Creative Loafing Tampa — August 6, 2020

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PUBLISHER James Howard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ray Roa

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DIGITAL EDITOR Colin Wolf FOOD CRITIC Jon Palmer Claridge

CONTRIBUTORS Jefferey C. Billman, Rob Brezsny, Justin Garcia, Kyla Fields, Peter and Jeanne Meinke, Jenna Rimensnyder, Dan Savage, McKenna Schueler

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EVENTS DIRECTOR Alexis Quinn Chamberlain

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Music: Tampa Bay Blues Fest ........................... 40

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63

We are most hopeful in the power of solidarity.

Tampa protesters marched to Mayor Jane Castor’s house last Friday, p. 8.

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How was your Date? cltampa.com/movies How was your Date?

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DAVE DECKER

editor's note

Weekly Specials Monday:

Power up

SAY IT LOUDER: There’s always room for more people on the front line.

Tactogon Tuesday

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Closed

$6 Cubans

Saturday and Sunday:

Finding energy is hard right now, but we must keep fighting.

By Ray Roa

I

Tuesday:

Burger Bag Day

f you’re still lucky enough to have a job, then you know “Mondays” haven’t changed much.

August 3, however, was a doozy because it came with news about a pro-police “Back the Blue” mural that was painted without a permit outside the police station in downtown Tampa.

The piece looks interesting; some critics say it reads like the Microsoft font Wingdings. As you’ll see in the four pages this issue devotes to the illegal public art, the specifics and embarrassment surrounding the mural are complicated, and they deal directly with what newspaper coverage of protests has been addressing before and after George Floyd died underneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

It’d be easy to look at CL’s coverage of local protests since May 25 and say, “You guys write about the cops a lot,” or “You aren’t being very kind to the mayor or police chief.” A reasonable person even called our coverage “gross” because it referenced one of the “Back the Blue” muralist’s testimony in an early-’90s sexualt assault case.

You could say we’re obsessed with the issues, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. The coverage isn’t “gross” (I’ll get to that). And no one actually wants to see their elected officials— the folks supposed to be tasked with caring for their constituents—fail, but it’s getting pretty dicey out here.

A lot of the effort spent by this alt-weekly’s staffers—Digital Editor Colin Wolf and myself—plus many of its contributing writers and photographers is, in fact, directed towards reporting and opining about the police response to Black Lives Matter protests and the call for a major overhaul of local policing. St. Petersburg’s Police Department has taken a significant step in creating its community assistant liaison team that will respond to non-violent calls. Tampa’s

response has been slower (task forces for everyone!), and its City Council is now dealing with letters from police union lawyers saying some of the more progessive suggested reforms to the Community Review Board are illegal.

You could argue that all that energy takes away from some of the positive stories about the arts and community,—and in a way it does— apologies to DJ Sandman (p. 31) and Wendy Barrett (p. 27).

But all that energy spent by this small group is focused on one thing: power.

In these times specifically, we’re talking about the power that police forces have always had over marginalized communities—all the way back to the slave patrol days. We’re wringing our hands about the power of bureaucrats to dominate news cycles with messages of hate and division. We’re pushing against the power local politicians have to ignore the press or provide vague answers until the next dust-up switches the public’s focus. And we’re checking the power and privilege that some individuals and groups—yes, sometimes people who’ve been a part of some heinous crimes—have to cloak their anti-Black Lives Matter sentiments beneath a pro-police facade.

And all this is to say that many among us could do more to empower those who have felt powerless in this system—especially if there’s nothing holding us back from doing so.

This paper’s got a lot to lose by ruffling feathers, but the protesters in the street have even more on the line. The ones with Black skin are fighting for their very lives. The least we can do is put a fist up, throw a phone call at a councilman and shove a vote in the ballot box. If you can, go march, but no matter what, please try and fight the power in every way you can.

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Castor call

Photos by Dave Decker and Javier Ortiz

H

er full report and more photos are online, but Creative Loafing Tampa Bay contributor McKenna Schueler followed Black Lives Matter protesters last Friday afternoon as they—along with a Tampa-based Wall of Vets—marched to Mayor Jane Castor’s home in the Riverbend neighborhood near Lowry Park. CL photographer Javier Ortiz counted just under 100 people at the mayor’s residence where an undercover cop car stood guard. The march moved from Castor’s home to Sligh Avenue where police officers met protesters who worried about kettling but ultimately played it safe and even let traffic through the intersection of Sligh Avenue and North Boulevard. Most protesters called it a night just after 8 p.m. —Ray Roa

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RAY ROA

Bock the blub

SQUIGGLY BLUE LINE: This is what happens when you don’t properly plan your mural.

Review Board. A lawyer for the police union is already trying to scare the council into saying some of the proposed reform is illegal, but you might want to contact your councilman to tell him how you feel.]

By Ray Roa, Colin Wolf and Justin Garcia Just obey the law y the time this hits newsstands, it’ll have in front of the world’s eyes, but you can’t help but The not-so-funny thing about the work is been over 72 hours since Tampa woke up to feel like the move is a little tone deaf considering that it was finished before the permit was even its newest mural. Online, organizers and vol- what activists are marching for (police reform processed with the City of Tampa. unteers—who completed the work last weekend after being fed up about living in a country where Muralists posted that the permits had been weekend—said they pulled a permit and painted Black people are killed by law enforcement at obtained, one even thanked Mayor Castor by what they’re calling America’s First “Back The disproportionate rates). And don’t forget that name on social media, but that wasn’t entirely Blue” street mural in downtown Tampa (spoiler Black people are born with their skin; being true. According to city spokesperson Ashley alert: they didn’t have a permit). The quality of “blue” is a choice.

Bauman, there was an application for a permit the work—which runs directly outside the police Even Tulsa, Oklahoma—which almost held to paint the mural, but that application had not department, east-to-west on Madison Street in Trump’s Juneteenth completed the approval between Franklin Street and Florida Avenue— re-election rally— process. is, well… beauty is in the eye of the beholder didn’t let a mural like That’s all Bauman ‘Paint the Picture’ protest (head to photos.cltampa.com to see the piece in this happen (although would tell CL, but the Sat. Aug. 8, 5 p.m. full and read reactions to the piece). it did paint over its timing is unfortunate Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park Like the “Back the Blue” movement, the BLM street piece). since images of the 600 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa. mural appears to lack the necessary details We don’t think this mural have started to @ProtestsTampa on Twitter required to make any sense whatsoever. As is what voters meant go viral. The work was commenters have pointed out, does the mural when they responded to Tampa Mayor Jane almost immediately mocked by street art giant say “Bock The Blub?” or “Bork The Bluf”? No Castor’s program to paint “Black Lives Matter” Tristan Eaton, who told his 218,000-plus followone’s really sure. murals around town by saying, “Do Better.” ers, “Tampa this looks like shit. Leave the art Organizers obviously wanted to show sup[Editor’s note: While you’re here, Tampa City making to the non racists ok? Color harmony port for cops as the the largest nationwide civil Council is working with the mayor’s office to and critical thinking aren’t your thing” (Eaton rights movement of the last half-century unfolds reform the currently toothless police Citizens painted the piece across from Bern’s).

Some coverage surrounding Tampa’s new public art.

B

LOCAL NEWS

Even comedian Patton Oswalt shared the work with his 4.6 million Twitter followers, adding, “Are you kidding? That looks great. I will always Blrbk the Blub.”

CL asked the City of Tampa’s transportation department for a copy of the mural permit application and an interview with the city mobility department director Vik Bhide to talk about how the mural interacts with traffic control markings on Madison Street (several people have pointed out how the mural covers parts of double yellow lines and other mural no-nos).

On Tuesday, Jim Crew, Public Records Coordinator at Tampa’s Office of the City Clerk, acknowledged our request to see the permit and explained that his office “will coordinate with applicable City departments who may hold responsive records.” Bhide’s aide said she was awaiting direction from spokesperson Bauman.

In comments to the Tampa Bay Times, Back the Blue mural organizer Kristen Krutz said she and about 40 volunteers decided to move forward without a permit. She said that her group did indeed block the road with their own orange cones and paint without the permit.

Her explanation wasn't surprising: “Because Black Lives Matter has murals all over the city that say Black Lives Matter, and they were not permitted.”

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But if Krutz is referring to city-sanctioned public art that rolled out at the end of June, then she’s wrong—the City of Tampa literally put out press releases about that work.

