo has more stories to tell in the same vein, I would definitely be up for a return trip to the morgue.

The Djinn ★★★ There have been a lot of movies to focus on the jinn, or Djinn, a supernatural creature found in both Arabian and Islamic mythology, but David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s “The Djinn” stands out both for its impressive visual style and its heartbreaking plot, which focuses on a young mute boy who longs to be able to speak. This one might surprise you.

Grizzly and Day of the Animals ★★★ Streaming, Blu-Ray and DVD There’s nothing like a double blast of nostalgia, especially when it comes courtesy of acclaimed shock director William Girdler and his trusty leading man, Christopher George.

Severin Films has wisely dusted off two of their best man-versus-nature epics, 1976’s “Grizzly,” which unapologetically plagiarizes its entire narrative from “Jaws,” and 1977’s hokey but prescient environmental disaster thriller, “Day of the Animals.”

Neither movie is great, and they’re both packed with all the political incorrectness that we now expect when revisiting a film from the 1970s, but each possesses a spirit of purpose that’s sorely lacking in many horror films today.

“Day of the Animals,” in particular, also represents what many might consider the dizzying continued on page 38

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heights or crushing lows of what I call “Love Boat” or “Fantasy Island” cinema, a trend that I first noticed with the annual “Airport” movies, which were later lampooned by “Airplane!” and continued with disaster epics like “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure.”

Basically, such movies delivered a star-studded cast of well-known and beloved character actors, often playing against type. In “Day of the Animals,” it’s Leslie Nielsen as a misogynistic advertising executive who decides that he is king of the jungle on the exact day that every wild animal decides its open season on human campers. He’s joined by Andrew Stevens, Richard Jaeckel, Christopher George and his wife, Linda Day George, as well as others I was too young then to recognize and now have long forgotten.

“Grizzly” is by far the better overall movie, but there’s something to be said for “Day of the Animals,” which basically pits the remaining cast against rabid stray dogs for its big finale.

RLJE FILMS/SHUDDER

continued from page 36

Goodbye Honey ★★½ 95 minutes, streaming As abduction thrillers go, very few actually start with the abductee breaking free from her captor, but “Goodbye Honey” is not your ordinary thriller, for better and for worse.

The film opens with an escape, then introduces one of two main female protagonists, a weary long-haul truck driver, who is simply trying to stop for a nap before being roused by a young woman begging for help from an unseen assailant. The two women eventually end up locked inside the truck’s cargo trailer, where they wait and wait to see if the boogeyman will come knocking.

Max Strand’s debut feature takes what viewers normally expect to see happen, and gleefully goes the opposite direction. It’s an idea worthy of compliment, but that doesn’t mean that everything works just because it’s being done differently.

I personally struggled with “Goodbye Honey,” despite appreciating Strand’s unconventional approach. I didn’t find it to be very thrilling, I didn’t find the emotions on display to be always genuine and I honestly did not make it all the way to the end. But, for fans who crave something other than the typical paint-by-numbers approach, “Goodbye Honey” is likely a worthwhile investment.

Hellcats Revenge II: Deadman’s Hand ★★½ 82 minutes, streaming and DVD Pssst, I’m going to let you all in on a little secret. We here at BVB have a special place in our pitch black hearts for a particularly salacious subgenre of exploitation cinema, and that would be women’s prison movies.

When I was much younger, this genre was

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YOU DON’T SÉANCE: Nothing good happens in the elite, all-girl’s prep school bathroom at night. exciting simply for the salacious nature of its existence. It felt taboo, like I was seeing and experiencing something that most “normal” folks wouldn’t appreciate and might even gasp in shock and clutch their pearls if they caught a snippet of such a film on late-night after-hours cable. As I matured, and my knowledge of film expanded, I came to realize that much like blaxploitation and even lesser known and far more extreme genres, such cinema served a purpose by shining a light on characters, situations and controversial subject matter that rarely found a showcase in mainstream movies. Women’s prison movies were over-the-top and often garnered attention for focusing too much on the puerile elements, but they still featured predominantly female casts and told female-centric stories in a way that other genres did not, especially during the 1970s and 1980s.

From “Caged Heat” to “The Lost Empire” to what I consider the all-time best, 1986’s “Bad Girls Dormitory,” women’s prison movies have existed for decades to titillate fans with unnecessary and gratuitous nudity, extreme catfights, ridiculously evil wardens and guards and even more evil female inmates.

It’s been forever since I’ve seen a truly awesome movie in this arena, and I had high hopes that “Hellcat’s Revenge II: Deadman’s Hand” would arrive to slake the void, even though I

failed to catch Len Kabasinski’s original when it was released in 2017.

For the sequel, Kabasinski sticks with the same tough-as-nails, voluptuous femme fatale, Kat (Lisa Neeld), who finds herself blamed for a brutal murder and left to fend for herself in a lawless prison hellscape. Kat’s mission is to fight her way out from behind bars in order to seek and destroy the vicious girl-gang leader who framed her.

Kabasinski’s approach to filmmaking is to act like he’s directing a huge Hollywood action flick circa 1989 (think “Tango and Cash”), which is appreciated. You can tell how much thought went into certain scenes as far as framing and blocking.

All the ambition in the world can’t make up for average acting, though, or less-thanmemorable antagonists, and sadly “Hellcat’s Revenge II” comes off more like an Andy Sidaris knock-off of a James Bond blockbuster than a fully-formed, wholly entertaining piece of standalone entertainment.

