Creative Loafing Tampa — December 7, 2023

DEC. 7-DEC. 13, 2023 (VOL.36, NO.49) • $FREE CREATIVE LOAFING - CLTAMPABAY.COM

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PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa

MARLO MILLER

Editorial DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf MANAGING EDITOR Kyla Fields THEATER CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge FILM & TV CRITIC John W. Allman IN-HOUSE WITCH Caroline DeBruhl CONTRIBUTORS Gabe Echazabal, Jennifer Ring, Abram Scharf, Arielle Stevenson PHOTOGRAPHERS Dave Decker FALL INTERN Inquire by emailing rroa@cltampa.com Creative Services CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jack Spatafora GRAPHIC DESIGNER Joe Frontel ILLUSTRATORS Dan Perkins, Cory Robinson, Bob Whitmore Advertising SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Anthony Carbone, Scott Zepeda Events and Marketing MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Leigh Wilson MARKETING, PROMOTIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR Kristin Bowman SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING MANAGER Corrie Miserendino

It’s hard to put a price on passion and soul.

Circulation CIRCULATION MANAGER Ted Modesta

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

Ella’s is for sale in Seminole Heights, p. 27.

NEWS+VIEWS ����������������������� 15 FOOD & DRINK ��������������������� 27 A&E �������������������������������������� 33 MUSIC ���������������������������������� 39 MUSIC WEEK ������������������������ 47

JACKIE LEE YOUNG

Chava Communications Group FOUNDER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Michael Wagner CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Cassandra Yardeni Wagner OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Hollie Mahadeo DIRECTOR OF AGENCY SERVICES Mindi Overman SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Meradith Garcia DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT STRATEGY Colin Wolf ART DIRECTOR David Loyola DIGITAL OPERATIONS COORDINATOR Jaime Monzon

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Creative Loafing Tampa is published by Tampa Events & Media, LLC, 633 N Franklin St., Suite 735. Tampa, Florida, 33602.

The vibraslap…

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The physical edition is available free of charge at locations throughout Tampa Bay and online at cltampabay.com. Copyright 2023, Tampa Events and Media, LLC.

The Mountain Goats return to St. Pete, p. 49.

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Bouncing around Photos by Dave Decker

T

hirty years after its formation, and six years after it returned from a nearly-20-year hiatus, Tampa emo pioneer Pohgoh is still at it and bouncing around the country at that. The band—on the road in support of a new album du and ich—kicked off a short east coast tour last Wednesday with an intimate gig at Seminole Heights record shop Microgroove, which recently celebrated 12 years of vinyl slinging in Tampa Bay. Earth Girl, a new band fronted by My Cat Umi bandleader Cari Robaldo, opened the show. Check out more photos from the show via cltampa.com/slideshows, and keep up with the local music scene by reading Music Week (p.

47) and bookmarking cltampa.com/music.—Ray Roa

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do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from December 07 - 14 Old style

STEFANIEDIRECTS/FACEBOOK

With landmarks like Vinoy Park and Sunken Gardens and views of Tampa Bay, Old Northeast is one of the most idyllic districts in the ‘Burg—and its annual home tour is right around the corner. The Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association has hosted this popular tour for a whopping 25 years, and it has a few tricks up its sleeve for its anniversary. From colonial revival and prairie-style to traditional foursquare and coastal farmhouse, this tour features eight large homes along the neighborhood’s tree-lined streets and volunteer homeowners and docents that can answer questions. New to this annual event is a refreshment station set up along the self-guided home tour, in addition to the live music and holiday decorations that folks can enjoy as they stroll.

Crack heads

For ten years now, Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival (TBUF) has been dedicated to catching indie movies that fall through the cracks and end up, well, underground. For this milestone anniversary, organizers are in Port Richey (and sponsored!) as they take over Cinema 6 with about 200 movies showing over four days.

Non-Florida films include work by James Remar (“Glowzies,” a sci-fi about aliens) and “The Founder Effect” about a grandfather searching for his missing grandson.

Saturday is the big “Eras Block” party featuring local filmmakers from TBUF’s early days, including Stefanie Davis (pictured).

Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival: Thursday-Sunday, Dec. 7-10. $20-$35. Port Richey Cinema 6, 9510 U.S. Hwy-19, Port Richey. tbuff.org—Ray Roa

Chicago-born actor, writer and comedian John Mulaney first rose to fame as a writer on “Saturday Night Live” back in 2008, and since then has hosted the popular late-night show five times (becoming part of its prized Five Timers Club), released a few Emmy-nominated stand-up specials, co-starred in a Broadway play and even snagged an appearance on the uber-popular Hulu show “The Bear.” Mulaney hits the road doing stand-up pretty often, but rarely makes his way down to Florida, where he’ll showcase material from his latest special “J Baby.” Esquire Magazine compared “J Baby” to Richard Pryor’s 1983 special “Live on the Sunset Strip,” because both performances tackle the somewhat-taboo topic of drug addiction and relapse in witty and endearing ways. While the show’s original wave of tickets quickly sold-out, there are still a few resale tickets available.

MARCUS RUSSELL PRICE/NETFLIX

Mulaney, baby

John Mulaney: Thursday, Dec. 14. 8 p.m. $150 & up. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 5223 Orient Rd., Tampa. seminolehardrocktampa.com—Kyla Fields

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Historic Old Northeast Candlelight Tour of Homes, Silver Anniversary Candlelight Tour of Homes: Sunday, Dec. 10. 3 p.m.-8 p.m. $35. Westminster Palms, 939 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg. honna.org —Kyla Fields CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR

See more (and submit your event) @ cltampa.com Ho, yea!

YVONNE GOUGELET C/O ONBIKES

For the last 11 years, onBikes’ Winter Wonder Ride, which is Tampa’s premier philanthropic, two-wheeled fundraiser, has been driven by a mission to put bikes and helmets in the hands of the Bay area’s most at-risk kids. The sevenmile bike ride up and down Bayshore Boulevard and concert in downtown Tampa is back at it this weekend. The theme for 2023 is “Let It Glow,” with organizers asking riders to get decked out in their most nostalgic neon. Headlining once again this year is pop-country duo Locash, which topped the Wonder Ride concert bill in 2022 (the band was joined by Tampa Bay Lightning players and Smash Mouth). A bike valet will watch your ride overnight, too, and ticketholders have until 11 a.m. the next day to get their bike. Folks who don’t want to do the bike ride can also buy a concert-only ticket for $25. Kids 12 and under are free. onBikes 2023 Winter Wonder Ride feat. Locash: Saturday, Dec. 9. 2 p.m.-10:30 p.m.. $25& up. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, 600 N Ashley Dr., Tampa. onbikes.org—Ray Roa

Tampa Oyster Fest has come a long way since the backyard party it used to host at the nonprofit’s Tampa Heights HQ. To support its mission to help kids build emotional intelligence through self-awareness, self-management, empathy, responsible decision-making and relationship skills, this year’s party features all you can eat oysters steamed, chargrilled or raw, plus barbecue and a low country boil. Live music includes a set from Cameron Williams’ Southern roots band Tishamingo which worked with John Keene (R.E.M, Widespread Panic) and David Barbe (who was in Bob Mould’s band, Sugar, in the ‘90s) on its albums. Guest bartenders (including this author) will make your drinks, too.

Tampa Oyster Fest: Sunday, Dec. 10. 1 p.m.-5 p.m. $125 & up. Tabellas at Delaney Creek, 5818 Causeway Blvd., Tampa. tampaoysterfest.com—Ray Roa

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Krate-zy night

Chanukah kicks off on Thursday, and the Krate is giving revelers a chance to walk off all the latkes and kugel. The one-night only street fair includes chocolate getting dropped from a helicopter, plus activities like a 60-foot obstacle course, rock climbing, photo booths and more. And for those who can’t get enough, there will be latkes.

Chanukah Street Fair: Sunday, Dec. 10. 5 p.m.-7 p.m. No cover. Krate at The grove, 6105 Wesley Grove Blvd, Wesley Chapel. @KRATEattheGrove on Facebook—Ray Roa

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“Just because we have a grant doesn’t mean we have to take it.”

POLITICS

ISSUES

OPINION

Another shot

Tampa renews contract for ShotSpotter, but questions remain about the gunshot detection software's usefulness.

By Arielle Stevenson

W

“Even when there’s a shooter, innocent people are often wrongly arrested,” Wourms told CL. “If there’s no shooter, people just going about their day can be arrested and brought into the criminal legal system because of this, too.”

Wourms said SoundThinking (the company formerly known as ShotSpotter) has never really submitted its software or findings for independent validation.

A spokesperson for SoundThinking quoted the Edgeworth audit in response, adding that “a livefire test in Pittsburgh, PA, showing that the system detected 100% of incidents and located 96.9% of incidents within a 25-meter benchmark criterion.”

ANOTHER ROUND: Tampa City Council voted 5-1 to approve a recent ShotSpotter contract.

The spokesperson also sent along a study from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville which showed a 24% decrease in aggravated assaults in Winston Salem, N.C., after implementing ShotSpotter. Another study by the NYU Policing Project saw a 30% decrease in gun-related assaults.

According to a Nov. 8 memo from Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw, there have been 475 ShotSpotter alerts year-to-date (through Sept. 30, 2023), and for those activations, 13 arrests were attributed to ShotSpotter. Bercaw said that’s a 32% decrease in the 19 arrests made using ShotSpotter in 2022 but advocated for continuing its use.

review, gunfire incidents are published to the police, and unrelated sounds are dismissed.”

Wourms questioned how trained those reviewing ShotSpotter’s activations actually are.

“There’s a misconception that the people reviewing the audio are highly trained acoustic professionals,” Wourms said. “The reality is that these people are everyday folks like you and I. ShotSpotter’s job posting asks for a minimum of one year of professional experience, preferably in a call center. Most people reading your article would be qualified for this position.”

In Cleveland, where ShotSpotter has been in place since 2020, data showed 10 out of 18 people arrested for violent crimes following a ShotSpotter alert were ultimately found not guilty, or charges were dismissed.

“ShotSpotter manufactures probable cause, and we think that’s a bad thing,” Wourms added.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) decided against renewing its contract with ShotSpotter after 2019. Documents obtained through public records requests by CL show the HCSO agreement with ShotSpotter, signed under former Sheriff David Gee from 2016-2019, cost $800,000. On June 16, 2018, HCSO’s chief financial officer, Christina Porter, sent a certified letter to ShotSpotter saying the county “will not be renewing the ShotSpotter service agreement.” That was after the department came under the leadership of Sheriff Chad Chronister. CL contacted HCSO for more information about why the contract wasn’t renewed but only received the above documents in response.

Beginning in 2019, Tampa’s ShotSpotter contract was grant-funded over the first three years. On Sept. 1, 2022, the City Council unanimously approved $280,000 in funds for another year-long contract. At that meeting, TPD Deputy Chief Calvin Johnson told council that the contract was for services already rendered. He also defended the software’s use for police. “Even though ShotSpotter isn’t the end all, it is a valuable tool,” Johnson noted.