Some folks pointed out that what happened with the mural might be considered criminal mischief (806.13. Criminal mischief.— 3.If the damage is $1,000 or greater, or if there is interruption or impairment of a business operation or public communication, transportation, supply of water, gas or power, or other public service which costs $1,000 or more in labor and supplies to restore, it is a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.)

In a statement sent to CL, Castor said, “Any tribute to honor [law enforcement's] service is welcome. It’s unfortunate they didn’t see the permitting process through so that our community could participate in showing their appreciation for the brave men and women that service our residents every day.”

But as protesters have pointed out, if they set up cones or prevented traffic from going through an open roadway without a permit, then they’d probably met with arrest or force (hold on, did that happen already?).

CL asked the mayor’s office about that concern, and we also asked about what happens to the mural now, especially since many have pointed out that it probably violates mural requirements in the way that it covers traffic markings. We’ll update cltampa.com/news if Castor’s office provides some answers to our questions.

Dirty deeds One of the people who led the effort to paint Tampa’s hideous and widely mocked “Back the Blue” mural has a criminal history. On Sunday, Mark Urbanski celebrated the painting of the mural by posting about it on Facebook.

“We made history today,” Urbanski wrote.

“The first “Back the Blue” Mural drawn and painted in the United States at the Tampa Police Department HQ. Tampa Patriots!”

The mural, which many have pointed out looks more like “Bock The Blub” is a source of controversy because it was painted at a time when local and national protests are calling for police defunding, reform and justice for Black, Brown and Indigenous people.

Urbanski, 53, works for Lott’s Concrete and is an avid Trump supporter, according to posts on his Facebook. He’s also a self-defined “patriot” from South Tampa with a troubling past.

[Content warning: sexual assault.]

According to court records and previous news reports, Urbanski took a plea deal in a sexual assault case in the early ‘90s.

A 1992 Los Angeles Times story details the time when Urbanski—then in his

mid-20s—testified in a rape case where one of his friends drugged a 22-year-old Clearwater woman and repeatedly violated her with various objects as Urbanski and three others stood around, jeering and cheering.

“Urbanski said he took photographs,” the L.A. Times wrote. He later admitted to destroying the photos.

“The ordeal ended only when Allison grabbed a statuette of Jesus off a bedroom dresser with the intent of using it in the next assault, Urbanski told the jury: ’I said, “No. We can’t have this. It’s sacrilegious.”’”

The rape charge was dropped when Urbanski—AKA ”Urb”, a Jesuit High School graduate and the son of James F. Urbanski, a past president of the Tampa Tribune—agreed to plead guilty to evidence tampering and to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a rape.

He enrolled in an alcohol-and drug-abuse treatment center in New York, and was sentenced to six years’ probation.

According to Hillsborough County records, Urbanski also still owes $17,500 from a closed 1992 felony case.

When CL reached out to Urbanski for comment, before any conversation could be had, he said, “I’m not interested in talking to Creative Loafing, thank you though.”

While it may seem strange that someone like Urbanski avidly supports the police, statistics suggests law enforcement also has a lurid history with sexual assault.

In 2018, a report from Bowling Green State University discovered that police officers in the U.S. were charged with forcible rape 405 times between 2005 and 2013, at an average of 45 a year. Forcible touching was more common, with 636 instances. Other studies and data have suggested that 40% of police officers abuse members of their family.

On average, family violence in police officer’s households is two-four times higher than the general population.

Protester reaction Local protesters are now saying they’ll hold a nearby rally this weekend to “Paint the Picture.”

A recent flier, posted by the @ProtestsTampa Twitter account, doesn’t specifically say which picture will be painted, so to find out you’ll have to show up at Curtis Hixon Park, on Saturday August 8, at 5.p.m.

“The ‘silent majority’ is convinced that they own this city,” the post says. “It’s time to show them that isn’t the case. Come out Saturday.”

The flier also says the gathering is a Black Lives Matter event.

And, yes, there are already multiple change. org petitions to take it down (one was started

by CL contributor and activist-journalist Kelly Benjamin, nonetheless).

“The ‘silent majority’ is convinced that they own this city.”

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RAY ROA

Clap back

RAINBOW CONNECTION: Cam Parker’s legal Tampa Heights mural.

Tampa’s BLM mural artists respond to ‘Back The Blue’ mural.

By Jenna Rimensnyder

W

hen photos of the new ‘Back The Blue’ mural—stationed on Madison Street outside the downtown Tampa police headquarters—started circulating, the internet the roasts began pouring in. Yes, it’s poorly done.

Yes, it is unclear if it reads ‘Back The Blue’ or ‘Bock The Blub.’ But why the hell was it even approved by the city to be painted just weeks after Black Lives Matter murals were approved throughout the Tampa area? Seems suspect and problematic.

Oh, but the mural wasn’t approved by city officials. According to city spokesperson Ashley Bauman, there was an application for a permit to paint the mural, but that application had not completed the approval process. So this group of white people gathered, shut down a street at nighttime, and technically vandalized the pavement and now are celebrating their work all over social media? Oh, and don’t forget this is in front of a police station.

Meanwhile peaceful protestors throughout Tampa Bay are being met with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets fighting against racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd by a

police officer. CL reached out to artists who were commissioned by Mayor Jane Castor’s Art on the Block initiative to create BLM murals to gauge their reactions to the ‘Back the Blue’ incident.

“We can sit and critique the quality of this piece—but art comes from the heart. It is something that is a direct extension of intent, of what is inside. It is a product of representation.

This “art piece” is no different than a confederate flag painted in the middle of the street,” explained Tony Krol, one half of the Illsol artist duo alongside wife Michelle Sawyer. Illsol joined The New Roots Collective in creating a piece at East Cass Street & North Jefferson Street—a half-mile walk from the Back the Blue “art.”

“Also, there are specific guidelines for street murals that every other street mural in Tampa follows, these are vision zero guidelines—and specifically a motorists or pedestrian has to be able to make out the clear markings on the street—the mural that was painted over the weekend didn’t follow any of those guidelines.

What makes it even more bizarre is that it was completed at night. For people who support the

LOCAL NEWS

law, or law enforcement that was a pretty shady way to go about it—maybe because in their hearts they knew all along it would backfire,” Krol told CL. The group which completed the mural, Community Patriots, posted a video proudly showing off their hard work, as well as inviting others across the country to mimic the sentiment. And if they were to need any help, you know, on completing a mural in the middle of the night in front of a police station without a permit, to reach out to them. The clip reeks of white privilege and racism.

James Vann was commissioned by the city to do a mural on the same weekend as Illsol; his is at East 21st Avenue and North 15th Street in East Tampa. Vann is a retired NYC police officer and local muralist.

Although he isn’t against the idea of the “Back The Blue” mural, he concedes that the timing seems suspicious.

“I personally think the timing is in conflict with the message of Unity at this time. I’ve painted the police mural in their honor,” he said. “I thought the Unity street murals were installed for cops and civilians.”

Why choose, of all times, to create this mural for the Tampa Police Department, a department which saw its use of force increase 24% according to its 2019 Response to Resistance report? Since 2017, the department also has seen a 223% increase in the use of chemical

agents. While the reasoning behind the mural seems problematic, there’s also the hitch of the internet unleashing roasts saying the mural is illegible and incredibly sloppy.

Cam Parker, who has continued to be an outspoken BLM advocate and worked on a piece in Tampa Heights—at Franklin Street and Henderson Avenue (pictured above)—for the Art on the Block initiative said that naturally he’s not a fan, and that his overall feeling is of confusion and embarrassment for not only the city of Tampa, but the state of Florida as a whole.

“It’s embarrassing for two reasons. The first of which being, we’re being roasted globally across Twitter and Reddit, as a city and pretty much as a state. It is also embarrassing because the people who did it actually think it looks good. And they’re literally complimenting each other ‘Oh my god it looks great, we need one in Orlando,’” Parker told CL. “Honestly, I don’t think they care how it looks just the fact that they got it executed. And got it executed without a permit so now this brings us into vandalism territory.”

So what happens next? Do the Community Patriots get served for vandalizing city property?

Will the city recruit volunteers or use taxpayer money to cover the mural? Or worse, does Tampa embrace the mural and allow it possibly interfere with traffic flow and be an eyesore for the city of Tampa, and the rest of the world thanks to social media?