Séance ★★½ 92 minutes, streaming Simon Barrett has written some of the best genre films to be released in the past 20 years, penning fresh and original takes on ghosts

(“Dead Birds”), survival thrillers (“A Horrible Way to Die”), secret military experiment/action mashups (“The Guest”) and gory home invasion thrillers (“You’re Next”).

With “Séance,” his first feature-length film as both writer and director, Barrett tries to combine two disparate genres—the revenge thriller and the paranormal conjuring—into one cohesive and entertaining story set inside an elite all-girls prep school.

The results are decidedly mixed, I’m afraid to say.

“Séance” isn’t bad, per se, but it also doesn’t have the same verve as Barrett’s best work with director Adam Wingard. For once, I found myself paying less attention to the words Barrett had written, if only because I was trying to keep up with his slippery narrative that fails to generate any real connection to the lead heroine, Camille (Suki Waterhouse), who is actually more of an anti-heroine, a la Walter White, than a fullblown social activist, a la Veronica Sawyer, taking out the privileged trash.

In the end, “Séance” fails to match the best of either genre that’s come before. The paranormal stuff isn’t very spooky, and the revenge angle falls short of that critical, satisfying release that accompanies a grand comeuppance. continued on page 41

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continued from page 38 Threshold ★★½ 78 minutes, streaming and Blu-Ray I personally love a good slow-burn thriller, the kind of movie that takes its sweet time getting to the gut punch that leaves you gasping in surprise and shock on the floor.

I’m talking about movies like “The Invitation,” “The Witch” or “Entrance.”

“Threshold,” a new psychological, possibly supernatural thriller from co-directors Powell Robinson and Patrick Robert Young, has all the makings of a cult classic, including a great premise about a brother trying to corral his sister who has long had addiction issues who now is convinced that she has been cursed by a demonic cult and literally had her life bound to another man she’s never met who lives on the other side of the country.

The problem with “Threshold” is that Robinson and Young spend too much time, way too much time, especially for a movie that’s barely more than an hour long, documenting the brother and sister’s trek, which allows the brother time to fully buy into her story, but without giving viewers much to cling to.

The bigger problem with “Threshold” is that all the good stuff literally happens in the final five minutes.

That’s less of a slow burn and more like a damp wick that sputters and sputters until just before you give up trying to light it to finally catch a spark.

100 Candles ★★ 100 minutes, streaming and DVD As horror anthologies go, “100 Candles” delivers some effective short narratives. If only they weren’t trapped inside a less-than-engaging wrap-around story.

Each short film focuses on children in peril, which may be a trigger for some. The practical effects, for the most part, are surprisingly solid.

There is at least one surprising cameo that had me reaching for my phone to confirm. And there’s one absolutely outstanding tale of terror involving a young boy raised by a serial killer to believe that he’s hiding from monsters that I immediately wished had been its own feature film.

The problem is that there are too many vignettes, too much focus on the wraparound story, which involves four annoying young adults playing a ritualistic game with candles, and not a quick enough pace to keep you enthralled instead of checking your watch.

Sound of Violence ★★ 94 minutes, Streaming, Blu-Ray and DVD For his debut feature, “Sound of Violence,” writer-director Alex Noyer takes a big swing for the fence, makes contact, but fails to lift the ball up high enough to clear the outfield wall.

I understand why he missed the mark; I just wish Noyer had taken a little more time to fully develop his main character, Alexis (Jasmin Savoy Brown), because his creative visual style and the thrust of his plot, which centers around synesthesia, a neurological condition that causes some to literally see certain sounds through a myriad of explosive colors, is wildly ambitious.

The big problem with “Sound of Violence” is that Noyer shows his hand way, way, way too early, and not just in his unsettling opening sequence where Alexis first experiences synesthesia as she watches and hears her father bludgeon her mother to death.

Before viewers can even wrap their minds around his concept, “Sound of Violence” timejumps more than a decade ahead to a point when Alexis is trying to make a living as an avant-garde musician, and secretly trying to

feed her need to hear people in extreme pain, which activates the brilliant burst of colors and drug-like euphoria that accompanies it.

Noyer essentially positions Alexis as some diabolical super-villain willing to sacrifice any human she chooses in order to quench her addiction, but he fails to make her very smart (she leaves clues everywhere) or sympathetic. Plus, he fails to help viewers understand how or why Alexis is able to suddenly come up with a series of elaborate torture devices that wouldn’t feel out in place in a “Saw” franchise film.

There’s just too many plot holes to overlook, especially when Noyer is positioning Alexis as the protagonist despite everything that she does on-screen to undermine that distinction. There’s a way to make this movie and make it work. If you haven’t seen Joe Begos’ “Bliss,” give it a view and you will understand what I mean.

“Sound of Violence” is a case study in great intentions versus practical execution, but at times it does make for a beautiful, messy canvas of what woulda, coulda, shoulda been.

Yes, it’s very original, but original doesn’t guarantee that it’s good, and while I always appreciate seeing filmmakers get creative to overcome a lack of resources and funding, “In Action” just didn’t catch my imagination enough to allow me to get onboard.

Evil Everywhere ★ 64 minutes, streaming and DVD Video stores used to be stocked with movies like “Evil Everywhere.”

And like many of those long-forgotten titles, the nostalgia for a simpler time with simpler entertainment is far more inviting in theory than the reality of trying to make it through a very low budget attempt to pay homage to both slasher movies and the glory days of Italian schlock cinema.

To be honest, I can only recommend the first three minutes of “Evil Everywhere,” which launches off with a hysterical Joe Friday-esque voice-over describing the evil force that awakens in 1985 and begins killing off all the local high school students in alphabetical order.