“This is the third year in a three-year contract, and our violent crime rate has gone up more than other cities in the United States,” Carlson said to Johnson in response. He also asked Johnson about retired TPD Captain Paul Lusczynski, who was working for TPD when ShotSpotter was implemented in 2019. Lusczynski retired in January 2022 and reportedly began working for ShotSpotter as a customer success director. continued on page 16

LOCAL NEWS

JHVEPHOTO/ADOBE

ith little fanfare, Tampa approved another year-long contract with controversial gunshot detection software ShotSpotter, owned by the recently rebranded public safety technology company Sound Thinking. An almost too-specific “gunshot detection technology grant” from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement covered the $280,000 price tag to monitor audio in a four-square-mile radius in East Tampa. The motion passed 5-1 last month with councilmember Gwen Henderson, whose district includes ShotSpotter’s radius, absent.

Council member Lynn Hurtak, the lone “no” vote, voiced concerns and cited some 40,000 ShotSpotter alerts in Chicago, resulting in deadends for police. “Just because we have a grant doesn’t mean we have to take it,” Hurtak said at the meeting before voting against the resolution.

A May 2021 study by the MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) on Chicago’s use of the software called ShotSpotter’s much-touted 97% accuracy rate into question. It found that 89% of calls turned up no gun-related crime, and 86% turned up no crime at all. In response to the MJC study, ShotSpotter commissioned Edgeworth Analytics to review the MJC study independently. In two independent reviews commissioned by ShotSpotter, Edgeworth confirmed ShotSpotter’s 97% accuracy rate and refuted the MJC study.

Another review of ShotSpotter’s accuracy and Edgeworth’s analysis pointed out that Edgeworth determined accuracy primarily through customer satisfaction—reports from police clients using the system.

Alex Marthews, the founder of privacy advocacy group Digital Fourth, said a review of the Cambridge Police Department’s ShotSpotter usage showed that two-thirds of the time, officers could not verify a ShotSpotter report had actually heard gunfire. That could be because a shooting did take place and police could not find physical evidence, but also because the noise was inaccurately identified in the first place, Marthews said.

Jacob Wourms, research and campaign manager with Campaign Zero’s Cancel ShotSpotter project, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that ShotSpotter has “never proven its effectiveness.” His group’s primary goal is “public safety beyond policing.”

“The Tampa Police Department believes that ShotSpotter is an effective tool…,” Bercaw wrote.

“If ShotSpotter has led to the saving of one life or the solving of one crime, it has paid for itself.”

The $280,000 for ShotSpotter was initially built into the budget the council had later rejected.

That’s why TPD sought a grant, in this case from Republican Sen. Jay Collins, whose district includes the City of Tampa. Collins’ office has not responded to requests for comment. “I just believe that three more police officers is a better way to spend our money,” Hurtak told CL on the phone recently.

Last year, city councilman Bill Carlson and former councilman Orlando Gudes voiced concerns about the targeted use of ShotSpotter in historically Black East Tampa. At that meeting, Carlson described it as “redlining with technology.”

ShotSpotter boasts over 160 cities using its software across the United States. However, over

30 cities have canceled or rejected contracts with ShotSpotter in recent years. Still, the company boasts a 99% renewal rate for subscribers.

San Antonio’s police chief pushed the city to end its contract with ShotSpotter in 2017 and said, “We’re going to use that money to provide more community engagement, which ShotSpotter can’t provide.”

SoundThinking told CL that “potential gunfire incidents are reviewed and validated by highly trained acoustic experts who analyze the audio and visual soundwaves to determine if they match the typical pattern of gunfire. After this secondary

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In February of this year, Portland’s City Auditor investigated ShotSpotter for possible violations of lobbying codes. The investigation came just four days after the city closed its call for proposals to run a citywide gunshot detection pilot program. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that emails showed Luscznski helped “arrange for Police Bureau representatives and members of the Focused Intervention Team oversight group to meet with Tampa police and see how the agency uses ShotSpotter.”

The visit was to coincide with a gun violence reduction conference in Tampa, and Lusczynski told the Portland delegation he’d “facilitate the introductions” to Tampa.

Earlier this month, at a Nov. 14 town hall following the deadly Oct. 29th shooting in Ybor City, Bercaw referred to a gun violence reduction summit that took place in Tampa in January of this year, just weeks before Portland’s investigation was launched.

“They all came to see what the best practices were for violent crime…we’re still a model city,” Bercaw told attendees at the town hall.

CL asked TPD if it knew of the Portland investigation and if Bercaw met with anyone from Portland during the summit to show them how Tampa was using ShotSpotter.

“Chief Bercaw did not meet with representatives from Portland In January,” Joneé Lewis, TPD’s director of communications and public relations, told CL. Ultimately, Portland’s City Auditor found insufficient evidence that the company violated city regulations. But Portland decided against funding gunshot detection software after the investigation. This isn’t the first time questions have been raised about the ethics of how ShotSpotter is being sold to cities. In 2019, Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission fined the company $5,000 for violating the city’s Lobbyist Registration Act and Oakland Campaign Finance Reform Act. “What we hear from some police is that we want to have tools in our toolbox, and ShotSpotter is just one tool,” Wourms told CL. “What we try to tell people is, if the tool doesn’t work, do you want it in your toolbox?”

In July this year, the Houston Chronicle reported that 911 call times increased from 60 minutes to 100 minutes after implementing ShotSpotter. Sound Thinking refuted the story.

“No matter what other call you’re on if (a ShotSpotter alert) drops, you go,” said Douglas Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union. “You’re not going to that burglary report or that theft report. You’re now going to ShotSpotter.”

TPD would not say whether or not ShotSpotter picked up on the Oct. 29th Ybor City mass shooting and declined to explain how ShotSpotter activations work with 911 calls.

“Specific information regarding investigative techniques is exempt from public release,”

Lewis, TPD’s director of communication and public affairs, wrote.

Lewis responded to CL’s additional request, pointing to the specific part of Florida’s broad public records laws that supported that claim.

“You inquired about a specific location for ShotSpotter. The reason we are only publicly releasing that the ShotSpotter system covers approximately a 4 square mile area in East Tampa is that specific information regarding investigative techniques is exempt from public release per 119.071 (2)(d). The memo presented to city council that was shared with you provided additional context about general coverage area,” Lewis wrote in an email.

SoundThinking stated that releasing that information is “at the sole discretion of the Tampa Police Department.”

A rep for Tampa’s police union also didn’t respond; Adam Smith, Communications Director for the City of Tampa, forwarded CL’s questions to TPD and offered Bercaw’s memo as a response.

If ShotSpotter is another tool in law enforcement’s toolbox, the company’s available tools are expanding. In September, Wired reported that Sound Thinking is buying parts of Geolitica, which created PredPol, a controversial predictive-policing technology.

“SoundThinking recently announced an agreement with Geolitica (formerly PredPol) to acquire its patents and select pieces of its intellectual property,” SoundThinking told CL. “To be clear - SoundThinking did not buy Geolitica.

Rather, we came to an agreement to purchase specific assets from a company that is ceasing operations at the end of 2023.”

According to Wired, SoundThinking hired Geolitica’s engineering team and is taking over its existing customer base.

That makes SoundThinking’s acquisition of parts of Geolitica significant, Andrew Ferguson, an American University law professor and author of “The Rise of Big Data Policing,” told Wired. “We are in a consolidation moment with big police tech companies getting bigger, and this move is one step in that process.”

A 2021 investigation by the Markup and Gizmodo (RIP) of PredPol’s data found that PredPol, which became Geolitica in March 2021, regularly targeted Black and Latino neighborhoods, including areas where residents qualify for federally free or reduced school lunches.

“What’s concerning with predictive policing is this idea that you can predict future crime based on historic crime,” Wourms said. “If you use ShotSpotter, a tool that is often wrong, and use it to try and predict future crime, they’ll be determining police patrols based on bad data.”

In a city like Tampa, desperate to curb a recent rise in violent crime, law enforcement, and leadership might look at other tools more controversial than ShotSpotter offered by companies like SoundThinking.

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Not so fast

Cops who use deadly force can no longer hide behind Marsy’s Law.

By Dara Kam/News Service of Florida rather than identify, a victim,” the justice added.

“Protecting crime victims from being located—as opposed to identified—is a meaningful distinction, for exposure of a crime victim’s location creates a threat of physical danger that exposure of his or her name alone does not generally pose,” he wrote.

Jennifer Fennell, a spokeswoman for the group Marsy’s Law for Florida, said the justices’ “ruling that this be applied very generally to all crime victims is disappointing, especially as they recognize in this same ruling that certain categories of victims have the right to prevent the public disclosure of their names.”

“With the technology available in today’s day and age, it defies common logic that access to a victim’s name cannot be used to locate or harass that victim,” Fennell said in a statement.

“With this ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has removed a right which Florida crime victims have been using for nearly five years and have been relying on this protection for their own safety.”

But attorney Mark Caramanica, whose firm Thomas & LoCicero represents the news outlets, said in a statement that the ruling is “a win for government transparency,”

between Marsy’s Law and an older governmentin-the-sunshine constitutional amendment that established one of the broadest open-records policies in the nation. The question of whether Marsy’s Law grants police officers the right to be considered “victims” when they’re on the job has created divisions in the law-enforcement community, government agencies and even within the city of Tallahassee.

“I don’t believe that it’s appropriate for law enforcement officers in the course and scope of their employment, acting under color of law, to have their names and their personal information withheld. I don’t think that was the intent,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is a lawyer, told the News Service in 2020. “I don’t think it’s the right thing.”

Gualtieri and Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood filed friend-of-the-court briefs siding with Tallahassee. But the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office took the opposite stance, in part citing an increase last year in law-enforcement officers being killed in the line of duty.

Kazanjian told the News Service he expects lawmakers to pass a measure addressing the issue during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.

“There’s some legislators already calling us, saying, ‘Listen, I want to handle this, I want to lead the charge on this.’ So I think it’s going to happen,” the union leader said.

FLORIDA NEWS

DAVE DECKER

A

2018 constitutional amendment designed to bolster victims’ rights “does not explicitly” shield the identities of police officers—or any other people—from disclosure, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a major decision last Thursday. The unanimous opinion, authored

by Justice John Couriel, came in a dispute over the identities of two Tallahassee police officers involved in separate use-of-force incidents in which they were threatened. The officers invoked the “Marsy’s Law” constitutional amendment to prevent their names from being released; the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union representing the officers, argued that they were victims and their identities were shielded by the amendment.

An appeals court in April sided with the officers, but the city of Tallahassee and news organizations asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, arguing in part that the police officers’ names should not be shielded from the public because they were not acting as individual “persons” when the incidents occurred. The 27-page decision found that the law “does not secure a victim’s right to unanimity.”

“We conclude that Marsy’s Law does not guarantee to a victim the categorical right to withhold his or her name from disclosure,” Couriel wrote.

Marsy’s Law put into the Constitution a variety of rights for crime victims, including “the right to prevent the disclosure of information of records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim’s family, or which could disclose confidential or privileged information of the victim.”