“Art comes from the heart.”

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 15

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RAY ROA

Blue bollocks

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE: Painters of the unpermitted Bock the Blub mural got a pat on the back.

Illegally shutting down a street is perfectly fine, but only if you ‘Back the Blue.’

By Colin Wolf

I

t’s now abundantly clear that if you illegally shut down a street in downtown Tampa and vandalize it in praise of local law enforcement, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you shut down a street and call for police reform, you’ll be met with pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Yesterday, it was discovered that a group of “patriots” shut down a street directly in front of the downtown Tampa Police Department headquarters to create what they called “America’s first ‘Back The Blue’ mural.”

While the group did submit a permit, city spokesperson Ashley Bauman told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that that the application had not been approved.

In a Monday afternoon statement sent to CL, Mayor Jane Castor said, “Any tribute to honor their service is welcome. It’s unfortunate they didn’t see the permitting process through so that our community could participate in showing their appreciation for the brave men and women that service our residents every day.”

One of the mural organizers, Kristen Krutz, even told the Tampa Bay Times that they knew the mural didn’t have a permit, but decided to go through with it anyway because Tampa has Black Lives Matter murals “all over the city.”

“The reason why we decided to proceed without a permit is because Black Lives Matter has murals all over the city that say Black Lives Matter, and they were not permitted,” Krutz said to the paper.

The only thing is, this is not true. Tampa’s BLM murals were in fact approved by the city, and they were part of Castor’s Art on the Block program.

So, in other words, a crowd of people broke the law, and shut down a street directly in front of police headquarters to not only show support for TPD, but to protest Black Lives Matter protesters.

The fact that the mural’s creator’s are now admitting that the “art” was born out of conflict should really tell you something. If the primary reason for the mural wasn’t to support law enforcement, and instead was to counter the idea that supporting Black people is not something they can stomach, then we may have just stumbled on the perfect metaphor for the entire “Back the Blue” movement.

On one hand, a sloppy movement deserves sloppy art. The mural has been widely roasted on social media, mostly for its total inability to understand what it even says. Comedian Patton Oswalt even chimed in saying “ Are you kidding!

LOCAL NEWS

That looks great! I will always “Blrbk the Blub.”

But the most telling thing about this whole ordeal is that the Tampa Police Department has literally attacked protesters for shutting down streets and intersections.

Back on June 4, Tampa Police officers clashed with protesters, who they claimed were blocking traffic and attempting to access the highway (protesters say this is false—the state said there was "no evidence" that one Tampa protest leader arrested that day incited a riot during the June demonstration). Photos and video from that day show TPD firing pepper spray and rubber bullets. TPD also justified a violent arrest of a minor, because she was “wielding an umbrella.”

There’s also that time on June 27, when a protester was hit by a car in South Tampa, and then actually arrested

by TPD. Then, of course, there’s July 4, when a group of roughly 100 protesters marched down Dale Mabry, temporarily shutting down traffic. The Tampa Police Department said they targeted “organizers and leaders of the protest,” after several warnings to disperse. But a video that surfaced a couple weeks later shows officers violently attacking protesters without provocation.

These are just a few examples of the TPD’s seemingly endless stream of accusations of excessive force, specifically against Black Lives Matter demonstrators and specifically aimed at protesters illegally shutting down streets.

CL asked the mayor’s office about protesters’ concerns regarding the treatment of the Back

the Blue mural crew, and we also asked about what happens to the mural now, especially since many have pointed out that it probably violates mural requirements in the way that it covers traffic markings.

Some have even suggested that the act of stopping traffic to paint an unpermitted mural could be criminal mischief (806.13. Criminal mischief—”3. If the damage is $1,000 or greater, or if there is interruption or impairment of a business operation or public communication, transportation, supply of water, gas or power, or other public service which costs $1,000 or more in labor and supplies to restore, it is a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.”) We also asked Castor if charges will be pursued, and we’ll update this post if Castor’s office returns our email.

However, at this point, it’s not hard to understand that when a large crowd of “Back the Blue” supporters illegally shut down a street directly in front of a building with more cops per square inch than anywhere else in the city, that they could do so without question or confrontation.

So, what would happen if Black Lives Matter protesters did the same thing? Unfortunately, we already know the answer.

We also already know that Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan is a liar, but this is worse.

Now we know that the rule of law only applies to people he doesn’t like. Some get rubber bullets and pepper spray, others get tweets saying “thanks for the support.”

“Some get rubber bullets, others get tweets saying ‘thanks for the support.’”

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Fear not

Officials warn of confusing vote-by-mail applications, sometimes containing names of children and pets.

By Christopher Cann Pasco County Senior Deputy of Voter Services Tami Bentley told CL that there is a noticeably increased workload that can be attributed back to the inadequacies of the applications, which only add to the mound built up by the coronavirus. Both Corley and Bentley suggested that the commercial data is the probable source of the mailing’s inaccuracies. Corley said that the nonprofit has previously blamed constituents for the names of pets and children appearing on their pre-filled applications mail by citing magazine subscriptions.

Gardner refuted this by reiterating that her organization uses the official Florida voter file—which is a public record under Florida law—to find the names and addresses where the pre-filled vote-by-mail applications are sent.

“We use the most current voter file that we can get our hands on,” she said. “If we are sending this to people who are on the official voter file, that they say are in error, then the error began with the voter file.”

Pasco is not the only Florida County to be flooded with complaints about the pre-filled mailings. In a two-page letter dated April 7 to Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee—which Corley and 34 of Florida’s 67 Supervisors of Elections signed—county representatives ask Lee and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to take a firm public stand condemning the nonprofits’ “malign activity.”

“We suspect that you [Lee] are familiar with and are hopefully as distressed as Supervisors about the VPC/CVI scam mailers periodically hectoring Floridians,” the letter read. “Supervisors have addressed this issue individually, but in light of the present circumstance, we fear that this latest round will lead to substantial voter confusion and therefore are asking your assistance.”

The danger of the mailings comes from the ongoing erosion of voter trust, according to Corley.

“It makes me angry; it makes us [Corley and Bentley] angry for the voter because they deserve better,” he said. Gardner said Coley should welcome the work of her organizations.

“We are helping him do what he should be doing, which is making sure more and more people in Pasco County have the opportunity to vote in a healthy and safe way,” she said.

Gardner added that her organizations have generated 300,000 vote-by-mail applications in Florida for the current election cycle alone.

ELECTION

ADOBE

T

he Pasco County Supervisor of Elections office is flooded with complaints about prefilled vote-by-mail applications, many of which feature the names of house pets, children and the deceased. The mailings arrive at people’s homes pre-filled, often with the recipient’s full name, date of birth and address already typed onto the form. When the letters feature misspellings or go to someone that is underage, dead or has already voted, this can elicit anger and fear in residents concerned that their information has been compromised, according to Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley.

“While it’s amusing to reference that Fluffy the dog got a pre-filled ballot, it’s not funny when a voter whose husband or wife passed away or whose child committed suicide—I have had two of those calls—gets one,” Corley told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. The applications hail from two sister nonprofit organizations—the Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center.

Both are headquartered in Washington D.C. and were founded in 2003 by Page Gardner.

The goal of these organizations, they say, is to help people register to vote. The two organizations use commercial and public data to identify people who are eligible to vote but who need to register, according to its website.

Gardner told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay there are two mailings: a pre-filled voter registration application and a pre-filled vote-by-mail application. The vote by-mail-application only uses the official Florida voter list since it looks for registered voters, who have yet to cast a ballot. On the other hand, the voter registration application attempts to find people who are of voting age but have not yet registered, which Gardner admits can lead to mistakes because there is no official list of unregistered voters forcing the use of commercial data.

Garder said that Corley is being dishonest by taking a small number of anecdotes to paint her organizations in a bad light.

“We know our error rate and it is very, very small. What he [Corley] is trying to do is discredit by metaphor,” Gardner said.

This reporter received one of the mailed applications—with all of his information correct—which is supposed to be completed and mailed to the Pasco Supervisor of Elections via a pre-addressed envelope included in the mailer (see it online via cltampa.com/news).

STILL SAFE? Pasco voters have some questions about their mail.

Additionally, she said in the last six weeks, their mailers have assisted 10,000 to complete voteby-mail applications in Pasco County.

According to her, the data is collected by tracking barcodes on the pre-addressed envelope included in each application.