There’s a wild montage of inspired DIY practical effects, including a wonderfully messy decapitation and an impressive hammer blow to a skull.

But the best part is the story being told, which includes a loner nerd named Zeke, the last in his class scheduled to die by virtue of his last name starting with “Z”; a mysterious girl with telekinetic abilities; and a climatic standoff with evil that ends with a massive homage to late-70s classics like “Scanners” and “The Fury.”

If only that had been the entirety of “Evil Everywhere,” and not the intro. By the six-minute mark, after unexplained time jumps to 1987 and back to 1985, I was confused. Within a few minutes more, I was skipping forward, hoping to land on some moment as equally cool as the opening.

Sad to say, that never happened.

In Action ★½ 79 minutes, streaming Another unique VOD arrival is “In Action,” a pseudo-action flick written by, directed by and starring Sean Kenealy and Eric Silvera, who play longtime friends and writing partners who finally hit upon a great idea for an insane action blockbuster, only to have the U.S. government suddenly suspect them of being terrorists trying to enact their plot for real.

The hook here is that almost the entire movie is told through bursts of exposition, or animation, or other clever DIY tricks like toys, allowing Kenealy and Silvera to become their own action heroes, so to speak, while being interrogated about their story.

THINKPIE

ACTION LACKING: Eric SIlvera (L) and Sean Kenealy.

Not to be overlooked For the Sake of Vicious For anyone who has seen Gabriel Carrer’s brutally effective “The Demolisher,” be prepared for another slice of homegrown carnage with this rousing home invasion thriller he co-directed with Reese Eveneshen.

The Columnist Katja Herbers slays (literally!) as Femke Boot, an outspoken newspaper columnist who decides to exact a bloody toll from the online trolls who hide behind a keyboard while spewing personal attacks because of her gender and her opinions.

Beverly Hills 90120: The Ultimate Collection For everyone who never wanted to graduate from Torrance High School, and even those who actually watched the very meta reboot “BH90210,” this 72-disc set packaged in very appropriate yearbook binders includes nearly 49 hours of Dylan, Brandon, Donna, Brenda and the rest of the gang doing what they did best (ie, getting in trouble, hanging at the Peach Pit and breaking our hearts on a weekly basis).

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A MONTH OF C E L E B R AT I O N S

T

T PE

EP R I DE .OR

G

ALL ARE WELCOME - LGBTQIA+ AND FRIENDS!

Outdoor Adventure Week: June 1st - June 6th Signature Event: Pride OUTside - June 5th Vinoy Park. 7am - 2pm.

Family Week: June 7th - June 13th Signature Event: We Are Family - June 12th

St. Pete Pier / North & South Straub Park. 11am - 5pm.

Arts & Music Week: June 14th - June 20th

Taste of PrideFest Week: June 21st - June 30th

Signature Event: Arts + Qulture - June 19th

Signature Event: Pride Picnic by Trueleive - June 26th

The Factory, 2622 Fairfield Ave S, St. Pete. 4pm - 10pm.

42 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

North & South Straub Park. 2pm - 9pm.

Tiny bubble

A St. Pete bastion of eccentric beauty can be yours for $450K.

By Colin Wolf

I

t’s the end of an era. St. Petersburg artist Dan Painter is selling his iconic “Tiny Town.”

Located at 2520 Emerson Ave. S in the Warehouse District, “Tiny Town” was first built in 2014, and has been through many iterations over the years.

Currently the half-acre village resembles a beachy Florida town, complete with miniature structures that resemble a seafood restaurant, a barber shop, a drive-in theater, a motel, a trailer park, and more.

Painter told the Tampa Bay Times, which first broke the news of the sale, that he’s ready to move on to other projects. “I’m going to get a used car and a used dog and I’m just going to hit the road,” said Painter to the Times. “I’ve given away mostly everything. Ultimately, wherever I land, all I need is water nearby, whether it’s a river or an ocean.”

Tiny Town is currently asking $450,000, and the listing agents are Gina Foti and Torrie Jasuwan of thepropertyshoppers.com. See more of the home via cltampa.com/magazine.

HOMES

PANDA PHOTO STUDIO

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Nominations & Voting Coming Soon botbtampabay.com ~ #clbotb

44 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

LOCAL MUSIC

Jordan Esker & the Hundred Percent w/House Of I Friday, June 11, 8:30 p.m. New World Brewery (music hall). 810 Skagway Ave., Tampa. Tables of four, five or six available for $40-$60. newworldtampa.com

REVIEWS

PROFILES

MUSIC WEEK

Piano stacks

Keys, synth and boom bap propel new pop LP from Jordan Esker.

By Josh Bradley Percent plays a socially-distanced release party at Tampa’s New World Brewery on June 11—PICA’s release day. Naturally, House Of I will be opening the show, and every song from the album, and then some, will be performed. Oh, and a celebration of Esker’s 30th birthday will be in place.

And don’t worry about asking Esker what PICA stands for.

New developments at New World Esker’s show marks a significant period of change at New World Brewery, too, as it’s the last show the venue is doing with its limited-to90-people, seated-and-socially-distanced format.

In an email to CL, New World talent buyer Mark Warren said that the seating for Esker’s show works out to $10/head as far as a cover charge. The tables—$40 for a four-top, $50 for a five-top and $60

they’d have to wait until February 2020 for the new spot to open. And nobody could predict that COVID-19 was on the way to shut it all down in a major way. New World pivoted, quickly adapting into a place for pizza and cocktail pickup, before eventually opening back up to people and limited-capacity, socially-distanced shows with strict enforcement of mask rules that bellied the lax approach of many other venues and businesses in Tampa (New World was one of a small handful of venues that helped launch a local “Safe & Sound” protocol).