The law defines a victim as a “person who suffers direct or threatened physical, psychological, or financial harm as a result of the commission or attempted commission of a crime or threat or against whom the crime or delinquent act is committed.”

Couriel’s opinion repeatedly pointed to a section of the law dealing with the disclosure of information that could be used to locate victims or their families.

“One’s name, standing alone, is not that kind of information or record; it communicates nothing about where the individual can be found and bothered,” Couriel wrote. “In all, what the text suggests, the context confirms: (the section) does not secure a victim’s right to anonymity.”

Couriel rejected police arguments that the amendment required concealment of a victim’s name upon his or her request. “Fairly read, the text does no such thing. For it is one thing to identify a person and another altogether to locate or harass him or her,” he wrote.

The law should be interpreted to shield “only information that can be used to locate or harass,

“The court applied a common sense approach to interpreting Marsy’s Law that reins in overzealous applications that hide newsworthy information from the public. In this case, the issues could not have been weightier and the court’s ruling prevents police officers from shielding their names when on-duty shootings occur,” Caramanica said.

John Kazanjian, president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, told The News Service of Florida he was disappointed in the court’s ruling but considered it a victory of sorts.

“Well, I was definitely shocked that they struck it down, but if you read the whole ruling, I think it’s a win for police because they put us in a category with everybody,” Kazanjian said. “I’m disappointed, absolutely, but not just for police officers. I’m disappointed for all victims.

But listen, the Supreme Court, they know what they’re doing. They found that it didn’t specify for victims, not just for police officers.”

Last Thursday’s ruling also drew attention to a potential conflict with another constitutional right guaranteeing defendants the ability to “confront adverse witnesses” at trial.

“That right would be drawn into doubt if we found that (the section of the law) categorically secured a victim’s right to anonymity in all criminal cases,” Couriel wrote.

Legal wrangling over the police officers’ identities also exposed a potential conflict

THE SHIELD: The mother of Dominique Mulkey who was fatally shot by unnamed TPD officers in 2020.

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 21

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“The right buyer will want to carry a torch so to speak.”

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Bloody hell

Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe is for sale—but not closing anytime soon.

By Ray Roa

E

rockabilly bands to rappers—could cut their teeth. Deming’s ex and Ella’s co-founder Ernie Locke regularly brought his bands to the stage for live sets that included smashed eggs. Their son even got to share that stage with his dad.

Deming is not taking the sale and its potential impact on the community lightly and would be thrilled to find someone willing to either keep Ella’s going with the same name, or bring in a concept that would be a good fit for Seminole Heights. Whoever takes over, she said, will be

to sell last week. Some of them are the next generation of her original staff.

“I am definitely not the kind of employer that would ever hang a closed sign on the door and duck out back. They are like family to me,” she said of the staff. Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, Deming emphasized, is not closing.

“This process could take awhile to find the right buyer and I am not going to walk away until I do. I am here for my staff, customers, and community until I can make this transition in life happen smoothly for everyone involved.”

If and when the sale happens, Seminole Heights won’t have to worry about saying goodbye to Deming, who moved to Tampa from Kansas City in 2001. She plans on spending more time with her son “who is growing up way too fast,” and will also care for her ailing mother. Her property across the street is not for sale, and neither is the old Seminole Heights Baptist Church steeple, which she rescued in 2021.

Deming told CL she plans on developing that property after the sale of Ella’s is finalized and expanding her work with the Urban Art Attack public art initiative. She added that the office also has plenty of room to throw raw eggs and smash pumpkins—alluding to rituals that’ve become part of the Ella’s folklore.

“It is going to be pretty hard to top the amazing journey that Ella’s has become, but I do know that life is short, and I am excited about the opportunity to try something new,” Deming said. “In the meantime, I am dedicated to making my last days at Ella’s some of the best. And I’m hoping Tampa will come out to see us, enjoy some great live music, and order some of their favorite southern staples before it’s time to move on.”

Visit cltampa.com/slideshows to see photos from Ella’s over the years.

LOCAL NEWS

MARLO MILLER

njoy your pork rib bloody marys while you can, Tampa, because a restaurant that more or less embodied the spirit of Seminole Heights is up for sale. After 15 years of operation, Melissa Deming is looking for someone to buy Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, the perennial Best of the Bay-winner she opened in 2009. She called putting the establishment on the market one of the hardest decisions she’s ever had to make and said that she’s put her heart and soul into the business and neighborhood for 17 years.

“But it’s time for me personally to move on and start a new chapter in my life. Hospitality is a fast-paced business. I am ready for life to slow down a bit and to move on to other ventures,” Deming told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Deming named Ella’s for her grandmother and constructed the building from the ground up with her late father. She raised her now 15-year-old son Henry there and has watched Seminole Heights change around it. “This neighborhood is full of some of Tampa’s most creative, independent minded, passionate people. And I feel honored to have had their support for so many years,” she added.

Since opening day, the restaurant has attracted a clientele that’s as eclectic as the neighborhood.

Everyone from young hipsters, parents and their tots, and blue-hairs have enjoyed the comfy booths, barstools and southern fare at Ella’s over the years. The chicken and waffle cones the restaurant brings to popups have become the stuff of food-lover legend.

The space has also functioned as a neighborhood music venue where locals—from

any of that change or go away. I’m proud of how far it has come, and am looking for the right buyer that will want to carry a torch so to speak,” Deming said.

The 3,740-square-foot building includes a 1,832-square-foot patio, and has a total capacity of 176 and features an upstairs dining room. The lot at 5119 N Nebraska Ave. totals 21,109 square-feet, and includes nearly 40 parking spaces. According to public records, the lot itself was acquired by Deming for $230,000 in 2006, a year before the U.S. experienced the longest recession since World War II. The asking price for Ella’s is not public.

“It’s hard to put a price on passion and soul, but financial questions can be deferred to

OH H-ELLA’S NO: After 15 years, Ella’s is looking for a buyer. someone who “understands that this neighborhood is about more than just property, development, and money.”

“It’s about the people, a sense of community, and a creative passion that has made Seminole Heights strong. I don’t want to see

Carter,” Deming said (Carter Henderson of Florida ROI Commercial Property Brokerage is handling the sale).

Forty employees between the front and back of the house at Ella’s will eventually be affected by the sale, and Deming told them of her plans

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Experimental eats

Virtual food hall and culinary center The Foodie Labs makes St. Pete debut.

By Kyla Fields

OPENINGS

Friday, Dec. 8, 6 p.m. No cover located at 515 22nd St. S the building. Food from 515 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg within the Arts Xchange each of The Foodie Labs’ @foodielabs.stpete on Instagram complex—celebrates its six concepts are also availgrand opening on Friday by welcoming Tampa able for delivery within a five-mile radius of the Bay’s food-enthusiasts, chefs and aspiring res- Warehouse Arts District, and no one will judge taurateurs into its multifaceted space. Beer, you if you order a spread of breakfast sandwine and coffee will be on deck, alongside a wiches, Mediterranean chopped salads, smoked variety of good eats from Foodie Labs’ tenants chicken wings, lobster rolls, fried Oreos and and live music from Chad Stivers. Guests can queso-birria Cuban sandwiches all for yourself. explore the 5,000 square-foot warehouse, experiWhen asked how she and Pachence decided ence guided tours throughout its many kitchens, on their handful of clients out of a sea of appliand take a first glance at Chad Mize’s newest cants, Zelinsky said they had to be careful to murals throughout the space. choose concepts that didn’t overlap in menu items.

Managing partners Jim Pachence and “When we started our application process, Kristin McKinney Zelinsky both have back- we really wanted to look for folks that have grounds in the culinary industry—Pachence worked in the local restaurant industry for running an online spice and sauce business a while and were looking to start their own and Zelinsky with 25-plus years as a caterer— concept, “ Zelinsky says. “Or current business wanted to create a space to help aspiring chefs owners that were trying to branch out and try and business owners enter the competitive world something new.” of the hospitality industry.

Currently, The Foodie Labs has space for It can be intimidating to take the plunge one more tenant in its virtual food hall, and into the restaurant business as a first-timer, and is also taking applications for its shared comThe Foodie Labs hopes mercial kitchen, which to help bridge that gap is open 24 hours a day. with its all-inclusive Local businesses utighost kitchen space, lizing the Lab’s shared mentorship program kitchen space includes and various networking sourdough slinger opportunities. Zelinsky Nosh Bake, Pachence’s tells Creative Loafing spice business Serious Tampa Bay that The Foodie, and personal Foodie Labs consists of three vital parts: ghost chef service Cook. Bake. Nourish., alongside a kitchens or a “virtual food hall” that’s home to few others. Small business owners that use its six different concepts, a shared, state-of-the-art commercial kitchen pay about $1,000 per month commercial kitchen and a large event space. for a weekly minimum of 25 hours, while ghost “We’re definitely a next level kitchen and kitchens pay one lump fee of $7,500 a month. want to focus on clients that are ready to take Foodies Labs’ massive warehouse space also that next step, not necessarily the home-baker connects to the Pinellas Trail, and its owners that’s doing the business more as a hobby” she are looking to hire a beverage-focused business says. “Renting out a ghost kitchen is much to serve thirsty bikers out of a standalone buildless risky than committing to a 5 or 10-year ing next to the trail.

“We’re definitely a next level kitchen and want to focus on clients that are ready to take that next step.”

30 | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | cltampabay.com

C/O THE FOODIE LABS

D

owntown St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue restaurant lease, and we take on the majority and Beach Drive are known for their plethora of the risk so that our clients don’t have to.” of bars and restaurants, but the owners of a Its current tenants include: breakfast spot virtual food hall and test kitchen are determined Bagel Babe, globally-inspired concept Cybel to launch a culinary hub of their own just a few House of Chicken, sandwich slingers The Tasty miles away in the Warehouse Arts District. The Bros, meal prep service A Good Human, brisFoodie Labs is home to several St. Pete-based ket and pulled pork joint Hoboken Eddie’s BBQ ghost kitchens, a shared commercial kitchen for and Privateers Land & Sea, which specializes at-home businesses and caterers, and an event in casual seafood. space for pop-ups and demonstrations. Its name is Folks can order to-go food from any of these a homage to the experimental nature of cooking— concepts through Foodie Labs’ QR code and a place where both science and art are celebrated pick-up window, or place online orders directly in a culinary-focused way. through via thefoodielabs.

After a year and a half menu. There’s no dining of build out, The Foodie area where customers can Labs’ warehouse space— The Foodie Labs grand opening eat their meals inside of

THE FOODIE FORMULA: This new concept has ghost kitchens, shared workspaces and an event hall.

Each one of the ghost kitchens can also host one event per month, in addition to having access to its mentorship program, where skills like food photography and videography and education about certifications, permits and licensing are taught from The Foodie Labs’ managing team.

“Each one of our clients have access to our mentorship program,” says Zelinksy. “Between Jim, myself and Events and Marketing Direcotor Anna Stebbins, we each have our own specialty where we can help the individual ghost kitchens grow.”