In a Friday press release addressing the complaints against the Center for Voting Information, Gardner said Corley should be ashamed of himself for not encouraging all efforts to get Floridians to safely vote by mail during a pandemic while sowing confusion, wasting taxpayer money and scaring the public.

For people who receive mail from these organizations in Pasco County, Bentley recommends that they check to see if their registration is in good standing through Pasco County’s Supervisor of Elections website, which links to the statewide system.

With increased anxiety around large crowds amid surges of coronavirus cases, mail-in-ballots

are rising in popularity. As of Monday, more than 3 million vote-by-mail ballots have been requested in Florida and 700,000 completed ballots have been returned, according to a report by the Florida Department of Elections.

Further, misinformation surrounding voteby-mail ballots continue to occur at the highest levels of government.

Last Thursday President Donald Trump made the false claim that mail-in-ballots lead to inaccurate elections before suggesting a delay of the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” the tweet read.

“It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

“[Corley] is trying to discredit by metaphor.”

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 19

How to steal an election

Our system wasn’t designed for someone like Donald Trump.

By Jeffrey C. Billman

T

here are four plausible interpretations of Donald Trump’s suggestion that we delay the November election over the supposed threat of mail-in voting fraud.

1) He’s an idiot who impulsively farts out whatever thought enters his brain.

2) He was trolling.

3) He was trying to distract from the abysmal economic data that had just been released.

4) He wants to delegitimize an election he’s likely to lose.

These are nonexclusive, of course, and each probably has some degree of merit. But the last is by far the most important, and the most dangerous. Trump is hardly a Machiavellian tactician, but if the stars align just right, such a pernicious effort could not just cause a Bush-Gore redux but create a constitutional crisis unlike anything the country has seen since 1876.

Indeed, Trump’s attacks on the election’s integrity, combined with the moral rot that has seized his party, could even present a path for the president to cling to power despite being defeated in November.

Certainly, this isn’t the most likely scenario.

But it’s not impossible, either. The stage is being set, and if you put it past Trump and his cronies to try, you haven’t been paying attention.

Let’s begin with the basics: As much as Trump pretends otherwise, voting by mail is the same as absentee voting. And as much as Trump bellows, voting fraud is exceedingly rare, mail-voting fraud is rarer, and conducting a national mail-voting fraud scheme is basically impossible. Five states already use the mail as their primary voting method; in 2018, nearly a quarter of all ballots were cast by mail.

Voting by mail only became controversial during the pandemic, as voting-rights advocates sought its expansion as an alternative to forcing people to stand in long, COVID-19-friendly lines on Election Day. (See Wisconsin, 2020.) But Republicans have countered that more absentee voting will hurt their chances by, well, increasing turnout, which, as Georgia’s House speaker explained, “will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives.” (Seriously.)

There’s no evidence this assumption is correct, by the way, but it’s become an article of faith nonetheless. And the more Trump inveighs against voting by mail, the more it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A poll last week from Emerson College showed that, among those who plan to vote in person, Trump is winning 65–32. Among those who plan to vote by mail,

however, Joe Biden is up 76–20.

There’s another, more insidious self-fulfilling prophecy at work, too. While Trump insists that voting by mail will be disastrous, his postmaster general is making sure that happens. “Costsaving” measures initiated by Louis DeJoy, the Trump mega donor who leads the U.S. Postal Service, have led to a massive slowdown in mail delivery that could have huge ramifications for the election.

In 34 states—including most swing states—ballots not received by Election Day are discarded. In the other 16, ballots postmarked on or before Election Day can be received later, though many states leave little room for error. Texas, for instance, requires ballots to come in by 5 p.m. the day after the election.

So if the mail gets backed up in early November, hundreds of thousands or even millions of voters could have their ballots invalidated, tipping crucial states into Trump’s column.

Of course, Biden’s camp would sue; chances are, a federal court would order the ballots counted.

Here’s another wrinkle. Because many states are unaccustomed to processing a deluge of mailin ballots quickly, if there’s anything short of a blowout, we’ll probably go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won. Trump might look like he’s pulled off another shocking upset—until the count of absentee ballots pushes Biden over the top days or even a week or two later.

What follows would make the Brooks Brothers riot of 2000 look like a day at the beach.

Trump, his supporters, and media allies would claim fraud. He’d sue to get mail-in ballots thrown out and block states from certifying electors. William Barr’s Department of Justice would announce a transparently bogus “investigation” intended to support the boss’s baseless allegations. Protests and counter protests would rage, giving Trump an excuse to deploy his paramilitary goons.

By law, Congress has to accept electors properly certified by states before the so-called safe harbor date in mid-December, though (theoretically) not necessarily after. But states can’t certify their electors so long as legal battles persist. Indeed, the Supreme Court blocked Florida’s manual recount in 2000 by (dubiously) arguing that it would extend beyond the safe-harbor date and thus possibly disenfranchise all Florida voters. Would an even more Republican Supreme Court foreclose Trump’s challenges this year on those same grounds?

Put another way: Will the fate of the republic

A Tam with in a B boy— news mugs

20 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

JOYCE N. BOGHOSIAN

INFORMED DISSENT

RED SCARE: There’s a path for Trump to cling to power despite losing in November. hinge on a sickly 87-year-old surviving until January and John Roberts not wanting an act of anti-democratic partisanship to be the first line of his obituary?

Meanwhile, at Trump’s urging, Republican legislators in battlegrounds Biden won—say, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—would likely allege fraud in their states, as well, and submit dueling slates of Trump electors to Congress.

The law tasks Congress with adjudicating Electoral College disputes on Jan. 6, but it’s ambiguous on what happens if the House and Senate disagree. If some states’ electors haven’t been certified and no candidate garners a majority, the House of Representatives decides the next president, with each state’s delegation getting one vote—California the same as Wyoming—an

arrangement that favors Trump.

Should Biden win by seven or eight points, the hand wringing over Trump defying the voters will probably come to naught. But if Trump refuses to concede or turn over power, and if his supporters conclude that his loss was fraudulent, we’ll find ourselves in menacingly uncharted waters.

If Trump’s presidency has shown nothing else, it’s that our institutions are ill-equipped to beat back even clumsy authoritarianism.

And whatever the result, the United States will be a weaker nation when it’s over.

Get Informed Dissent delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at billman.substack. com. Get it—and more Billaman—in your social via @jeffreybillman.

“If you put it past Trump and his cronies to try, you haven’t been paying attention.”

Shit Happened FRIDAY 31

In Tampa, the first of two weekends featuring drivethru fair food from Tampa’s Florida State Fairgrounds kicks off. Because there’s nothing better than a car that smells like corn dogs, lemonade and shame.

MONDAY 03

TUESDAY 04 FRIENDS OF STRAYS

A Tampa teen is picked up and charged with hacking high-profile Twitter accounts in a Bitcoin scam. He’s technically a Florida boy—not a Florida man—but that didn’t stop newspapers everywhere from running his mugshot.

Actor, former WWE star and University of Miami football alum Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced that he and a group of investment partners have purchased the XFL for $15 million, the league confirmed in a statement. Vipers fans spread throughout the seats at RayJay could mean the return of live sports, right?

XFL

In a second-quarter update, Publix said the company made $2.5 billion more in sales so far this year, due to COVID-19; sales for the six months ending in June were $22.6 billion, an 18.9% increase from $19 billion in 2019. No word on how much of that was re-routed to the migrant families picking the produce sold at the grocer each day.

Super Bowl champ Logan Ryan adopted four kittens for St. Pete’s Friends of Strays—their names are Apple Jack, Cocoa Puff, Lucky Charm and Fruity Pebble. And you said CL only writes about cops anymore.

Shit, bullshit, all of it, via cltampa.com/news.

r.

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 21

22 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

days of tacos

drink specials + more at your favorite local restaurants tampabaytacotakeover.com cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 23

24 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

CASA SANTO STEFANO

RESTAURANTS

RECIPES

DINING GUIDES

Hellogoodbye

FACTORY FOOD: CRG is bringing its new Casa Santo Stefano to Ybor’s former Ferlita Macaroni Factory window is slinging more than a dozen flavors of the best-selling flavors including Brambleberry Crisp and Brown Butter Almond Brittle. 615 Channelside Dr., Tampa. jenis.com

The pandemic giveth and the pandemic taketh away.