And things are getting even closer to normal at New World by the summer.

KELSEY WALKER

J

ordan Esker & The Hundred Percent’s latest project has been a long time coming.

Last year, the four-piece released two singles off its upcoming PICA album: “Bored Again,” with a jumpy bassline and falsetto hook, and “Rust,” which covers what it’s like to totally lose yourself by getting stuck living in a virtual reality. Esker also admitted in a press release that there are elements that give off Prince and Ray Charles vibes—a strange combo for sure, but both tunes bookend the track listing of the new record.

As of last weekend, a total of seven songs, out of 11 on PICA, had surfaced on streaming services, all on different EP releases.

Esker, who recently produced House Of I’s Daniel Caballero’s new side project, Blonde Gentleman, really went out of his way to make sure that this release sounds unlike anything he’s done in his professional career. For example, he’s taken an interest in the sound of a gospel choir. “My days in the FSU gospel choir taught me the power of gospel singing’s rhythm and harmony,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. There’s not an actual, massive gospel choir that appears, nor is there even much sign of gospel inspiration throughout the album. It’s definitely there, though—the choir’s presence is far superior on “Never Gave Back,” which sees Esker lament about no longer knowing quite how to pay somebody back, but it shines brightest during the last few seconds of “All The Wondering.”

Hundred Percent keyboardist Matt Raspo worked his magic on a recently-acquired vintage 1977 Wurlitzer 200A keyboard that Esker heavily relied on for practically every song on the album, hoping to cut most of the regular guitar work out of the picture. “While some guitar still got in, the album largely leans on melodic piano lines, stacks and stacks of vintage synths, boom bap leaning alt-rock drums, and of course, the mystic sounds of the Wurli soaked in strange reverbs,” Esker wrote in a press release. He’s not kidding either—the most triumphant guitar work on the album is thrown into the last 40-or-so seconds of “Never Gave Back.”

To make this release even more of something to look forward to, Jordan Esker & The Hundred

In the meantime, go get yourself pumped by giving one of the band’s new EPs a listen, or one of its less-recent releases, 2018’s Fail To Learn, or 2014’s Best Supporting Actor.

BURLY & WURLI: The sounds of a 1977 Wurlitzer 200A play heavy on ‘PICA.’ “I got the idea from the idea from the condition where people or animals consume inedible substances. To me this has always stuck in my mind as I’m super conscious about how the food I eat affects me. However, obviously the songs aren’t about that, rather the album largely centers around my relationship with music and how I’ve grown to view it over time,” he said. “Take that metaphor as you will.”

for a six-top—essentially allow folks to keep their COVID pods intact, but new CDC guidelines have led to relaxed guidelines at the venue.

The news is welcome for longtime fans of the venue, which closed its location in Ybor City— its homebase for 22 years—back in 2017. By the time that rain-soaked closing night arrived, regulars knew the venue was moving to its new home in Sulphur Springs, but no one knew

“The plan is then to move to half capacity (150) and general admission (mostly standing with first-come booth seating along the walls) for a few weeks so we can adjust our procedures and practices accordingly,” Warren added. “Then if everybody behaves and things stay cool (like, no infection/death spikes), we move to full capacity (299) at the beginning of July.”—Ray Roa

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E S T A B L I S H E D

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MUSIC VENUE | BAR | RESTAURANT Th 6/10 | The Finest In Funk (DJ)

Jordan Esker & The 100% w/House Of I (indie rock) 8:30-11 | in the Music Hall F 6/11 |

6.10

TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET/YOUTUBE

F 6/11 |

THU The Finest In Funk AJ Hall spins classics on vinyl

And Then Came Humans (indie rock duo) 7:30-9:30 | free | in the Biergarten

YOU DON’T GET THE JOKE: Teenage Bottlerocket and local promoter Paul Williams support a venue’s decision to not host its concert.

Skate or die

Sa 6/12 |

Joshua Reilly

T

Jordan Esker & The 100% with House Of I doors 7:30 | show 8:30 | Music Hall | $10

And Then Came Humans indie rock 7:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE

SAT

6.12 SUN

6.13

NEW BELGIUM BREWERY BBQUSTIC

Joshua Reilly singer-songwriter

7:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE

ESTRELLA GALICIA PRESENTS SUNDAY SESSIONS

SG Wood Americana/singer-songwriter 5:30-7:30 | Biergarten | FREE

(singer-songwriter) 7:30-9:30 | free | in the Biergarten

WED Pon Site! DJ Mike Blenda of Gwan Massive spins reggae

Su 6/13 | SG Wood (singer-songwriter)

810 Skagway Ave | Tampa

After pushback on un-vaxxed ticket prices, St. Pete concert moves to Tampa.

By Ray Roa

FRI

6.11

6:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE

A voicemail for VFW post commander Janice hat St. Petersburg, Florida concert 5:30-7:30 where | free | in the Biergarten the price of admission depends on your Pettit has yet to be returned. The show was inivaxx status is moving across the Bay to tially announced on the same day Gov. DeSantis W 6/16 | Pon Site!aWed Night passport Jugglin' (DJ/reggae) the Skatepark of Tampa (SPoT). signed vaccine ban, and Pettit told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay first reported Patch that “The VFW is not allowed to go above that Wyoming pop-punk band Teenage an executive order… And the promoter can’t either.