In January, the culinary hub launches its weekly Friday night food market, where all vendors will be Foodie Labs tenants. Zelinksy says she wants patrons to be able to walk in with a cooler bag and “leave with produce, fresh cut meats, sourdough bread, desserts,

spreads, sauces and dinner from one of the ghost kitchens.”

And while the flagship location of The Foodie Labs celebrates its grand opening in St. Pete this week, Zelinsky says she already has expansion on her mind. She operates another commercial kitchen in South Tampa and can see the Foodie Labs business model—one that celebrates the connection between food, science and art—thriving across the bridge, too.

“Food can be art, and there’s also a lot of science that goes into recipe testing and cooking—so when we were designing our logo and all of our marketing content we really wanted to communicate the connection between all three of those concepts,” she explains.

For the latest news on The Foodie Labs’ tenants, events and future culinary markets, head to its Instagram at @foodielabs.stpete.

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32 | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | cltampabay.com

“We are here to take those ideas and develop them into a plan.”

MOVIES

THEATER

ART

Art city

CULTURE

Cultural Planning Group and Pinellas County team up.

By Jennifer Ring

I

responded to the RFP. St. Clair was among the five panel members who selected CPG’s proposal.

“We were looking for somebody who would take time and do a lot of research to produce a document that was evidence-based, and that was very specific and very unique to Pinellas County, and [CPG] rose to the top on all of those milestones,” St. Clair said when the plan launched in October.

“Their focus was on community engagement, discovery, and listening.”

the art walks, the mural bike tours, workshops, and events. We don’t like finding out about these things after they happen. This rarely happens to me as an arts journalist, but that’s not the case for everyone else.

Papers like this one provided more comprehensive arts coverage before the pandemic cut budgets (and staff).

Now, more things fall through the cracks. Now, Tampa Bay finds out about art events on Instagram, and if you don’t follow the right people, spend a lot of time on social media, or just fall victim to the algorithm, you miss stuff.

“Last weekend, there was this queer maker’s market at New Moon (@newmoonmakersmarket), five minutes from my house,” one of my group members shared. “It was so amazing—all these great artists. It was like the best event I’ve been to here, but I had to find out about it through Instagram.”

My group wasn’t the only one who brought up spotty media coverage and the need for a comprehensive Pinellas County arts calendar.

“There’s so much happening in this county, everywhere,” Creative Artists Guild Board Member Kristin Karcher added to the discussion. “I usually find out after the fact, and that’s terribly disappointing.”

We have so many art museums and galleries hosting so many art exhibitions and events here, it’s easy for visitors, and even locals, to be overwhelmed by them all. A cultural plan could help.

Kylan Stephon Hayes of Powered by Verity Social Design Studio spoke about a single pass that could get Pinellas County visitors into several museums.

Hayes used New York City as an example, where the official CityPASS gets you access to five different attractions, including the Empire State Building, the American Museum of Natural History, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, and the Guggenheim.

Tampa Bay’s official CityPASS provides access to Busch Gardens, The Florida Aquarium, ZooTampa at Lowry Park, and your choice of continued on page 36

LOCAL NEWS

CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR

n Pinellas County, someone can happen upon great art by accident. Drive down a back alley in St. Pete, and there’s a new mural out your car window. Look up at a traffic light, and see a sea turtle bursting out of a water tank. A cluster of white tents in the park suggests something interesting is happening today, but you aren’t sure what. This is life in Pinellas County, where natural and manufactured beauty collide in the streets. It’s easy to see art by accident in Pinellas County, but one rarely makes art by accident. Making art takes time and money, and a plan.

How do you plan for art and culture? Hire a cultural planning group like the Cultural Planning Group (CPG), apparently. OK, maybe they could’ve been more creative with the name, but we won’t hold that against them.

CPG is forming new art cities throughout the U.S., from Broward County in Florida, to outof-state places like Greensborough and Sacramento. Thanks to a new partnership with Creative Pinellas, Visit St. Pete Clearwater and local government, CPG makes Pinellas County home for the next 14 months. During this time, they’ll talk to arts community insiders, explore our neighborhoods, and survey our residents to discover what defines the county’s art scene and how to improve it.

Creative Pinellas CEO Barbara St. Clair rallied for a Pinellas County cultural plan for the same reason most cities hire cultural planning groups.

Obtaining arts funding from any municipality requires a plan with measurable benchmarks. She reached out to contacts and discovered some of the most successful cultural plans in the U.S. then considered what made each of those plans successful. From these traits, Creative Pinellas drew up a request for proposals in collaboration with Pinellas County.

About seven or eight cultural planning groups

plans have led to actionable items, and they have led to positive change in those communities.”

CPG research lead Linda Flynn, Ph.D., quickly affirmed the central role that community conversations play in their work. “What we find is that almost all of the best ideas emerge from the community. We are here to take those ideas and develop them into a plan,” she said.

In Pinellas County, the conversations began at the plan’s launch. Several arts community insiders attended the threehour-long launch event at SPC EpiCenter in Clearwater on Oct. 19. CPG gave each table 30 minutes to discuss the strengths of Pinellas County’s arts and culture scene, what makes

SHINE BRIGHTER: Pinellas’ new partnership seeks to amplify local art.

“Their belief system was that we needed to expand the arts for everybody with an emphasis on digging into the community, finding the gaps, finding the needs, and bringing us together to find some answers,” St. Clair continued. “We looked at a lot of communities that they had worked in before. They have done these kinds of plans nationwide. And over and over again, those

us unique compared to other communities, the challenges we face, and what we’d like this new plan to change.

My group, which included an independent artist, and a Dali Museum employee, had no trouble zeroing in on what we loved about Pinellas County’s art scene and what we’d like to see change. We love the street art, the murals,

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 33

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CITYOFSTPETE/FLICKR

SOMETHING IN THE WATER: Tom Stovall’s art at St. Pete’s Northeast Water Treatment facility. continued from page 33 two of the following: the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Tropics Boat Tours Dolphin or Sunset Cruise, the Museum of Science & Industry, or the Glazer Children’s Museum. Art attractions are notably absent from the list.

Hayes also mentioned adding shuttles to art attractions like Florida Southern College does for its students. My group discussed hop-on and hop-off trolleys, like the ones that roll through Savannah during tourist season. Ideally, visitors could purchase a ticket and board the trolley at a major attraction like the Dali, then take the trolley to additional Pinellas County cultural attractions, hopping on and hopping off throughout the day.

Or, we could shuttle tourists from the beach to downtown, where they could visit cultural attractions on rainy days.

Several groups spoke about how Pinellas County’s art scene revolves around St. Pete, with comparatively little attention given to arts and culture in North Pinellas. As Flynn said, “I’ve been over here a couple of times visiting. Typically, I stay in St. Pete and do St. Pete Arts District stuff, The Pier…What I learned in preplanning is that the next time, I need to go to Tarpon Springs and Dunedin.”

Participants mentioned increasing funding, affordable housing, and educational opportunities for artists, as expected.

And several Pinellas County residents expressed an appreciation for how affordable our art events are here, mentioning reduced museum admission in the evenings and library museum passes.

The problem in Pinellas County isn’t a lack of people making art. It’s a lack of people actively engaging with art.

“We are still too much of a best-kept secret in Pinellas County as far as the art scene goes,” Creative Pinellas Board President David Warner, a past Editor-In-Chief at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, said at the event’s conclusion. “We have work going on right now that matches anything going on anywhere else in the country.”

“That’s one of the things I hope comes from this,” Warner continued. “Education for the world, education for the county, of what a treasure we have here. Geography is a challenge, obviously.

North Pinellas and South Pinellas have a big avenue between them.

But if we can come together and find all these things and teach each other what our options and opportunities are, this cultural plan is going to make a huge difference, for us and the county.”

The October discussions were just the beginning.

“It just scratched the surface, and it really began to show us what the range of issues are that we need to be paying attention to, that we need to explore further…” CPG Partner Martin Cohen told CL. “Today was a great beginning.”

CPG’s plan comes in four phases. We’re in Phase One—the initial planning phase. December takes us into Phase 2—Community Engagement and Research.

Come Spring, CPG will take all this community input and use it to develop a plan (Phase Three), which they’ll take back to the community for approval in Phase Four in November 2024.

To be successful, CPG needs input from Pinellas County residents, both inside and outside of the arts community. Share your thoughts, wants, and needs with CPG at currentartscoast.com.

LOCAL NEWS

“We are still too much of a best-kept secret as far as the art scene goes.”

36 | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | cltampabay.com

REMEMBERING VILNA The Holocaust and the Art of Samuel Bak July 29, 2023 to Januar y 7, 2024

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 37

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REVIEWS

PROFILES

MUSIC WEEK

Party animals

Pet Lizard has built a community that sings its ‘Intrusive Thoughts’ out loud.

By Ray Roa

JAMES LUEDDE

A

Pet Lizard show smells a little like beer I have is definitely a PBR can–12 oz. when and feels a lot like friendship. That was the relaxed, 16 oz. when flexed,” she added. scene over the summer when the Tampa Intrusive Thoughts is just as relatable across band played a sweaty set where the energy the album’s 30 minutes, even when the band onstage was matched only by a tight-knight is talking about another personal choice: getcrowd gathered in the front, seemingly ready ting a little help. to jump all the way up through the low, tiled “Bad Hygiene” introduces the notion of dizziceiling of Seminole Heights’ American Legion ness, a thread that runs throughout the album. with every chorus. The vibe is not an accident. Perez lives with vasovagal syncope, which causes Guitarist Nick Winston told Creative the heart rate and blood pressure to drop sudLoafing Tampa Bay that a lot of Pet Lizard’s denly in response to certain triggers. He told fanbase is made up of the community that sur- CL that at times, internal and external forces rounds the band in a video for its 2022 video for have left him feeling disoriented and brought “Fixed Gear,” where he—together with front- him to the point of passing out. In the song, he man Jamie Perez, bassist Kirsten Clauser and is generally grateful about life, but also cops to drummer Austin Loper—pedals around Ybor smiling at people out of habit and even lying to City, beneath rainbows above the Hillsborough his therapist. And as the cut’s irresistible, stacRiver, through parking garages, all to end up cato pre-chorus comes to a crescendo propelled clinking PBR cans in the neon red light com- by Loper’s galloping drums, Perez sings about ing off the The Hub dive simply trying to keep it all bar in downtown Tampa. together while everyone While Clauser met seemingly gives up on him.

Loper at a 2020 protest and “I’ve found that somePet Lizard album release Perez a year before that at times emotional responses w/Hollyglen/Turkeyboy/Sintell Terry Friday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m. $15-$18 an ultimate frisbee tourcan generate that same Crowbar, 1812 N 17th St., Ybor City overwhelming feeling. It nament (the latter was a @petlizard813 on Instagram nine-year pro in the sport, may feel impossible to face and captained the Venezuelan national team at in the moment, but just like with vasovagal this month’s Pan American Championships), the response, the best thing to do is to breathe and band coalesced around bicycles and played its be present until the moment passes,” he added. first show in 2021 after a local Halloween alleyOn “Shadow,” Perez details a FaceTime call cat race. Winston doesn’t know how many miles with his then-girlfriend during the pandemic he and his bandmates have ridden together, but a days when everyone was home alone; the song lot more people are about to be along for the ride. is about wanting to comfort someone else, and Last week, Pet Lizard released its debut full- not wanting to be alone. Winston, for his part, length Intrusive Thoughts, a tight and punchy said he was listening to a lot of Julien Baker collection of 10 songs that bring the band’s influ- when the words for “Wanderer,” a song about ences—which include Amyl and the Sniffers, self-care, came together.