By Jenna Rimensnyder

I

t’s been over three months since the initial shutdowns of restaurants and bars. While some concepts are struggling to stay open and abide by CDC regulations, others were itching to make a debut. Four Stacks Brewing on the other hand, had to shut down a location, and it could be a foreshadowing of closures to come from breweries throughout the state. Here’s what’s new, coming and leaving the Tampa Bay food scene.

OPENINGS Doormét Gourmet Café Tampa-based Doormét (think gourmet to your door) has been specializing in home deliveries for the last 11 years. Now, the restaurant has branched out into the ‘Burg, and debuted its second location in the former Amigos Tortilla Bar space. 681 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. doormet.com

Esposito’s Italian Restaurant Tampa Bay is bumping with Italian eats. Esposito’s offers up all dishes from land and sea, while also dedicating a large portion of the menu to Grandma Esposito’s classic dishes like spaghetti and meatballs. 14306 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., Tampa. espositositaliantampa. com Fo’ Cheezy Celebrity chef and Food Network contestant, Robert Hesse, has launched his full-service brick and mortar of his specialty grilled cheese food truck. 6305 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach. focheezy.com Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams The ice cream shop with a cult following opened its first Florida location at Sparkman Wharf. The walk-up

COMING SOON Casa Santo Stefano The Columbia Restaurant Group is opening Casa Santo Stefano in the former space of the Ferlita Macaroni Factory.

Diners can expect the menu to “celebrate Ybor City’s Sicilian flavors.” The menu is inspired

by Richard Gonzmart’s memories of Sunday supper at his Sicilian best friend’s house.

More details to come when an opening date approaches. 1601 N. 22nd St., Tampa. @santostefanoTPA on Facebook Thyme + Bloom Local private chef, Joy Haskins, is on a mission to bring a marketplace and community garden to Tampa. The chef created a GoFundMe page and raised over $10k in a month.

OPENINGS & CLOSINGS

“My mission as a chef and a Black woman is to help heal and support my people by strengthening the relationship between food and community. It is critical for us to be knowledgeable of and provide ourselves with nutritional options, form healthy habits and maintain sustainable lifestyles,” the fundraising page reads. eatandsuch.com CLOSINGS Four Stacks Brewing Co. Last weekend the brewery’s second location in Riverview was forced to close for good. The brewery opened the location last August and had a short run due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This closing announcement shortly follows a recent letter from the Florida Brewers Guild to Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that an internal poll found 100 of the over-300 breweries in the guild are likely to close if all current restrictions remain for the next two weeks. The Apollo Beach location is still operating and open for curbside pickup.

5469 N. U.S. Hwy. 41, Apollo Beach. fourstacksbrewingco.com

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 25

#TheDali now open, in real life Solace. Inspiration. Reflection.

An unparalleled collection of Salvador Dalí works awaits. Visit The Dalí safely Wed-Sun 11am-6pm (until 8pm on Thu & Fri).

Advance tickets now required.

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26 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

MOVIES

THEATER

ART

CULTURE

Baby’s back

After Wagon Wheel closure, ‘Wendy’s Closet’ finds new home in downtown St. Petersburg.

By Kyla Fields

RETAIL

ADAM BOEHM

H

eaping piles of dead stock high-waisted quickly led her to a 1,700-square-foot space jeans lay next to endless racks of cowboy in downtown St. Pete, which was previously boots, single-stitch t-shirts, vintage Disney occupied by Lucky Star Salon. uniforms, and other gems from forgotten 20th “They [Wagon Wheel] were open for 55 years, century fashion trends. and I got 27 years out of it. I can’t complain,” This eclectic world of apparel is the life’s Barrett says. “This was going to be my year to work of Miami native Wendy Barrett, who is go on vacations and travel. But now I’ve locked tirelessly preparing to open her one stop-shop for myself into a 9-to-5 with this new store.” all things vintage fashion—aptly named Wendy’s Unfortunately the dozens of other vendors Closet— at 2107 Central Ave. in downtown St. who had their enterprises abruptly ended by Petersburg on August 5. If you were a regular the flea market’s closure don’t necessarily have at Pinellas Park’s Wagon Wheel Flea Market the same financial means and inventory as anytime between 1994 Barrett to open independent and its sudden closure last storefronts elsewhere. And month—then you know with flea markets a dying Wendy’s Closet exactly who Ms. Wendy is. aspect of consumer culture 2107 Central Ave., St. Petersburg After all, she had the in Tampa Bay—with Big largest vendor stall in the @wendyscloset_wagonwheel on Instagram Top, Oldsmar and now entire flea market. Her Wagon Wheel and Mustang 5,000 square-foot warehouse-like space was a Drive-In all shutting their doors within the playground for vintage diggers across Tampa last few years—opportunities for small-batch Bay and beyond. merchants and boutique shops might be “This is my child,” the yoga loving 57-year- dwindling. old tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. She refers Bailey Porter, 25, of Lucky Dog Graphics to her business as a “thrift store boutique” rather tells CL that the sudden closure of the flea than a typical resale store. “I don’t have children, market was both surprising and upsetting to but this has been my baby for the last 27 years.” her family’s business.

When Wagon Wheel Flea Market closed on “We were there for 16 years total. My dad March 15 in the wake of coronavirus concerns, grew his sign business into what it is today at Barrett had an inkling that perhaps its doors— that flea market.” Porter explains through an which had been there since 1966—might not Instagram message. “But on the positive side, reopen again. The family-run flea market my dad finally has weekends off for the first shared grounds with the Mustang Drive-In time in over 15 years, so we’ve been able to do and announced its permanent closure on June more things as a family.”

10 via a Facebook post. It also stated that all For now, Lucky Dog Graphics is operating out vendors had only two weeks to completely clear of the Porter’s home and taking custom online its grounds of merchandise. orders for signs and banners.

Barrett tells CL that vendors received Nobody knows what the Wagon Wheel basically the same correspondence as Wagon property will look like in the future, but Barrett Wheel’s Facebook statement, but as a text says she won’t be surprised if it ends up as message—a succinct statement that ended her residential real estate. life of 27 years as she knew it.

And for regulars that miss the scrappy Immediately, she started looking for a new ambiance of the flea market—like beer being home for Wendy’s Closet, scouring commercial spilled on you at 10:30 a.m., vendors smoking real estate listings throughout Pinellas County. cigarettes one foot from your face, or hearing Her experience as a property owner and landlord Hank Williams covers as you transition between

THE WHEEL GOES ‘ROUND: Wendy Barrett in her new St. Petersburg store. stalls, Wendy’s Closet will naturally retain remnants of its beloved home of 27 years—except now, the thrift store will have air conditioning, which Barrett and her employees must be thrilled about.

A large, 50-year-old sign reading “MUSTANG FLEA MARKET” sign resides on the back wall of the new Wendy’s Closet, which is almost half as big as its previous 5,000 square-foot space.

Signs reading “BEER” and “CORNDOGS” that were advertised at Wagon Wheel’s many food stands found their new home on the walls above Barrett’s racks of shirts and cowboy boots.

Even the flea market’s trash cans, 50 gallon plastic barrels, will be repurposed into shoe holders where Barrett’s customers can dig through for some new-to-them kicks. Although shoppers might miss the loosely-priced items and relaxed nature of the flea market, Barrett sees this opportunity as a huge step forward for Wendy’s Closet.

“I love St. Petersburg; it’s very exciting,” Barrett says with a smile. “I went from rats and no air conditioning to a spot on Central Avenue.”

Although the unique retail experience of the flea market cannot fully be captured in any

other way, Barrett’s balance of Wagon Wheel’s old-school charm, her hand-picked vintage collection, and her wide-smiled charisma will nonetheless appeal to the new customer base of downtown St. Pete’s window shoppers and tourists.

Not even the sweeping gentrification of downtown St. Pete which pushes out locally-owned businesses—similar to her own—intimidates her in the slightest.

Along with the beloved air conditioning that Barrett continues to rave about, shoppers will be welcomed with masks (if they don’t have their own), hand sanitizer, and no-contact temperature checks when her store opens. A non-coronavirus related service that she offers year-round is fashion advice—she doesn’t just sell the clothes, she’ll make sure you know how to wear them.

She boasts about her reputation of being welcoming, friendly, and helpful—and rightfully so. Barrett might not remember your name, but she’ll treat you like family.