Bottlerocket was set to play the VFW Post 39 It’s not happening at our VFW.” But as Washington on June 26 where promoter Paul Williams set Post pointed out, DeSantis’ new law backed by ticket prices at $18 for those with proof of vac- fines doesn’t take effect until July. cination and $999.99 for those who don't. At Still, what’s done is done, so the band will the time, Williams said he was bringing the now play at SPoT—located at 4215 E Columbus show to the venue because he wanted to help Ave.—where many memorable punk shows have the Southeast’s oldest VFW Post, gone down. And with the new venue which has been struggling to make comes an earlier door time (6 p.m., it through the pandemic. He also two hours before the first band, just wanted to see his friends again in in case anyone wants to skate), bag the safest of settings. check (so you can stow merch and/ “We care about not hurting each other or oth- or your skateboard during the show) and an effort ers. The only thing we like as much, if not better, to help folks with rides across the Bay (details on than going to a show with our friends is a cause,” the Facebook event page). Vegan vendors Nah Williams explained last month.

Dogs and Mince’s World-Famous Seitan will also But in recent weeks, press from across the be on hand. country latched onto Williams’ concert, and that As far as security goes, Williams’ added meant pressure from anti-vaxxers and those who that “anyone looking to perform some anti-vacmake online threats against those whose views cine interpretive dance or other such nonsense don’t align with theirs. Under that pressure, either in the ticket line, check-in, or inside the Williams told CL that the VFW has decided not venue can expect a swift and forceful ejection to host the show. He declined to provide addi- by security.” tional details regarding the VFW’s decision to Teenage Bottlerocket seems ready to play pull out of the show, but said in a statement that for its fans, too. “[Williams] is doing his best his Leadfoot Promotions company and the band to protect the concertgoers in his city," Miguel support the VFW members’ choice.

Chen, bassist for the band, told CNN. “We wish them the best. To draw away “I also know that there’s 250 people who any controversy around the VFW, Leadfoot bought tickets to the show understanding that Promotions will no longer be doing shows there,” those are the stipulations. I think they’re all Williams wrote, adding that Leadfoot’s Aug. going to very happily show their vaccination 31 show with Lawrence Arms bassist Brendan records so that they can come party and have a good time and not have to worry.”

Kelly is moving to The Bricks.

MUSIC NEWS

6.16

6:30-9:30 | Biergarten | FREE

813.304.0460 | newworldtampa.com OPEN WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY | 11AM-12AM

UPCOMING SHOWS F 6.18 Ricky Wilcox Sa 6.19 Cormac Kavanagh Su 6.20 LaRue Nickelson F 6.25 Sam Farmer

Sa 6.26 Oak Hill Drifters Sa 6.26 Dean Johanesen Su 6.27 Swamp Rats F 7.2 Jamie McElman & Steve Prince Sa 7.3 Jonathan Foster

F 7.9 Six Volt Rodeo w/Royce Reed F 7.9 René Schlegel Sa 7.10 Guianna Su 7.11 Deb Ruby BOLD shows are in the Music Hall BUSCH BLVD SKAGWAY 275 YUKON

Sat. June 12th

RSD Hours: 9:45am - 7pm Walk-ins based on capacity Phone orders start at 1pm Masks Mandatory • Cashless Payments

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No Comps: New concerts coming to Tampa Bay

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LIVE MUSIC • 7-10PM Indie-pop band Tennis (pictured above opening for Spoon at The Ritz in Ybor City in 2017) is returning to St. Petersburg as part of its fall tour. Made up of husband and wife Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley—plus drummer Steve Voss and bassist Ryan Tullock—Tennis evokes the soft-sounds of the late-’70s and early-’80s but with a modern indie-rock tinge.

The couple already has a connection to Tampa Bay, too; St. Pete’s municipal marina is where the couple purchased their beloved sailboat “Swift Ranger.” Moore talked about her love of the area in an interview with Creative Loafing Tampa in 2017 Selwyn Birchwood Saturday, June 26, 8 p.m. $25-$40. Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg REO Speedwagon Wednesday, Jul. 21. $53.25 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater Classic Albums Live: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon Friday, Aug. 6. $35 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Freestyle Explosion: Lisa Lisa w/Stevie B./Montell Jordan/69 Boyz/Exposé/ Debbie Deb/George Lamond/TKA K7/ Pretty Poison/Trenere Friday, Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m. $39.50-$150. Amalie Arena, Tampa 311w/Iya Terra Saturday, Sept. 25. $25 & up. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa.

The Dead Daisies Saturday, Sept. 25. $22.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Dead And Company Thursday, Oct. 7. $51.50 & up. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa Absolution Fest: Actors w/Mr. Kitty/ Korine/Curse Mackey/Bootblacks/Cold Medicine/Kanga/Sine/The Bellwether Syndicate/more Thursday-Saturday, Oct.7-9. $15-$75. Crowbar and Orpheum, Ybor City

before opening for Spoon at The Ritz. (A show I still can’t believe I missed.) And in 2011, Riley told the “Swift Ranger” story ahead of the Tennis’ set opening for Dum Dum Girls at the old Orpheum on the same block as CL’s Ybor City office.

Singer-songwriter Molly Burch opens the show as well as the tour’s only other Florida stop at the Beacham in Orlando on Oct. 23. Get information on that show plus more newly announced concerts below, and see the announcements in real time via cltampa.com/magazine.— Stephanie Powers Simrit. Friday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m. $24.50-$54.50.