Pup, Joyce Manor, Car Seat Headrest and even All of that care blasts out of the speakers Dijon—together with angsty lyrics that spilled in grand fashion, too, thanks to Justin Reed, out of the friends as the world collectively waded an engineer who recorded, mixed and masout of the Covid-19 pandemic. tered everything except piano and synth in a The record is peppered with humor about garage studio. The album—a proper full-length everyday life, like on album opener “Back in a world dominated by singles meant to game To Black” when Perez sneaks in a line about an algorithm—is polished, loud and energetic regrettable tattoos. Every member of Pet Lizard without being overbearing or a pain in the ear. has ink in their skin, with Perez and Loper And for “Murakami,” Perez’s favorite song definitively second guessing some of the work. on the album, he lets listeners into a Zoom Clauser told CL she has 10 tattoos but isn’t therapy session conducted over a terrible intersorry about any of them. “The dumbest one net connection. “The juxtaposition of having a

INTERVIEW

PERSONAL TIME: Pet Lizard’s new album opens the door on private emotions. breakthrough moment in therapy and communicating feelings out loud that I rarely confront, while the internet service kept cutting in and out, felt like a metaphor for the modern convenient inconveniences we both use and must overcome in our own journeys of self improvement and self love,” he said.

That kind of introspective turbulence comes to a head on album-closer and highlight “Holy Spirit,” which opens gently à la Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear You Me,” transitions into Weezerish guitar-vocal harmonies about the virgin Mary, and then careens into a full-on, old-school punk and pub-rock takedown on the “capitalistic Vatican state.” Clauser said everyone in the band relates to the song in a way since they all came from religious upbringings that they eventually strayed far away from. Perez described the tune—which has caused some people to walk out of Pet Lizard’s live show—as Catholic guilt in a bottle.

“Drink up,” he added.

That’s what the band and its fan base will do on Friday during an album release party that’ll undoubtedly see multiple bikes locked up outside while Pet Lizard toasts to its debut and welcomes even more people into its inclusive, big tent (“We love you all forever. Except rotten cops, billionaires, & Ron DeSantis,” it says in the booklet for Intrusive Thoughts).

Clauser said that the community that’s coalesced around the band brings an infectious energy and opens the door to pretty much anyone who wants in on the camaraderie . “It’s a lot easier to jump around and dance when there are already 15 people doing it with huge smiles on their faces,” she added.

“Pet Lizard, to me, was formed with and around friends,” Loper said. “We want to have a good time, and not take things so seriously, and we want our fans and friends to feel that, too.”

Party on.

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 39

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Strange return

Andy Summers is once again playing a small, Bay area historic theater.

By Gabe Echazabal

WHOISJOHNGALT (CC BY-SA 3.0)

W

hile the name Andy Summers may not be own. A combination of onstage photo displays, as recognizable or roll off the tongue as readings from his short stories, and, of course, easily of those of his former bandmates, plenty of music, Summers has received dazzling it should elicit a hefty amount of praise and reviews for the show that was intended to make respect. The 80-year-old veteran artist whose the rounds just before COVID hit but, in recent musical resume had already boasted plenty of months, has finally gotten to play for audiences experience as a member of psych/progressing around the country. band Soft Machine and an incarnation of Eric On a short break between legs of his solo Burdon’s Animals, but is better known for his tour, Summers, who’ll see his 81st birthday on innovative approach and his contributions to New Years Eve, took some time out to talk to pop music as the mastermind guitarist for one Creative Loafing Tampa Bay from his home in of the most popular and successful rock bands California about his current jaunt and some of of all time: The Police. Bursting on the scene in his inspirations.

1977, the cusp of punk rock morphing into the easier-to-digest new wave tag, Summers, along What can you tell us about this tour? How with ace bassist and singer Sting and mesmer- is it going so far? izing drummer Stewart Copeland, cornered the It’s on and off; I don’t play every night. I market on making smart, witty, catchy, memo- started back in July and I play a few shows at a rable records that straddled the line between time, like five or six at a time. I show photos on a the afore-mentioned genres du jour with a good big screen and it’s a mixed media show. I’m telldose of reggae and world music thrown in for ing stories and playing guitar, sometimes with good measure. backing tracks. I did 11 of these shows in the Summers’ often elegant, but sometimes cryp- pre-pandemic days. It’s a different thing onstage. tic and experimental, guitarwork was the perfect It’s a visual presentation and it’s going well. It’s vehicle to give color and carefully worked out. texture to the incredible rhythm section he played You’re a renowned, alongside. Boasting five respected guitarist Andy Summers multi-million selling and I know you’ve been Sunday, Dec. 10. 7 p.m. $44.50-$74.50 albums in their canon into photography for a Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, 405 Cleveland St., Clearwater. andysummers.com that only got better as long time. Now you have they progressed, he and a book of your short The Police were arguably the most popular stories to your credit. Nowadays, of those band on the globe during their all-too-short avenues, is there one medium that gives you tenure. The group decided to put the brakes on more pleasure than the others? the ensemble, following their blockbuster 1983 I’m a musician first and foremost. It’s music album, Synchronicity and the record-breaking over writing and taking photos. But with phoworld tour of stadiums around the world that tography, in the early days of The Police, it accompanied it. The band has since reunited for became an all-consuming passion. When I was a few tours since their split—and Sting is set a teenager, I saw a lot of foreign films made by to play Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium next the directors [Ingmar] Bergman, [Francois] year—but its members have concentrated more Truffaut, [Federico] Fellini. In 1979, I got a on solo careers, side projects, and other ventures. black and white Nikon camera and I had this In one of the more interesting and appealing substrata of films I’d seen in my head from when solo undertakings its members have pursued, I was 12 years old. I didn’t think to myself, ‘I’m Summers, who has quite the impressive discog- a very visual person; I need to make films,’ but raphy as a soloist, has decided to go on the road to these visuals seemed like the next plateau, even present an intriguing-sounding one-man show. at an early age.

Besides his mastery of the guitar, Summers has had a longtime interest in photography and has How are you liking playing more intimate published several books of his snapshots. More venues as opposed to the large arenas or starecently, he’s taken to short story writing and diums you’re used to playing with The Police? published “Fretted and Moaning,” a collection of It’s a different type of freedom, ego-wise. It’s his works to great acclaim. For his current series just me; no band. To some extent, it’s a work in of solo performances, his new series of shows, progress but with a live audience. These venues dubbed “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String” are ideal for a performer. And, in the USA, there tour, Summers has developed a performance that are so many beautiful, deco-period theaters that culminates the mediums he’s worked in on his are so nice inside. I mean the red velvet, the oil

INTERVIEW

42 | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | cltampabay.com

SUMMERS TIME: Andy Summers is bringing music and photography to Tampa Bay. paintings. And they are all small to mid-size.

When you’re playing to 1,000 people, you feel like you can really communicate with the audience. It’s different from the huge stadium. You can put forth your personality on the stage. It’s a perfect setting. There’s a big screen and you get to be close to the audience. It’s very satisfying. Have you been inside the theater where I’ll be playing in Clearwater?

Yes! And it is, like you mentioned, a very beautiful theater. You also, on The Police’s

first visit to Tampa many years ago, played at another of the gorgeous theaters we’re lucky to have here in our area, the Tampa Theater.

Who knew all these great theaters existed?

For those coming to see the show, what can be expected in terms of a setlist? I have to imagine there will be plenty of solo material but The Police’s catalog will be represented too?

Yes. There will be solo material and Police stuff as well. But it will all be worked out in a special way and with plenty of visuals.

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44 | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | cltampabay.com

SO FRESH, SOPHOCLEAN: Jon Wurster (L) and The Mountain Goats.

This slaps

Jon Wurster talks metal’s influence on the Mountain Goats and more.

By Abram Scharf

I

n 2010, the Mountain Goats came to Tampa whole world I didn’t know existed, and it’s so Bay to work with producer Erik Rutan at specific and it feels very contained.

Mana, a St. Petersburg recording studio known internationally as a destination for Did you have any questions for Erik [Rutan] extreme metal bands. Eight years later, the band when you met him to record All Eternals Deck ? reunited with Rutan onstage at the Orpheum in It was a really interesting meeting, because Ybor City, playing two songs together, includ- at that point we were just a trio–guitar, bass, ing fan favorite “The Best Ever Death Metal and drums. John mainly played acoustic guitar.

Band In Denton.”

He played some electric, but the main instruIn advance of his band’s show at Floridian ment was acoustic. We decided on working with social next week, Mountain Goats’ drummer him [Rutan] just from watching the Cannibal Jon Wurster spoke about Corpse documentary. We those sessions, and the just thought, “We need to band’s new record, Jenny see if this will happen.”

From Thebes. Wurster is My memory is that The Mountain Goats w/Peter One also known for his comwe met him through Next Thursday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m. $45 edy writing, and frequent MySpace. We said we’re Floridian Social, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. mountain-goats.com appearances on Tom a band, and we love what Scharpling’s long-runyou do with your kind of ning radio program “The Best Show.” He joined music, and we wonder if you would be interested Creative Loafing Tampa Bay over the phone from in this. And he said sure. So we went down, and North Carolina. it was my first experience hearing about how those kinds of bands make records. It’s so the I’ve read that you’re a fan of the Cannibal antithesis of what we do, or what a “normal rock Corpse documentary, “Centuries of Torment.” band” will do—you know, you set up in a studio I really have no interest in that kind of and the three of you, or the four, or five just play music. I never listen to it, and it doesn’t really together. There’s separation, there’s baffles and appeal to me. But I could watch this movie five isolation rooms, but you’re all playing together. times. And it’s three hours long. It’s just fasciIn the world he lives in, those records are so nating to me. I think probably because it’s a precise in just how everything is put together.

INTERVIEW

JACKIE LEE YOUNG

It’s all done one at a time. It’s painstaking. And because that’s the world he came from, he wasn’t really set up to record a band like us. So it was a real learning process for all of us. And we just loved him. He’s really fun and cool and it’s fun to work with someone who’s just not in your world at all. We kind of thrive on those situations.

On “Clean Slate,” the first song from the new record, there’s this sound at the end of the bridge—was that a vibraslap?

Yes. Part of my contract with all the people that I record with is that I have to put vibraslap on at least one song. But I did it on a lot of songs on this record. I put them on Superchunk records, Bob Mould records…a lot of times you can’t hear it, but it adds a little sparkle when you can.

Would you say that it’s your preferred alternative percussion device?

I would say that I’ve gotten pretty good at maracas and tambourines and things like that. So those are the ones I’m best at. But the vibraslap…I’m going to claim it as my thing.

Hardly anyone else is doing it, right?