“I recognize everyone’s face, but I’m terrible with names,” Wendy says with a laugh while organizing a pile of women’s jeans. “I think my head is too full of 70s lyrics.”

“I went from rats and no air conditioning to a spot on Central.”

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 27

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28 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

Rat’s alley

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, 2020.

By Peter Meinke

A

few days ago I got a note from Ray Roa, Editor-In-Chief of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, saying, “Thoughts on restarting PN?” My first thought was, “Is this a full sentence?” and then “PN?” I knew it wasn’t “Peanuts,” but my mind took a couple of hops before remembering I used to write a meandering biweekly column. Sorry to say, this supposèd mind has been pretty dormant since then, as if it were under house arrest. On the other hand, we are under house arrest, and I actually haven’t anything to do: This could help fill these landlocked hours. What am I thinking about these days?

To start with, at 87 I have a decent chance of dying from Covid-19 under the reign of Donald Trump: a double whammy— n a s t y disease a nd

mangling of COVID-19, we’ll probably drop lower. Regarding Liberty, our Law & Order president is proud that we’re the no. 1 incarcerator in the world, with more than double the number of prisoners than no. 2 Russia. And as for our last “right,” we’re ranked 18th on the national Happiness scale, and it’s clearly becoming much harder to pursue it: millions of Americans are trapped in poverty, surrounded by violence, poisoned by racism, prone to diseases, suicide, and depression. T.S. Eliot foresaw this in “The Wasteland”: I think we are in rat’s alley / Where the dead men lost their bones.

Which leads to this week’s poem.

I’m hoping my next one will be peppier. Stay well.

Nightcap in 2020 In old bodies the mind’s a sick mouse nibbling the dry rind of resentment a shinbone of pain and the bitter acorns

malignant president, who likes to trumpet things like “the virus is going to disappear, it’s like a miracle—it will disappear”; which is what we’ve been hoping about him, though by now they seem linked together like mudballs.

My second idea is that despite the pandemic a n d Trump, Jeanne and I are OK, meaning we’re not sick or in debt. On the other hand, our country’s sicker and more in debt than we’ve ever seen it, and we’re old enough to remember polio and the Great Depression.

Our daily headlines turn us towards our fellow Americans, taught to expect “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” as we relearned recently from watching “Hamilton” the brilliant all-black production being shown, a bit ironically, on the Disney channel.

Well, as to Life, America ranks 46th in the world in Life Expectancy; with Trump’s

JEANNE MEINKE

POET’S NOTEBOOK

scattered as our daily grind We thought we’d never get this blind with our vaunted wisdom but find it’s just a slick trick a thick foam in our old bodies darkling the light Who designed this candlewick neither kind nor logical as we postpone peace sipping our nightcaps alone like attic mice sniffing the brine of our own bodies

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ASHLEY DIEUDONNE

REVIEWS

PROFILES

MUSIC WEEK

Stay high

A Tampa hip-hop legend wants to introduce the world to ‘Illsboro’ county.

By Ray Roa

I

f you ask Tampa Bay hip-hop’s most devoted artists, emcees and fans, you’d be hard pressed to find someone more widely recognized, respected and revered than James Sandman.

And he’s earned every ounce of the admiration.

In comments to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Gat$—a young Tampa rapper whose rocked west and east coast stages as part of the Florida-born Rolling Loud Music Festival—called Sandman someone “who’s created pathways for new voices and perspectives in Tampa and abroad before I was big enough to pick up a mic.”

Sandman, 49, has been playing local rap records on the radio for the last 29 years. He started at the University of South Florida’s WBUL in 1992 where he used to walk into voicemails left by members of the then fledgling Wu-Tang Clan, which was looking for spins.

Sandman was most recently at 95.7-FM The Beat where he spent 15 years (and countless Sundays playing exclusively local music as part of his “Future Flavors” segment). That was until January when he became one of almost 900 employees laid off in a move iHeartMedia called a “new organizational structure” and “technology transformation,” which aimed to modernize the company (and by transformation, we guess iHeart meant trading humans for machines).

Throughout it all, DJ Sandman had one mission: to share the music he loves with the community. And while home will always be Tampa, Sandman’s journey has taken him across the globe (he toured the European club and festival circuit) and to countless stages in Tampa Bay where he’s shared the turntables with countless legends like Grandmaster Flash, Tampa’s own Charlie Chase, Talib Kweli, Nas, KRS ONE, DJ Premier, Raekown, Wu-Tang and more.

“There was definitely sadness,” Sandman told CL about the layoff. He always wanted to be on the radio, but being on the air in your hometown took it to another level. Having that just pulled out of your life with a phone call where someone basically says, “We don’t need you anymore. You’re done. Thank you” was jarring.

“Being able to talk to the people every day,” Sandman added, “was definitely something I was

gonna miss by not being on the air every day.”

But Sandman, as he’s been doing for three decades, kept it positive. In his mind—and the the mouths of his friends, family and community that lifted him up after he lost the radio gig—it was him and the work he did that made the radio great. And it turns out someone was still looking for Sandman out there anyway.

Shortly after the layoff, Sandman (who recently landed a gig mixing twice a month remotely on a different 95.7 The Beat, KPAT in California) was approached by Jorge Brea, Founder and CEO of Symphonic Distribution, a global digital music services company based in downtown Tampa, which has landed on Billboard’s independent music “Power Players” list multiple times. Brea, like many others in the Bay area, is a Sandman fan, and he wanted to know if the DJ might be interested in partnering on a local label that could give artists, mostly locals, not just digital distribution but the natural promotion Sandman’s been behind for his entire career.

Their visions aligned, and within a few weeks the framework for Illsboro was born. Sandman said the imprint, which launches this week, will deal in hip-hop, but also in soul and R&B, reggae and Afro-beat.

“Concentrating mostly on hip-hop, but all of those all of those, there’s no discrimination.

I love all of those genres of music,” Sandman explained. His love of local music—and not just Illsboro artists—will be on display in a new “Future Flavors”-esque “Next Up” program, but it will really shine in the label’s catalog.

The first release will be a new single from once Tampa-based emcee Dynasty. After that will be one from old-school Tampa rapper, OG Bobby Wolf (who pressed and distro’d a 12-inch single with Sandman in the early 2000s). New music from St. Petersburg rapper Might Jai is on tap along with more new songs from Funkghost (of Tap, Ghost and Phobia fame) plus the return of Tampa underground scene champs The Rukus. Dynasty, who’s now in Los Angeles, has appeared on tracks with DJ Premier, and she took Sandman

“I’m drawn to artists that put their life into their music.”

RE-ENTER SANDMAN: After a brutal iHeart layoff, DJ Sandman is back with a new label. on those aforementioned European tours. She considers her DJ to be hip-hop royalty.

“When it comes to the culture he’s a DJ, teacher, supporter and leader and he has done so much in and for the Tampa Bay hip hop/ urban music scene,” she told CL. “He is one of the few using their reach to further the culture and genuinely help artists on their paths.

From bringing legends to the city and creating opportunities for people to engage with them to giving airplay to local artists on major radio, he is THAT guy.

I’m honored to call him my DJ and to have traveled internationally with him over the years.”

Thousands of songs come out daily, and while the digital revolution means anyone can pay a fee to DIY release their music to fans across the globe, there’s still that element of having to wade through the web of influencers, record pools and DJs who play the records not just on their shows but in the clubs, too (if and when they ever open again). That’s where Sandman’s

LOCAL MUSIC

30 years in the business come into play; all he’s ever wanted to do is show others the music from his hometown that made him feel happy.

“When it comes to songs, I’m drawn to artists that put their life into their music. They tell their stories, their experiences through music—and as a DJ I love to see the way some records make people gravitate towards the music,” Sandman, who’s never made a big deal about the fact that he’s never once drank or smoked, explained. “It is exciting and fascinating. It’s kind of like a high. It’s my vice. Music just gives me a feeling that I would think that drinking and smoking and gives to other people.”

Sandman may have felt low after that brutal iHeart layoff, but he—and the community he’s surrounded himself with—kept his spirits high. At a time when we could all use a boost, it looks like Sandman found his. So he’s naturally using it to lift everyone up along with him.