Largo Cultural Center, Largo Alice Cooper w/Ace Frehley Monday, Oct. 11. $19 & up. MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa Simple Plan w/New Found Glory/LOLO Thursday, Oct. 14. Sold Out. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

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Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Los Lobos w/Taj Mahal Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. $69.50 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

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813-254-8880 cltampa.com | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | 49

50 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

THU JUNE 10–WED JUNE 16

C Designated Safe And Sound Venue The local concert scene is finding ways to try and stay on its feet. We’ve marked the gigs at venues that have joined a Tampa-based and city-recognized “Safe & Sound” initiative that pledges to strictly enforce limited capacity, mask wearing and social distancing—and tried our best to explain COVID-19 protocols at venues that not able to join Tampa’s “Safe & Sound” program.

THU 10

Poisonville Songs: The Hummingbirds Henri Wong has long broken the mold at his Comfort Inn in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg (94th Ave. N to be exact), and he’s back this week with a concert featuring a set from once-Detroit-based Americana duo (and now Bay area favorite) The Hummingbirds.

If you’ve never been to a good local show at a hotel, here’s your chance. Donations accepted for the band. (Comfort Inn & Suites, St. Petersburg)—Ray Roa

FRI 11

C And Then Came Humans This Cleveland band is a little bit Ween, a little bit Flight of the Conchords, a little bit “Lost in Space.” That’s how I’d describe it, anyway. Friends Mike Sopko and Ryan Scott—who play close to 200 shows a year— describe their band as an “indie/ jazz-rock/ funk/experimental duo adept at rearranging and reinterpreting a wide variety of popular music, performed in DJ-like fashion with seamless improvised transitions between songs.” New World has relaxed it’s Covid protocols a little, and masks are not required outside. Though, if you haven’t gotten vaxxed, it’s still best if you wear one in general. Hold on, why haven’t you gotten vaxxed yet? (New World Brewery, Tampa) C Donna Anderson Memorial Concert: Have Gun, Will Travel w/Someday Honey/Silver Bearded Bullet Band Donna Anderson, mother of Have Gun, Will Travel’s guitarist Scott Anderson passed away in March, so Scott set up this tribute show featuring his own Bob Seger tribute act. “Bob Seger wasn’t necessarily her favorite, but Seger and the Silver Bullet band at the Omni in 1986 was one of the many memorable concerts my parents took me to growing up,” Anderson, who grew up in Georgia, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Last year at Crowbar’s “Fangsgiving” charity event, Scott, Sean Pomeroy, Adam Revak, Anson Mitchell, Matt E Lee, with Crowbar bossman Tom DeGeorge fronting the band, did a Seger tribute set. “We had a blast, so we thought we’d get the band back together. Her favorite

was probably Janis Joplin, and while I didn’t ask her to do any Joplin, I think Kaleigh Baker is on that level and honestly one of the best to ever do it, so Someday Honey was the obvious choice to honor that spirit. I think HGWT is pretty good, too, so we’re playing as well,” Anderson added. FYI, the venue is operating at half-capacity with masks recommended. (Crowbar, Ybor City) C Mindwash w/Wreath/Black Clash If your pandemic concert going was a little quiet, here’s a gig that’s welcoming you back in the loudest way possible. Tequila daddy Laith Abel fronts Mindwash, a rock band for fans of the Mars Volta, ZZ Top, and even James Brown (seriously, all at the same time), and hardcore band Wreath— fronted by Eliot Mayo—is back playing live after releasing one of 2020’s best records (LIYL: Minor Threat). Get there early to see punk band Black Clash support its September 2020 record All Sales Are Final.

(Hooch and Hive, Tampa)—Ray Roa

DAVE DECKER

By Stephanie Powers

SAT 12

EST Gee w/J Dreamchaser/DJ BJ305 Whiskey North continues to book the newest in rap, trap and otherwise. This weekend, the Carrollwood venue welcomes Louisville’s Est Gee (stylized EST Gee). In March, fellow Kentuckian Jack Harlow released “Route 66” featuring Gee, which gave the 27-year-old rapper some major notability. But Gee’s solo single “Lick Back” proves he can hold his own.

Plus he recently signed to Yo Gotti’s CMG Records, so pretty sure this is just the beginning. The 18 and up show has a unique system for ticket tiers: GA ticket holders have to wait in line, then there’s “faster access into the venue” (VIP), and for $100 bucks you can skip the line altogether. (Whiskey North, Tampa) C Matt Woods w/Austin Lucas/Will Quinlan I listened to Will Quinlan’s new single “Texarkana” Sunday morning while I was on vacation with my family. As I sat outside looking at the ocean, listening to Quilan’s heartbreakingly-twangy tenor, voice my mom asked “Are you at church?” It was pretty much the closest thing I’ve gotten to a spiritual experience in quite a while—you can hear and feel the emotion. “This is a special one for me based on my cousin Mike who passed a while back, was like a big brother to me and the lost love/greatest heartbreak of his life with a girl (Henrietta) from Texarkana,” Quinlan told CL. Once again, I’m just amazed at the talent we have here in Tampa Bay. Quilan will play “Texarkana” when he opens for Tennessee’s Matt Woods and Indiana’s Austin Lucas, and you’re going to want to stay out late for the headliners.

Woods is a perennial Bay area favorite whose blue eyes only get outshined by his own painful croon, and Indiana songwriter Lucas’ 2018 album, Immortal Americans, might be his last which gets criminally overlooked by

Wreath the country music overlords and lever pullers who always arrive late to the best and brightest young music makers in their industry.