I’m curious which songs on the new record changed the most from the time you first started working on them to now.

Sometimes, as on the last couple records, John [Darnielle] will record a skeleton of the song over a pre-programmed drum machine, just whatever the preset was on the keyboard. That will just give me an idea of the tempo, whether it’s a rock song, or a samba, or a jazzy kind of thing. My memory is the song “Fresh Tattoo” didn’t have

anything underneath it. It was just him at the piano. So I think that’s the one that the biggest evolution. I’d been playing along with this Devo record a lot during the pandemic, and got really good at playing this super fast, almost disco hihat pattern that’s on the song “Whip it” and other Devo songs. That was the inspiration for what I’m doing on “Fresh Tattoo.” I guess I just thought it would be cool to not really come in with a full beat for a long time, which was dumb on my part, because it’s an intense forearm workout.

What is the most tiring Mountain Goats song to play on drums?

The song “Werewolf Gimmick” is the exact identical pattern, but on the floor tom, and I feel like it’s faster too. And I’m the reason we don’t play it live.

I couldn’t do it in one shot [in the studio], so I think the record is at least three sections put together.

But I think I could do it live now. I almost want to suggest it, just to prove to myself that I can do it.

Which Mountain Goats character would you most like to have call into “The Best Show”?

There’s a song on Goths called “Rage of Travers.” Pat Travers was this guitar player back in the ‘70s, and he had some success, but basically the story of the song is he’s on his slide down in terms of popularity and he’s playing this kind of goth club. And I would love to be in his head during the first five minutes that he’s there, to just see what he’s thinking and feeling about once playing the Oakland Coliseum and now playing Batcave night somewhere. That’s one, but probably any of those wrestlers, without having to feel their pain.

That would be a great conversation.

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 45

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THU 07

C Hexis w/Midwest Lust/All You Need Is Kill/Star of Kholara/more While the Danish hardcore outfit has played everywhere from its home country’s Faroe Islands to New Zealand, Cuba and even Mongolia, this is a rare Florida show for the sludgey, doom-driven outfit. Chicago-based powerviolence and punk hybrid Midwest Lust opens the show alongside locals like Minoch, which is a new band featuring members of Flying Snakes, Weltesser, Rotting Palms. (VFW Post 39, St. Petersburg) C Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday For a decadeand-a-half, Nate Najar’s December concert has married the worlds of swinging jazz and everyone’s favorite winter holiday. The guitarist does it again this weekend alongside a large band that features bassist Joe Porter, Patrick Bettison on keys, drummer Jean Bolduc, plus Bruce Harris on trumpet and Adrian Cunningham on sax and flute. Brazilian songwriter and singer Daniela Soledade will handle vocals for both the St. Pete show and a Friday gig in Sarasota. (Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) C Palm Ghosts w/Layne Lyre/Offerings Nashville dream-pop act Palm Ghosts has a new, endearing album I Love You, Burn In Hell, to share. The alternative three-piece describes itself as “the sound of an 80s prom in a war zone,” taking inspiration from early new wave bands like The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Psychedelic Furs. Tampa experimental industrial rocker Layne Lyre and Brianna Bullock’s indie-rock project Offerings open.

(Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa) Subtronics w/Ivory/VKTM B2B Sanzu Dubstep ain’t dead, and the exponential success of Subtronics proves it. The Philly DJ and producer born Jesse Kardon arrives with massively-popular EDM singles “Puzzle Box,” 2019 collab “Griztronics” and “Gassed Up” in tow. And when we say “massively popular,” we’re talking over 10 million streams-on-Spotify popular. Kardon shares the stage with fellow electronic artists Ivory as part of this kickoff for a three-night stand at The Ritz. In early 2024, Kardon will embark on his nationwide “Tesseract ‘’ tour, which shares the same name as his forthcoming second fulllength. (The Ritz, Ybor City)

FRI 08

Ayria w/00tz 00tz/DJ Dave If there was ever a pre-party for The Castle, this is it.

Communion After Dark—the internet radio show that specializes in EBM, dark electro, synth-pop, goth, and power noise—is bringing Toronto artist Jennifer Parkin to town.

Formerly of future-pop and EBM band Epsilon

Minus, Parkin now makes similar music under the Ayria moniker and arrives supporting a 2022 album, This Is My Battle Cry. (Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa) C Barely Pink w/Ricky Wilcox and the Moonsnakes/Billy Summer On the heels of the band’s 30th anniversary, one of Tampa’s most beloved power-pop outfits will acknowledge its 2003 album, Last Day of Summer entering its roaring-20s.

Barely Pink—influenced by the likes of Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick, while taking on a Big Star-esque sound—are joined onstage by “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” voice actor and latter-day “Brady Bunch” child actor Robbie Rist on drums. Ricky Wilcox and the Moonsnakes, which ended a two-year hiatus during WMNF’s Tom Petty birthday tribute in October, also appears on the bill alongside Florida, the new band from famed Bay area guitarist and songwriter Billy Summer who just released Metal Detector, an absolute ripper of a power-pop album, in November.

(Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg) Bowzer’s Holiday Rock ‘n Roll Party: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone w/Jay Siegel’s Tokens/Joey Dee/more Last year, Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of Sha Na Na had to miss his annual, Ruth Eckerd Hall-exclusive Christmas party due to a staph infection, believed to be caused by a contaminated scalpel used during hernia surgery. The 76-year-old popped in and out via satellite, but his presence was still greatly missed, even with honorary Jersey boy Gary U.S. Bonds and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits in tow. Luckily, it looks like he’s all healed up, and will once again appear in person to watch Noone, as well as Jay Siegel’s Tokens, and Clearwater resident-slash-father of “Peppermint Twist” Joey Dee outshine the Happy Together tour.

The show takes place on the 43rd anniversary of John Lennon’s death too, so don’t be surprised if a few Beatle covers get thrown in. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) C Rise Up concert series: Cavetown w/ Ricky Montgomery/Addison Grace It’s been four years since Robin Daniel Skinner played a very sold-out Ybor City club show.

There’ll be plenty more room for the U.K. songwriter’s gig this weekend where his band Cavetown is the latest artist to hit the stage for St. Pete’s Rise Up concert series.

The 24-year-old rose up through Englands’s DIY circuit with a ukulele in his hand and is on the road supporting a 2022 album, Worm Food, where he’s joined by the likes of Pierce the Veil, Beabadoobee, and Chloe Moriondo.

Viral songwriters Ricky Montgomery and Addison Grace open the show. (St. Pete Pier, St. Petersburg) Lil Lotus w/Makeout/Sace6/more Last month, the 29-year-old emo rapper’s touring repertoire was faced with a pretty major health scare. Ahead of a gig in Denver, Drummer Caleb Clifton suffered a series of seizures. His bandmates woke up to him having one that lasted until paramedics arrived on

the scene, and after having blood work and a CT scan done, Clifton was released from the hospital, just to have another seizure hours later. He went back to the hospital and was kept overnight, but a week later, he was back laying down beats for his boss’ current run of shows, promoting nosebleeder—a brand-new album that finally emerged last Thursday— and more. (Hooch and Hive, Tampa)

WAYNE BAKER BROOKS SAT DEC 9 • 8PM - $10-$13

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Omari Dillard

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RETIREMENT/BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISER

HAPPY HOUR

C Omari Dillard A skateboarding injury kept him from initially grasping the instrument, but Omari Dillard’s been playing violin since he was at Tampa’s Lithia Pinecrest Elementary. In the more than 30 years since, the 42-year-old instrumentalist and songwriter has been something of a fixture on the local scene whether on festivals or as part of someone else’s band. For this evening with, Dillard and his four-piece band take to the recently renovated historic Centro Asturiano to play selections from his album of original music, Sincerely Omari, plus covers of Luther Vandross, Johnny Gill and even Michael Jackson. He’ll also intimately tell his story and promote a message of getting violins onto the shoulders and underneath the chins of other minorities. “It’s something that we just don’t see often,” Dillard told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, adding that he wants to be an example for kids who might be interested. “It’s something that really means a lot to me.” (Centro Asturiano, Ybor City) The Outlaws 9th Annual Green Grass & Yuletide Jam w/The Artimus Pyle Band This year, Artimus Pyle officially became the sole surviving member of Lynyrd Skynyrd to survive the 1977 plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines. He hasn’t played with the band in three decades, but has far from forgotten about his tenure. In February, the 75-year-old will release Anthems, an

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C Roosevelt Collier Following a rousing, last-minute main stage set at Clearwater Jazz Holiday in October, the steel pedal maestro— praised by The Allman Brothers Band and Buddy Guy, and produced by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League—is back in Pinellas County, this time headlining the local 2,000-capacity outdoor venue. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) Thomas Rhett If you’re wondering about the status of this country star’s friendship with Jason Aldean—who helped him kick off a career that has earned him four Grammy nominations—your guess is as good as mine. Don’t expect the 33-year-old to make any remarks about it this Friday at his first gig in Tampa since 2021, because with his latest album Where We Started featuring the likes of Teddy Swims and Katy Perry, and not to mention the stories he probably has about his four children, who wants to hear what he thinks of “Try That In A Small Town?” (Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)

SAT 09

C Action Bronson Presents: Dr. Bachlava and the Human Growth Hormone Rapper, songwriter, chef and professional foodie Action Bronson only has two shows left for the rest of the year, and one is in Tampa Bay. Bronson’s raps often explore themes of food, sports and daily life, and his latest tour “Dr. Bachlava and the Human Growth Hormone” poses himself as “The Doctor,” performing alongside a live, supporting band—a unique aspect considering that the New Yorker usually takes the stage solo or accompanied by a DJ. Even if you only know the 40-year-old from his Vice show “Fuck, that’s Delicious,” his energetic stage presence and food-focused raps will be still be entertaining nonetheless. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)—Kyla Fields C Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser w/Flagman/ Spoiled Rat/Some Attics On Katzman’s upcoming album Transcendental Shreditation (out Dec. 15), the Miami-based guitar hero provides seven straightforward, speed-metal tracks centered around self-esteem and tackling mental health adversities in general. One of his favorite parts of being in the position he’s in is the fact that he gets to teach kids everything he knows, and Katzman even found a musical partner in a once-mentee that helped out with a few riffs on the album. No posers are allowed on Saturday, but remember: There’s a difference between being a poser and just popping in for the sake of checking something new out, so don’t you dare try to fit in by attempting to mouth along to lyrics you don’t know. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) C Ben Nichols w/Lulu and the Black Sheep Back in August, Hurricane Idalia put a damper on Nichols’ acoustic motorcycle tour across The Sunshine State, and his rescheduled gigs are finally here. While thy are no longer touring on motorcycles, Tampa’s

show—featuring the Lucero frontman, Lulu and the Black Sheep and host/tattoo artist Oliver Peck—finds Nichols playing solo under his “Last Wolf in the Woods” moniker and with a new album, Raised on Losing Ground, in tow. (Orpheum, Tampa)—KF C Emo Night Tampa: Farseek w/ Virginity/Bad Bad Things/TV Breakup Scene There’s only one more Emo Night Tampa gig left in 2023. Two bands—Georgia alt-rockers Farseek and local band TV Breakup Scene, fresh off the release of its debut single “Troubled Mind”—headline alongside Tampa’s own Virginity and Bad Bad Things. After this no-cover, 18 & up Tampa show, Farseek is bringing its left-leaning emo-rock through the midwest and up the east coast to wrap up its year of intense touring, so be sure to toss them some gas money. (Crowbar, Ybor City)—KF Rise Up Concert Series: G-Eazy w/ Phony Ppl Next year marks a decade since the California-born rapper made his major label debut with These Things Happen, which peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard 200. The 34-year-old, fresh off a tour promoting his latest you-live-you-learn album These Things Happen Too (yes, it’s a sequel to his debut) hasn’t been to Tampa since before COVID-19 was a thing, but will headline a gig as part of St. Petersburg’s ongoing Rise Up series at the Pier. (St. Pete Pier, St Petersburg) Punks For Pups: Arcane Arcade w/ Bargain Bin Heroes/Human Error/Lot Lizards/Low Season/more A plethora of beloved local punk outfits will get together for the fourth time to raise money for Friends of Strays Animal Shelter, a 45-year-old, nokill rescue shelter based in St. Petersburg with a 99.2% live release rate. (Pinellas Ale Works, St. Petersburg) C We Are the Asteroid w/Permanent Makeup/The Pilot Waves The closure of Born Free Pub & Grill has seen other venues picking up shows that would’ve landed at the Tampa venue, and now rooms in St. Pete are helping out while Born Free finds a new home.