Read more about Illsboro in a full Q&A posted to cltampa.com/music.

cltampa.com | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | 31

32 | AUGUST 6-12, 2020 | cltampa.com

Leo

The lion.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): At times in our lives, it’s impractical to be innocent and curious and blank and receptive. So many tasks require us to be knowledgeable and self-assured and forceful and in control. But according to my astrological analysis, the coming weeks will be a time when you will benefit from the former state of mind: cultivating what Zen Buddhists call “beginner’s mind.” The Chinese refer to it as “chūxūn”, or the mind of a novice. The Koreans call it the “eee mok oh?” approach, translated as “What is this?”

Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield defines it as the “don’t-know mind.” During this upcoming phase, I invite you to enjoy the feeling of being at peace with all that’s mysterious and beyond your understanding.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Author Anne Lamott wrote that, and now I’m conveying it to you—just in time for the Unplug-Yourself Phase of your astrological cycle. Any glitches or snafus you may be dealing with right now aren’t as serious as you might imagine. The biggest problem seems to be the messy congestion that has accumulated over time in your links to sources that usually serve you pretty well. So if you’ll simply disconnect for a while, I’m betting that clarity and grace will be restored when y o u

to you? If so, the perfect moment has arrived.

Have you been wondering when you would get a ripe opportunity to express and highlight the most interesting truths about yourself?

If so, that opportunity is available.

Washington. “When you shine bright, some won’t enjoy the shadow you cast,” says rapper and activist Talib Kweli. You may have to deal with reactions like those in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. If you do, I suggest that you don’t take it personally. Your SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. job is to be your radi21): “I learned to make ant, generous self—and

By Rob Brezsny my mind large, as the not worry about whether universe is large, so that there is room for par- anyone has the personal power necessary to adoxes,” writes Scorpio author Maxine Hong handle your radiant, generous self. The good Kingston. That would be an excellent task for news is that I suspect you will stimulate plenty you to work on in the coming weeks. Here are of positive responses that will more than counyour formulas for success: 1. The more you terbalance the challenging ones. expand your imagination, the better you’ll understand the big picture of your present sit- CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn occultuation—and the more progress you will make ist Peter J. Carroll tells us, “Some have sought toward creating the most interesting possible to avoid suffering by avoiding desire. Thus they future. 2. The more comfortable you are about have only small desires and small sufferings.” In dwelling in the midst of paradoxes, the more all of the zodiac, you Capricorns are among the likely it is that you will generate vigorous deci- least likely to be like that. One of your potential sions that serve both your own needs and the strengths is the inclination to cultivate robust needs of your allies. desires that are rooted in a quest for rich experience. Yes, that sometimes means you must SAGITTARIUS (Nov. deal with more strenuous ordeals than 22-Dec. 21): “Some other people. But I think it’s a wise people will never trade-off. In any case, my dear, like you you’re now in a phase of your because cycle when you should take y o u r inventory of your yearnings.

If you find there are some that are too timid or meager, I invite you to either drop them or pump them up.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The people who live in the town of Bazoule, Burkina Faso regard the local crocodiles as sacred.

They live and work amidst the 100+ creatures, co-existing peacefully. Kids play within a few feet of them, never worrying about safety.

I’d love to see you come to similar arrangements with untamed influences and strong characters in your own life, Aquarius. You don’t necessarily have to treat them as sacred, but I do encourage you to increase your empathy and respect for them.

reconnect.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Have you been saving any of your tricks for later?

If so, later has arrived. Have you been postponing f lourishes and climaxes until the time was right? If so, the coming days will be as right a time as there can be. Have you been waiting and waiting for the perfect moment before making use of favors that life owes you and promises that were made

spirit i r r it a t e s their demons,” says actor and director Denzel

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your body naturally produces at least one quart of mucus every day.

You might not be aware of it, because much of it glides down your throat. Although you may regard this snot as gross, it’s quite healthy. It contains antibodies and enzymes that kill harmful bacteria and viruses. I propose we regard mucus as your prime metaphor in the coming weeks. Be on the alert for influences and ideas that might empower you even if they’re less than beautiful and pleasing.

Make connections with helpful influences

even if they’re not sublimely attractive.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In her book “Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones,” Stephanie Rose Bird reports that among early African Americans, there were specialists who spoke the language of trees. These patient magicians developed intimate relationships with individual trees, learning their moods and rhythms, and even exchanging non-verbal information with them.

Trees imparted wisdom about herbal cures, weather patterns, and ecologically sound strategies. Until recently, many scientists might have dismissed this lore as delusion. But in his 2016 book “The Hidden Life of Trees,” forester Peter Wohlleben offers evidence that trees have social lives and do indeed have the power to converse.

I’ve always said that you Aries folks have great potential to conduct meaningful dialogs with animals and trees. And now happens to be a perfect time for you to seek such invigorating pleasures.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Joanne Harris writes, “The right circumstances sometimes happen of their own accord, slyly, without fanfare, without warning. The magic of everyday things.” I think that’s an apt oracle for you to embrace during the coming weeks. In my opinion, life will be conspiring to make you feel at home in the world. You will have an excellent opportunity to get your personal rhythm into close alignment with the rhythm of creation. And so you may achieve a version of what mythologist Joseph Campbell called “the goal of life”: “to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Author Gloria Anzaldúa writes, “I am an act of kneading, of uniting and joining.” She adds that in this process, she has become “a creature that questions the definitions of light and dark and gives them new meanings.” I would love for you to engage in similar work right now, Gemini. Life will be on your side—bringing you lucky breaks and stellar insights—if you undertake the heroic work of reformulating the meanings of “light” and “dark”—and then reshaping the way you embody those primal forces.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Pleasure is one of the most important things in life, as important as food or drink,” wrote Cancerian author Irving Stone. I would love for you to heed that counsel, my fellow Crabs. What he says is always true, but it will be extraordinarily meaningful for you to take to heart during the coming weeks. Here’s how you could begin: Make a list of seven experiences that bring you joy, bliss, delight, fun, amusement, and gratification. Then make a vow—even write an oath on a piece of paper—to increase the frequency and intensity of those experiences.

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“Florida’s #1 Romance Headquarters” “Southwest Florida’s LARGEST Novelty Selection”

Stating the obvious

By Dan Savage

I’m a gay guy who’s involved with a guy I met a few months before COVID-19 took off. He’s a great guy, smart, funny, hot, healthy and easy to be around. It started as a hookup, but we have chemistry on several levels and, without either of us having to say it, we started seeing each other regularly. We both live alone and decided to be exclusive due to the pandemic. I honestly don’t know what we’re doing here. It’s some combination of friends, fuck buddies, and married couple all at the same time.

I wanted to just keep a good thing going, but he just threw me a curve ball that I need help figuring out how to handle. Out of the blue he told me he held back telling me about his foot fetish.

He says he’s had very bad experiences with guys who weren’t into it. He’s been keeping it to himself and looking at stuff online. I’m pretty vanilla and not into it, but I know kinks are a thing for a lot of guys, and I’m willing to help out a good guy. I’m a longtime reader of yours, Dan, and being GGG is important to me. So I asked him to tell me what that means and what he wants to do. He wants to massage, wash and kiss my feet and suck my toes. OK, that’s not hot to me, but it’s probably doable once in a while. He thankfully doesn’t need me to do anything with his feet.

But there was more. I can’t believe I’m writing this: He asked if I would let him paint my toenails sometimes! WTF? He could barely say it, and looked kind of sick after he did. We’re both conventional cis men. Neither of us are into fem stuff. He claimed it’s not about making me femme. He says it’s just a hot thing for him.

I know there’s no explanation for why people have kinks, but do you have any ideas what this is about? I didn’t respond at all and we haven’t talked about it since. I’m not proud of that. I’m freaked out by this and not sure what to make of it. I don’t want to ask him directly if this is the price of admission because that seems too big a price to pay, and I really don’t want it to be his price. —Freaked Out Over Terrific Person’s Erotic Revelation Vibe

you aren’t supposed to have painted toenails and guys like him aren’t supposed to paint toenails, FOOTPERV, and this small transgression against gender norms makes his dick hard because it does. While it’s not always the case with all kinks, in this instance the most obvious explanation is the likeliest explanation . Moving on…

You say he’s a great guy, you say you enjoy being with him, and you say you’re a longtime reader.

So you had to know that I was gonna say this: buy some fucking nail polish already and leave it on the nightstand where he can see it and let him paint your fucking toenails.

And if you really hate it, FOOTPERV, if it freaks you out to have polished toenails—or if your masculinity is really so fragile it shatters under the weight of toenail polish—then you don’t have to do it again. But I also gotta say… as off-thewall sexual requests go… this is a small ask.