(Hooch and Hive, Tampa) Worthy w/Kyle Kinch Worthy—a cofounder of EDM record label Dirtybird—is celebrating her first Pride month after coming out via social media in December. Is there a more perfect place for Worthy to celebrate part of Pride month than in our very own Gaybor? To get a feel of what kind of party it’s going to be, check out a recently-released single ”All You Need.” There’s free entry before 11 p.m. if you sign up for the guest list via sunsettampa.com/guestlist. If you’re scared you won’t make it to Ybor City by 11 p.m., you can buy a “guaranteed entry” ticket for $10 plus fees. Masks are recommended.

(The Ritz, Ybor City) Zach Deputy w/Mike Pinto/Honey Hounds After playing a small Ybor City show at The Attic last winter, popular livelooper and self-professed purveyor of “island-infused drum n’ bass gospel ninja soul” Zach Deputy is moving to a bigger, more outdoor, venue this weekend. And he knows a thing or two about being outside in big crowds. Deputy was in D.C. on Jan. 6, and while he didn’t try to get Mike Pence to change his mind, he did end up deleting

a pic of himself in a MAGA hat at the rally.

“I was there at the Capitol, but I am 100% against rioting against the police,” Deputy recently said in a video where he supported the debunked Big Lie that the election was rigged. Surf-roots-reggae singer Mike Pinto and blues outfit Honey Hounds open. Not sure if there’s a workshop on becoming a poll worker before the show. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)—Ray Roa

SUN 13

Travis Tritt Country singer Travis Tritt is back playing an intimate acoustic set, just like the one he played in December. So if you’re a fan of the celebrity crooner, and sometimes actor, then “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive.” Ruth Eckerd Hall, and its sister venue Capitol Theatre, still believe there’s a pandemic happening—spoiler alert, it’s true—so staff treats the venue’s shows with caution.

Capacity is at 50% and tickets are only available in pairs, so get a partner and saddle up. Masks are still required, and the venue stresses that ticket buyers should “Please be aware that this is subject to change and may be voluntary on the day of the event. Do not purchase if this is a concern.” (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

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52 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

Dumplings

By Dan Savage

I’ve been living with my boyfriend for a year.

We met on FetLife and I was honest about being in an open relationship (at the time) and seeking a sexual connection over a relationship. But one nut after another, and pretty soon we were professing our love for each other, he shared that he wanted to be the father of my children. However, right before he moved in I found out he was still texting other women despite asking me not to text, sext, or have sex with any other men. He also regularly “yucks my yum” and makes fun of the types of porn I watch and calls it “gross” (my thing for cuckolding being his main target) and he also insists men can’t be friends with women yet he’s still friends with women he’s had sex with. He hides the fact he is masturbating from me but expects to participate in all my masturbation sessions. He claims we have no sexual secrets but I snooped and learned he was looking at porn with titles like “TS,” “sissy,” “gay,” and “BBW Black.” It makes me feel small because of the nagging feeling I may not be his cup of tea since he hides these other interests from me while not allowing me to hide anything from him. I also worry that his “affection” for my black BBW ass may be no different than his objectification of trans women. He says he doesn’t want to “burden” me with “rapey” sex play but I am open to sex of all kinds of sex, not just the softcore-porn-type kind—so long as he doesn’t start by rubbing my boobs like they’re doorknobs. I am at my wits end. I already emailed an LGBTQIA+ friendly couples counselor because we are both scared the relationship will end. But I can’t keep turning a blind eye to his half-truths, double standards, and hypocrisy.—Feeling Extremely Tense

When your current boyfriend “yucks your yum,” when he says the porn you like is gross, he’s projecting the shame he feels about all the non-normative (but perfectly wonderful) stuff that turns him on. When someone vomits their shame all over you, FET, getting yourself out of vomit-range is your best option. And for the record: I don’t think your boyfriend is mess because he’s interested in more kinds of sex than he admits or more types of women than just your type of woman or dudes or power games that touch on gender roles and/or taboos.

And the fact that he’s hiding his attraction to trans women from you isn’t by itself proof that he objectifies trans women, FET, or that he’s objectifying you. You don’t know how he would interact (or how he has interacted) with a trans partner. What you do know is he treats you like shit and makes you feel bad about yourself and demands transparency from you without being transparent in return. DTMFA. P.S. Please don’t let his shitty comments about your turn-ons lead you to doubt your desirability— just the fact that you’re into cuckolding makes you something of a prize, FET, as there are easily a hundred times as many men into cuckolding as there are women. It wouldn’t take you long to replace a guy who shames you for being into cuckolding with a guy who absolutely worships you for it.

P.P.S. I don’t think you had grounds to snoop, FET, or a need to snoop. You knew everything you needed to know about this guy before you found his secret undeleted browser history. Insisting you cut your male friends and exes out of your life was reason enough to end this relationship.

BREAK UP. This guy sounds like equal parts asshole and mess. And he needs to work on that—he needs to clean up his mess—on his own. You can’t do the work for him, FET, and I would urge you to resist the urge to use the relationship as leverage. Because by staying in this relationship despite his half-truths, his double standards, and his hypocrisies—by sticking around to be shamed and manipulated—you’re sending him a message that says, “It’s fine, you’re fine, we’re fine.” Perhaps I shouldn’t say, “You’re sending him a message,” because this shit isn’t your fault, FET. But he will self-servingly interpret your willingness to stay and work on the relationship—as if the relationship is the problem here—as proof that he doesn’t need to do something about his own shit. He will assume he can continue to get away with being a controlling, manipulative, and sex-shaming asshole… because he’s getting away with it.

I’m an out 26-year-old gay man with a 30-year-old boyfriend who is not out. That’s fine.

Everyone gets to come out at their own pace. We have been together three years and lived together for two. Which is also fine. I like living with him.