This gig finds Texas psychedelic noise-rock export We Are the Asteroid taking over a space at this old video game bar (pinball machines are still in the other room). The band, on the road supporting a 2023 album Wata You, A Lion Tamer?, is joined by St. Pete punk favorite Permanent Makeup and The Pilot Waves. (The Potion Portal, St. Petersburg)

SUN 10

The Chainsmokers In Florida, we sit by the pool all year long, and at the Hard Rock, we do it with EDM blaring in the background.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has been busy making additions to its Tempo Daylife Pool Party, and is bringing this genre favorite to Tampa this weekend. (Hard Rock Event Center Pool at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa) Little High, Little Low w/Idle Moves Fans of Mt. Joy, Mumford and Sons or The Head and the Heart are gonna love Little High, Little Low, a Gainesville folk outfit that brings banjo, bass, piano and guitar for an “Alive & Kicking” tour. (Hooch and Hive, Tampa)

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Stephen Sanchez

CAITY KRONE

all-Skynyrd-covers album featuring guest spots from the likes of Warren Haynes, Sammy Hagar, and Dolly freakin’ Parton. If you check out Pyle’s opening set for the current iteration of The Outlaws, please, for shit’s sake, don’t call out “Free Bird.” He’ll get to it.

(Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)

Three Dog Night w/Firefall On the heels of its 50th anniversary, Firefall’s latest album Friends & Family is an all-covers salute to the bands and artists who befriended the country-rock outfit—and in some cases, brought it on the road—sometime in the ‘70s. You probably won’t hear any of those songs when the band, still featuring original guitarist Jock Bartley, opens for Three Dog Night this weekend. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

MON 11

C There’s Good In Ybor: Shevonne w/ Perception/Tha Banned/SydLive/Psych Montano/Kay Three/more There’s been a big push to makeover Ybor City after a late-October street shooting killed two and injured more than a dozen, but local artists of every discipline come together for this gig that showcases all that’s good about the historic district. Shevonne’s rock band and spoken word artist Wally B are on a bill of mostly hip-hop that lands in Crowbar where live painters will take over the courtyard.

Funds raised will help support the efforts of the Andrew Joseph Foundation, which mobilizes communities after young people are killed by police. The event is also the launch of a series of community-based, risk mitigation, first aid, crisis management, and community safety and recovery workshops, training sessions, and programs. “These are open to ALL who share a concern for the well-being of OUR beloved Ybor City,” organizers wrote. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

TUE 12

C Sarah Brightman After a 30-plus year run on Broadway, the curtain came down on Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” last April. Webber’s ex-wife Sarah Brightman—who he’s still on good terms

with—originated the role of Christine Daaé, and with a three-octave range, endless accolades, and over 30 million units sold. She remains the world’s best-selling soprano. Brightman’s “A Christmas Symphony” tour—which she brought to the same room in 2021—promises to have a choir, orchestra, and special guests in tow, so don’t be shocked if local singing legend Lisa Vroman—who also played Christine Daaé on Broadway for a time—shows up. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

WED 13

C Stephen Sanchez The 21-year-old singer-songwriter, who played with Elton John at his last-ever U.K. tour performance at Glastonbury and watched his single “Until I Found You” blow up on TikTok this year, finally brings his rockabilly-esque debut album Angel Face to Tampa. The show is the fifth-to-last U.S. date on his current “In Person” tour, and will see him perform just about the entire album, along with a few cuts from those that came before.

(Orpheum, Tampa)

THU 14

Kevin Gates w/BigXThaPlug The 37-yearold Baton Rouge-based emcee’s new album The Ceremony should have been out by now, but had to be pushed off to January. The record is supposed to include thoughts about Walmart and guest spots from B.G. and Sexyy Red, and it’s looking like Gates has graduated from his days tearing up Jannus Live (and even serving jail time after kicking a fan at a 2015 gig in Lakeland). This gig at the Yuengling Center—part of his “Only The Generals” tour—won’t be the largest space in Tampa that the 37-year-old’s ever played, but “2 Phones” will definitely go extremely hard in an arena. (Yuengling Center, Tampa)

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ATLANTIC RECORDS

In Florida, we sit by the pool all year long, and at the Hard Rock, we do it with EDM blaring in the background. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has been busy making additions to its Tempo Daylife Pool Party, and is bringing a couple of genre favorites to Tampa this winter. Last week, Hard Rock announced a January show from Tiësto (“Adagio For Strings,” “Feel It In My Bones”), just one week after announcing a separate show from EDM best buds The Chainsmokers (“Closer”).

Tickets to see Tiësto play the Tempo Daylife Pool Party at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa on Sunday, Jan. 28 go on sale Friday, Dec. 1 and start at $40. See Josh Bradley’s latest roundup of newly announced concerts below.—Ray Roa

Easy Honey w/TBA Thursday, Jan. 25. 7 p.m. $17. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa Cinema Stereo w/Ace Monroe/The Dirty Janes/Mortal Son’s/Persephone’s Choice Friday, Jan. 26. 6:30 p.m. $10. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa Highly Suspect w/Dead Poet Society Thursday, Feb. 1. 8 p.m. $35. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Lucinda Williams Thursday, Feb. 1. 8 p.m. $49 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater Drake & J Cole Friday and Sunday, Feb. 2 & 4. 8 p.m. $85.75 & up. Amalie Arena, Tampa Matisyahu w/Cydeways Friday, Feb. 2. 8 p.m. $30. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Tinashe Friday, Feb. 2. 7:30 p.m. $30 & up.

The Ritz, Ybor City

Twin Temple w/Vows Wednesday, Feb. 21. 7 p.m. $21.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Daddy’s Beemer w/Homemade Haircuts Saturday, Feb. 24. 8 p.m. $12. Hooch and Hive, Tampa Lettuce Saturday, Feb. 24. 8 p.m. $33.

Jannus Live, St. Petersburg Ash Friday, March 1. 8 p.m. $25. Crowbar, Ybor City The Stews Saturday, March 2. 8:45 p.m. $17. Crowbar, Ybor City Extreme w/Living Colour Saturday, March 9. 7 p.m. $34.50 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Jared Petteys & The Headliners w/ Little Sheeba and the Shamans/Skinny McGee Friday, March 15. 8 p.m. $15. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

Pantera w/Lamb Of God Monday, Feb. 5.

7 p.m. $25.75 & up. Amalie Arena, Tampa

Gregorian Saturday, April 6. 8 p.m. $40 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Lyn Lapid Tuesday, Feb. 6. 8 p.m. $22 & up.

Crowbar, Ybor City

Melissa Etheridge Thursday, April 11. 8 p.m. $95 & up. Hard Rock Event Center at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa

Silent Planet w/Thornhill/Aviana/ Johnny Booth Friday, Feb. 9. 6 p.m. $22.

Orpheum, Tampa Willie Nelson & Family Saturday, Feb. 10. 7:30 p.m. $54.50 & up. The Sound, Clearwater

Monday - Friday, 4pm-7pm Saturday 3pm-6pm

Enrique Iglesias w/Pitbull/Ricky Martin Sunday, March 10. 7 p.m. $56.20 & up.

Amalie Arena, Tampa

San Holo w/Droeloe/Oddkidout Saturday, Feb. 3. 7 p.m. $31.50 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Tower of Power Thursday, Feb. 8. 8 p.m. $49.25 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

HAPPY HOUR AT AMSO

Peekaboo w/LYNY Friday, April 12. 8 p.m. $25. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg The Crane Wives Sunday, April 14. 7 p.m. $20. Crowbar, Ybor City The Brook & The Bluff Thursday, April 18.

8 p.m. $22.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Evan Dando w/Willy Mason Thursday, Feb. 15. 7 p.m. $25.50. Crowbar, Ybor City

Mo Lowda & The Humble w/The Bright Light Social Hour Friday, April 19. 7 p.m. $18. Floridian Social, St. Petersburg

North Mississippi Allstars Saturday, Feb. 17. 7 p.m. $22.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Andy Frasco & The U.N. w/Dogs in a Pile Thursday, May 2. 8:30 p.m. $25.

Crowbar, Ybor City

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What was lost

make me feel good, but I understand this part of customer service. But I’m not sure it’s only that.—Joe Haircut

By Dan Savage

About 10 years ago, I was in a serious relationship with someone I loved more than I had ever loved anyone before. I hoped to spend my life with her. But I was deep in the closet, and the process of coming out annihilated large parts of my life, including our relationship. I dumped her and tried to tell myself she wouldn’t understand. In the years that followed, I came into my own as a proud and potent goddess, but I felt haunted by how I’d pushed my ex away. The regret that marked her absence tinged all my emerging triumphs.

In the chaos of the early pandemic, I sent a simple email, curtailed into a modest how-areyou, and she sent a brief-but-cordial reply. I didn’t take offense. It was kind of her to reply at all. But some months later, she reached out, asking to meet. Apparently, her boyfriend had dumped her, and it reminded her of how I’d dumped her. Despite my nerves, we had a simple afternoon in a park gabbing about poetry and ethics, laughing easily. I didn’t make any overtures. Regarding the past, I said only that I regretted how I’d left things. She replied quickly, “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s not like our relationship really had a future.” Yikes!

It’s been a few years and she’s become a close friend. We go hiking, drinking, we go on double dates with our partners—me and my wife, her and her new boyfriend. And yet… I still think about her every day. Even my wife knows I’m crazy about her! (We’re poly, it’s not an issue.)

I’m writing because I don’t know what to do.