If you were claustrophobic and your boyfriend wanted to mummify you, FOOTPERV, or if he wanted to use you as a urinal and you weren’t into piss, I would totally give you a pass. Some sexual requests are big asks and the third “G” in GGG (“good, giving, and game”) has always been qualified: “game for anything—within reason.” Some sexual requests are huge asks, some prices of admission are too steep, and some desires can only be accommodated by people who share them. But this request—what your COVID-19 spouse wants to do to you—is a small ask and a small price, FOOTPERV, in no way comparable to being turned into a mummy or used as a urinal. So smoke a little pot, put your feet on the nice man’s lap, and try to take pleasure in the pleasure you’re giving.

If I sound a little impatient, FOOTPERV, I apologize. We live in a deeply sex-and-kinknegative culture, and our first reaction when a partner discloses a kink is often a knee-jerk negative reaction to the idea of kinks at all. In the moment, we can fail to distinguish between the big ask/steep price and the small ask/small price. And I hope you can see the compliment this great, smart, funny, hot guy was paying you when he asked. He felt safe enough to share something with you that other guys have judged and shamed him for. Take the compliment, buy the nail polish, pay the price.

SAVAGE LOVE

From your panicked response, FOOTPERV, you’d think this poor guy wanted to cut your toes off and masturbate while you bled out. Dude.

He just wants to paint your toenails—as prices go, that’s a very small price to pay for smart, funny, and hot.

Yeah, yeah: you’re both conventionally cis and presumably conventionally masculine. Since we’ll never know what caused him to have this particular kink—kinks really are mysteries— let’s just run with that: He thinks this is hot—or his dick thinks this is hot—because guys like

I am a 37-year-old female who, almost three years ago got out of a six-year toxic, violent relationship with a man I believe I loved. After I left him for good my life started to improve in so many ways. However, it seems that my once very healthy sexual desires have died. Ever since we broke

up I haven’t felt any sexual needs or attraction towards anybody. I honestly think there’s something wrong with me. I can’t even picture myself having intimacy again. A year ago, I went out on a couple of dates with a man younger than me, he was cute and very interested in me, but I just didn’t feel the connection. I really don’t know what to make of this situation. Any advice is profoundly appreciated. —Just Another Gal Could it be a coincidence? Besides ridding yourself of a toxic and abusive ex—and that’s harder than people who haven’t been in an abusive relationship often realize, and I’m so glad you got away from him—did something else happen three years ago that could’ve tanked your libido, JAG? Did you go on meds at the time for depression or anxiety? Could an undiagnosed medical condition that came on at roughly the same time create a libido-tanking hormonal imbalance? Did you go on a new form of birth control in anticipation of the sex you’d soon be having with other, better, nicer, hotter, kinder men?

If nothing else is going on—if you aren’t on meds for depression or anxiety, if you’ve had your hormone levels checked and they’re normal, if a new form of birth control isn’t cratering

your libido—then the most obvious and likeliest answer is probably the correct one: three years after getting out of an abusive relationship, JAG, you’re still reeling from the trauma. And the best advice is also the obvious advice: Find a sex-positive therapist or counselor who can help you work through your trauma and reclaim your sexuality. Even if you were to get your hormone levels checked or adjust your psych meds or switch to a new birth control method, I would still recommend seeing a counselor or therapist.

And even if the thought of being intimate with others causes you stress and makes you anxious, JAG, you can still explore solo sex. You don’t have to wait for the right hot young man to come along in order to reconnect with your sexuality. You can read or write some erotica, you can splurge on an expensive sex toy (have you seen the new clit-sucking vibrators?), you can watch or create porn. Really enjoying yourself may be the first step toward enjoying others again.

Contact mail@savagelove.net. Follow @ FakeDanSavage on Twitter. This week on savagelovecast.com, Mistress Velvet schools us all.

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creative loafing puzzler IF YOUR DIET 69 OK indication STARTS TODAY 72 Love god 73 Free-oxygen

by Merl Reagle 1 6 9 12 18 19 21 22 23 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 65 66 67

ACROSS 74 Green shots 78 Perignon, e.g.

79 My, in French 80 TV horse 81 Parts of hearts ... avoid this boxer! 82 Send anew 83 Shower place ... don’t read this 86 book!

Playboy No. 1 87 Not just any 88 Exxon, before Who-kicks-off decider 89 Ellington’s inits.

90 Kennel sound 91 Last place?

92 Do per diem work ... turn off this old 94 show!

Leaning type: abbr.

Less than medium 95 Old college cheer 96 Exceedingly Chew out 97 Mexican bear 99 Retina receptor Fight souvenir Lieutenant with a 101 103 lollipop Piercing tools 106 ... don’t ask 108 someone to 110 give you this!

Finishing-school 112 folks?

113 Ending of many animal adjectives 114 Family member 118 Extinct bird 120 Beer-bust buy 121 “Will you ___ valentine?”

Tests, as vests 122 Actor James 24 Down et al.

123 ... shun this actor!

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2

3

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bacteria Hormel product French soul Ankh letter Big ___, Calif.

Shortened, as a ref. work Game, in Italian ... don’t visit this place!

In an uncaring way No turn ___ Name of the garage in the comic strip Shoe Is afflicted with Signal, as an actor Lingers in the tub Chariot race venue Certain computer memory Second publication: abbr.

Go for ___ in the pool ... forget this car!

Sub or trans, e.g.: abbr.

Carpet type “Today ___ a man” De plume intro Pluck from peril A woodwind Hockey Hall of Famer WWII theater ... don’t visit these parks!

Sneeze sound Nero’s tutor ... and if someone does this, ignore him!

Item of food CEO, Editor-inChief, etc.

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124 Parallel bar perfection 125 Right angle from 116 Down 126 Eastwood’s Rawhide role, Rowdy ___

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DOWN 1 Turkish title 2 Say 3 ... don’t get caught in this!

4 Store hrs. word 5 ... avoid these negotiations!

6 "Silly me!"

7 Ugly character 8 Conductors 9 Garr-Keaton film of 1983 10 Mer contents 11 Part of PBS: abbr.

12 Just picked 13 Opens doors for 14 “Colour” ending 15 ... ignore these photos!

16 Beamed-up captain 17 Church section 19 Plant part 20 Consult again 24 Three-term N.Y.C. mayor 27 Phone limbo 33 ... don’t think about these girls!

35 Bosses of TAs 37 Uptown 39 Yes-man 41 Like Dracula by day 43 Nabokov novel 45 Like William Burroughs’s Lunch 46 Undesirables 47 Angry 49 ___ shine 51 Nikita’s cops 52 Ventilates 54 Figurative language 8

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P O T A T O

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S H T I S E RR I E OOD P I N E K E R A D S

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MA AME Y E D I S H H S E L L P EW YOU ON S U S A

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GU L C E DO L L AWA L E Y I L L D L A E S H N AME T ROM I T S T O N I R O E I GH S A L L OO L A N E T E GH G U I T A MP S E S E

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S H A K E O N E S H E A ND I ND NU Y B U AQ DU ME

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PUZZLE FANS !

For info on Merl's Sunday crossword anthologies, visit www.sunday crosswords.com.

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91 German industrial area 93 Oft-disputed French region 94 Invitation notation 95 Violin precursor (or, the start of a girl’s name) 98 “Tra” followers 100 Anti-slippage aid for a gymnast 102 Big Cartwright 104 Make amends 105 Ambiences 106 Boss Tweed caricaturist 107 “You’re the ___ love” 109 Formerly, formerly 111 After sundown, in ads 115 Blanc who voiced Bugs 116 Compass pt.

117 Before, before 119 A Bush org., once

Solution to Mind Game M O S T

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10

55 Some horses 56 Yemen’s capital 59 Able to drive, perhaps 63 Sacred Jewish text 64 Actor Cassidy et al.

65 ... steer clear of these craftspeople!

67 Fast flyers 68 Fill, as a van 69 Olympian Comaneci 70 Sydney the astrologer 71 ... don’t tour this building!

74 Ten Commandments site, today 75 ... don’t wear this!

76 Blue Angels, e.g.

77 Like some 1960s attire 80 Everglade’s kin 82 ... avoid this exclamation!

84 “Life ___ picnic” 85 Solver’s cry 86 Frozen-sculpture chippers

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