But he “jokingly” calls me his “faggy roommate” and sometimes puts me down about being gay when we are around mutual friends so people won’t think he’s gay.—Just Over Keeping Everything Secret

SAVAGE LOVE

JOE NEWTON

NO. Everyone gets to come out at their own pace—sure, OK, I guess, whatever. But closeted adult gay men don’t get to heap insults on their out gay sex partners in order to throw mutuals off the scent. (The scent of cock on their breath.)

Unless you get off on this treatment and wrote in to brag (not a single question mark detected in your email), JOKES, you need to DTMFCCA. (“Dump the motherfucking closet case already.”)

I’m a fit and healthy 66-year-old woman.

(Vegan 53 years and have never been sick a day in my life!) I’ve been told I look 40-ish—so not too bad! I was married for 20 years and then sat on the bench without so much as one date for 18 years because I was a hardworking single mom of three kids. So I met a guy about six years ago. I was dating around a bit at the time and figured he was, too. Well, I later found out he had me “checked out and followed” and even hacked my computer, where he found a couple of sexy emails to another guy. We were not exclusive at the time and years later—six years later—he throws the details of one particular email I sent to another in my face every chance he gets. He has actually told me he was dating other women when we first met. Of course he was! No big deal at all but it irks me that he hired someone to follow my every move! (He even accused me of getting paid for sex and said he had proof! Totally false!) We have been engaged and I am holding back from marrying him. Otherwise he is good to me. What’s the deal here?—Engaged Dame Grows Edgy RUN.

This is emotional abuse—hurling that noneof-his-business email in your face every chance he gets—and it’s gonna get worse if you marry him. This kind of shit always gets worse after the wedding, e.g. it gets worse once getting away from someone like this requires lawyers and court dates. DTMFA. There’s a huge difference between the kind of lapse in judgement that might prompt someone to snoop and hiring a private investigator to track someone’s movements.

Someone who would do that—someone who would essentially outsource stalking you—isn’t a person you’re obligated to break up with faceto-face or sit down with to give them “closure.”

Prioritize your safety, EDGE. A text message and a block are all the closure he needs and far more consideration than he deserves.

P.S. Veganism is healthy and an all-plant diet is good for the planet. And it’s wonderful that you haven’t been sick a day in your life! But we’re all going to die—it’s just that some of us are going to die with a slice of cheese pizza in our greasy hands.

Contact mail@savagelove.net, follow @ FakeDanSavage on Twitter and bookmark savagelovecast.com.

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54 | JUNE 10 - JUNE 16, 2021 | cltampa.com

WORDTOPIA

by Merl Reagle

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ACROSS 1 Math test need, often 13 Send far, far away, 63 maybe 19 Words oft-heard 64 on The Addams 67 Family 21 Forward, in 70 Florence 22 The man who 71 thought he shot Liberty Valance (played by Jimmy 73 74 Stewart) 24 Mangalore music 76 77 makers 78 25 What “there 80 oughta be” 26 Play roulette, e.g.

27 Dryish 29 Concert opening? 83 30 The Little Rascals’ 85 dog 31 Plastic nickname 87 33 “___, you 88 magnificent 92 bastard, I read 93 your book!”

(George C. Scott 94 in Patton) 95 34 Water barrier 97 35 Recipe verb 99 36 Cone-bearing tree 38 Caustic cleaners 102 39 Pack rat 40 Driver’s invitation 103 42 Squad’s concern 105 106 44 Crossword constructors (like 107 me) who put long words on top of 108 each other, as in 110 this puzzle 111 46 Earth tones 48 Theft of a sort 50 Andrew Carnegie, 112 by birth 114 51 Race-starter’s words 1

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23 Ex-QB Tarkenton Lucy’s pal on The 28 Lucy Show 32 Choral compositions 34 Runner Sebastian Tom Thumb 37 composer 39 Thomas 41 O’Neill title figure 43 Landlord’s last 45 letter

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Golf bag item 72 Some votes 116 ___ on (has too From ___ Z much of, slangily) 75 Buttoned anew Advanced degrees 79 Hindu follower?

Down source 81 Knight’s title It’s a single strand 82 “What I like of nucleotides, about beer is unlike DNA you basically PUZZLE FANS !

Pesto base drink it and order For info on Merl's Enthusiastic more. You don’t Sunday crossword Name that sounds ___” (Dave anthologies, visit like a bug www.sunday Barry) Dropping like a 84 Apply, as lotion crosswords.com. rock Walkout Solution to Sweetie Pie participant DCC E R I Q Snakes, at times A M T E N D H O P MA R S B A R A F L Y ROY K A T E Covered with dirt I Y A M W H A T I Y A M Y A M M E R E D G I L A M O R E Y A M S T E R D AM Gangster film OMA R K H A Y Y AM OP I N E women T I A R E E S E E DGE S I T S AG I F T L U L L S P A S Takes a break P B A MA RR Y AM I L L I ON A I R E Nvmber of tears T E X T R I A L T O A L I S AM in a 1960s song A X I OM S N E RD Y AMAGUCH I TV oldie set in the W A L OL AY AF M OC RS Y H OS OA UR D F EL NI S Z T jungle I S E B R A A S KOU T T A I L MY AME R I C A N J OURN E Y ROC Trumpeter Al P E SO L OCO MA NDO L I N Sports page info T H I GH D E S A C DD E RU L E R M I S S B Y AM I L E First-shot prop S A Y AME N B RO T H E R A N AG Custodian F U J I Y AMA BOY AM I HUNGR Y Checking, for one: C L A P N O M I S O F T E N S E U P CUR E E N E E F T T RU R E T abbr.

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