For almost 10 years I’ve tried to get over her, but I have proven stubbornly head-over-heels. I’ve tried separation, several types of therapy, even fiery rituals, but I still wake up with her name on my lips. I worry that if I were to broach the totality of my feelings, it would alienate her all over again. What’s a gal to do?—Confounded Heartfelt Amorous Damsel

with your ex, CHAD, because you couldn’t be her partner and yourself at the same time.

I’m going to crawl out on a limb and guess that however bumpy your transition may have been, the trade-off was worth it. You lost some things—including a romantic relationship with your ex—but you gained so much more.

If seeing your ex socially—if having her in your life—is too painful, well, don’t see her socially. If you want to tell her that you miss the relationship you once had and still have feelings for her, you can do that without blowing up the relationship you have with her now. Lots of people who are friends with their exes have said or heard variations on, “If things had been different, things could’ve turned out differently,” and remained friends.

You weren’t the person you thought you were when you were with your ex—or you weren’t the person you were coerced into pretending to be — but you had important and meaningful experiences before you transitioned. Feeling sad about what you may have lost as a consequence of transitioning takes nothing away from what you’ve gained. But the intensity of these feelings for your ex—waking up every day thinking about her—makes me wonder whether she’s a symbolic stand-in for everything else you lost.

Maybe a few sessions with a good therapist could put your feelings for your ex into perspective.

P.S. If what you mean by, “We’ve silently agreed to uphold a narrative that we’re just old friends,” is, “I’m being shoved into a new closet,” that’s not good. If never acknowledging that you were in a relationship is the price of admission you have to pay for her friendship, it may be too steep a price to pay. Awkwardness is fine… shame isn’t not.

SAVAGE LOVE

You mention coming out, you mention transitioning, you mention being an out-and-proud goddess now—so, you’re a trans woman who had to end what the world perceived to be a cis-het relationship before you embarked on your transition.

And based on your ex’s reaction when you reconnected and apologized for dumping her (“It’s not like our relationship really had a future!”), CHAD, along with the fact that your ex has only ever dated men (or people she had every reason to believe were men), it sounds like your ex is a straight cis woman. Which means you couldn’t be the goddess you are now—you couldn’t have the life you have now (to say nothing of the wife you have now)—if you were still

I’ve been going to the same barber (a woman) now for almost eight years now. We always have nice heart-to-heart conversations and I’ve loaned her money in the past (single mom), and she’s called to ask for advice on some life stuff a couple of times. She’s also asked me about my dating life, my kid, work, etc. My concern is if I was to ask her out, it would most likely make things awkward, and I don’t want to lose her as my barber. We also have a big age gap, although I know for a fact that she’s dated men my age. I fear screwing up our professional relationship, yet I am so attracted to her it gives me butterflies. I have risked dropping innuendos now and again, but she’s never picked up on them. I honestly can’t tell if she’s interested or not. She says nice and courteous things, which

It’s only that.

When someone confides in us about their love life—particularly when that someone is a woman in a service industry—that’s usually a sign they don’t see us as a potential love interest.

Women in service professions who rely on tips will sometimes share stories about disastrous dates, shitty exes, and heartbreaks with male clients not to signal romantic interest, JH, but to signal romantic disinterest. Basically, if the woman who’s cutting your hair or pouring your beer treats you like one of her girlfriends, JH, she doesn’t see you—and doesn’t want you to see yourself—as a potential future boyfriend.

Which is not to say she doesn’t like you or doesn’t consider you a friend. She clearly does.

But don’t confuse choosing to ignore your innuendos for failing to pick up on them; and those stories about how dating clients always ended in disaster are offramp if you ever do ask her out. (“I’m so sorry—I can’t date clients anymore after all those disasters I told you about. The usual?”) As dick-havers, JH, we have to be on our guard against motivated reasoning, AKA “dickful thinking,” and this is definitely a case of motivated reasoning.

I ’ m involved with a married man. No, I don’t think his wife knows. I’ve discussed ENM with him, but I can’t force him to tell her. Theirs is not a healthy relationship. At this point, he’s staying for the sake of their child. Once their kid goes to college he wants to separate/divorce. They stopped sleeping together years ago. Literally: they don’t sleep in the same room at night. They’re basically separated

yet live under the same roof. They barely speak save when it comes to running the household or parenting. (I’m pretty sure their kid, a teenager, can sense the marital discord, and might even prefer the parents to separate officially, instead of dragging this out for their sake.) But my lover, the kid’s father, is really scared that he might lose custody in a divorce. There’s probably no good way to break it to your spouse, however estranged you are, that you want to make it official, that living together but barely speaking, barely being roommates isn’t much of a marriage. I expect to really be with him after all this—so please keep in mind that I’m not looking to benefit here. But I do want to help him get through this transition period. What can he say or do to end the marriage in an ethical and kind way?—Yet Another Other Woman All you know is what he’s told you.

I’m not suggesting—as others would— you can’t believe a single thing this man says because he’s cheating on his wife. What I am suggesting is that his marriage may be less dysfunctional than he’s made it seem. He and his wife might not fuck or even sleep in the same room—they even may be on the same page about separating the second their kid heads to college—but their relationship sounds low-conflict. For all you know, YAOW, they may have successfully pivoted to a companionate marriage.

As for why he would play up tension at home… Men who have affairs are seen as bad guys—even when they’re not cheating their wives out of anything their wives want— and he may be making his marriage sound more dysfunctional than it actually is to elicit your sympathy (and your pussy), YAOW, and because he doesn’t want to seem like the bad guy.

As for your plan to encourage him to end his marriage now… If your lover is planning to file for divorce once his kid is in college and his kid is already a teenager, well, then the end (of this marriage) is nigh. (Assuming he means it; that could be another line he’s feeding you—needlessly, as you don’t want to be with him.) If you’re comfortable fucking a married man—if you’re willing to help this man do what he needs to do to stay married and stay sane—go ahead and fuck this guy. But just as he shouldn’t make his marriage sound worse than it actually is to rationalize or justify the morally ambiguous choice he’s made (fucking you), you don’t need to talk him into broaching the subject of ENM with his wife and/or ending his marriage to rationalize or justify the morally ambiguous choice you’ve made (fucking him).

Got problems? You know you do! Send questions to mailbox@savage.love! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love.

cltampabay.com | DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 | 53

60 Disadvantaged, 112 Qtly. payment 69 Beginning of a DOWN recipient singing-wise path?

1 Ad ___ 113 Not ___ 62 Timber tree 71 Intense stars 2 Devil’s tail? (mediocre) 74 Hands on ___ 3 Onetime jet letters 66 Beneficial ACROSS 114 “I ___ Symphony” 78 Crime writer Rule 68 Doll makeup?

4 He led a feudal 1 Belts one 116 Bruin’s home 80 Microwave: slang 70 Tolkien tree existence 7 The Bee follower? 82 Cake finisher 117 Trudge beings 5 Nome home 11 Nature study: abbr. 84 Glock ’n’ spiel grp. 6 “___ is human” 72 Uris’s QB ___ 118 Buster Brown’s 15 Nile wader dog 85 Sidestep 73 Bitter, old-style 7 Chapman and 19 New York city or 88 Words of 75 Creepy crawlers 119 Rail rider Greene river 120 New Haven introduction in 76 Tee store 8 German article 20 Milieu for Lemieux campus The Hustler?

77 ___ Remo 9 MIT grad, perh.

21 Tibetan priest 121 Many hospital 92 Actress Bartok 10 Trapshooting type 79 Court divider 22 The Rock star plans 93 Ankle bone 11 Banderilla sufferer 81 Actress Deborah 23 King who scratched 95 Vintage car 83 Singer McEntire 122 Ruckus 12 They’re out of himself constantly? 96 Red stones 85 Ed Wood in Ed 126 “___ said!” control 25 Ready to sail 127 North Pole worker 97 Breathe hard Wood 13 Forget 26 TV legend Trebek 99 Recording tape 128 Ring master?

86 Track shape 14 Unconvincing 27 Sign at the end of 100 Nickname for an 87 Actor Andrews quality a really long line? old white 88 Foofaraw 15 “Have to stay 30 First name in an Peugeot?

89 Computerized home ... sorry” Entebbe incident 103 Transposed or captain 16 Indonesian 33 SeaWorld not, tried to hit a 90 Lavish attention getaway swimmer ball?

17 “___ the picture” 91 Joan in 34 Lose oomph 106 Org. that regulates Suspicion 18 Like most perfume 35 Hazel follower rates 94 Hooked ads 36 Just Shoot Me 107 On 98 Big storm 24 Caesar’s 2100 character 108 ___ particle 100 Succotash, partly 28 Lyme Disease bug 38 Denver hrs.

109 Suspect: slang 101 Beat by a nose PUZZLE FANS !

29 Play that 41 Scandal involving 111 Silents star 102 Desal-plant For info on Merl's introduced the those eels in 115 Backyard bubbler monitor Sunday crossword word “robot” Washington?

116 Headline about 104 Trav. heading anthologies, visit 30 Place to refresh 46 U.S. city with a lot firemen who www.sunday 105 Race city 31 Intake monitors of candle shops? rescued a stuck crosswords.com.

110 Flower part 32 How brides often 51 Chicago trains Santa? dress 52 Dark skies, for 123 TV commercial Solution to Wow, Mom! 37 Sacked out example award 39 Hit the buzzer?

F AME D G I S CR E AM I NC A 53 Otis Redding 124 Delhi weight ON EMOME N T P L E A S E D E A N 40 Afraid setting (or backward, N O T WOWA Y S A B O U T I T AWR Y 42 Poly finish ODO A L I S E N S B A T S S E A 54 Org. for OR folks tons) I S H P L I E D H E S OB I WA N 43 Coach Stagg 55 Waste matter 125 Priceline.com’s S C E N E A R R OWS P A RDONME H A R P E R S I N A K E N N EO 57 Mun. code item least popular hat? 44 Actress Hatcher POR K Y S P A R R OWOW L RMS 58 One way to know if 129 Symbol of a sort 45 Extremes S S E S AGA S RUR X I I 47 Above, to Anton an employee has 130 Black, to poets HMO N I L A I ME D N E P H EW HOOH A GUMMOMA R X S P I E S secretly been to 131 Matty of baseball 48 Fixed amount A L MOND D I A R Y OK S P P D 49 Refusenik’s words V D B T O E A R C S P E E D Hawaii?

132 Bird of baseball A S A H A M O M E L E T S T R I P P 50 Rigoletto aria, 61 Caravan stop 133 Mideast gulf A S S MA I A V E T H E D E A L “___ nome” 63 Sketchy subject? 134 Tittles S P A C E B A R S N A P P Y SOU S E T OK I L L SMU S A R A S T S P 55 Floor model 64 Gilda in Gilda 135 “___ we forget” P E K E OWE M A E A N T S P A L 56 Bribe 65 Parlor, e.g.

136 Export add-on AWN S S P H YGMOMA NOME T E R T OY S T H E B O WW O W T H E O R Y 58 Nonprofessional 66 Boosts SWA T S AWE D SOS A NN E S 59 Babe villain 67 Belgian river SWAPPING SPREE (4)

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