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1. Drive By Truckers (pictured) perform their Athens brand of rockin’ twang at Jannus Landing tonight.

2. Tampa Theatre’s traveling outdoor Sunset Cinema Series continues with a screening of The Wizard of Oz at Cotanchobee Park.

3. Celebrate International Museum Day by visiting any of the Bay area’s participating museums: Tampa Museum of Art, The Salvador Dalí Museum, Henry B. Plant Museum, Florida Holocaust Museum, Great Explorations Children’s Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg Museum of History, Sunken Gardens, Museum of Science and Industry, Florida Craftsmen Gallery and The Arts Center. Each offers its own special (or free) admission, gift store discounts, extended hours, and other various related events.

4. WMNF kicks off its 27th annual edition of Tropical Heatwave.

5. Katt Williams brings his raunchy comedy to the Blue Line Theatre at the St. Pete Times Forum.

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Just back from St. Petersburg City Council gathering where the first-place Tampa Bay Rays moved their proposal for a $450 million waterfront ballpark another step forward. This time it was a financing plan on how they and taxpayers will come up with that cash.

The news: The Rays aren’t looking at using tax-increment funds generated by growth in the downtown area as was previously widely discussed. They are, however, looking to continue to get tourist taxes and other city dollars now devoted to paying off the Trop. The plan calls for using $70 million that the Rays expect from the sale of the Trop to a private redeveloper

Here’s quick breakdown on the financing:

• $150 million from the Rays (presumably in the form of rental payments over 30 years)
•  $70 million from the sale of the Trop to retire that stadium’s $13 million a year debt, which currently runs through 2016
• $100 million from tourist taxes (which presumably would require county leaders extending it beyond its current sunset in 2016).
• $55 million from parking fees generated at the new ballpark.

That last figure seems the shakiest; the Rays want the city to lease it thousands of city-owned parking spaces downtown on favorable terms so the team can resell them to fans.

Download the Rays Financing Plan Handout

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I was listening to Steve Deumig on 620 The Sports Animal the other day when a Yankees fan called in. Steve started needling the guy, and it got onto the topic of which team is better, the Yankees or the Rays. Steve’s take: The Rays (of course). He even threw in a choice “the Yankees suck,” “they’re old,” etc.

But how about this hypothetical? If someone gave you 10 grand and said you had to bet it on whether the Yankees or Rays would have a better record at the end of the season, where would you put your money? I’m guessing that Deumig would say the Rays, but he’s an experienced gambler, and I wonder if he had the opportunity to win some free money, whether he’d put it down on the Yankees. Yeah … he would.

This little musing does not come from a Yankee fan, not by any means. Inasmuch as I’m a baseball fan at all, I like the Rays. And I think that, right now, the Rays are indeed a better team than the Yanks. As far as putting money down, though, the pin-stripers from the Big Apple have too much history and experience. I’d have to bet on New York to have a better record at season’s end.

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1. The second edition of the Tampa Bay Wine and Food Festival kicks off tonight at Mahaffey Theater with performances by jazzy singer/songwriter Simone (at right) – daughter of Nina Simone – and Brazilian music star Sergio Mendes.

2. See what local architects, interior designers and students can do using food as design materials in the 10th Annual IIDA Incredible Edible Competition.

3. Salvador Dalí Museum hosts a public screening of surreal films created by Pinellas County high school students for its “Daliwood Student Surrealist Video Competition.”

4. Find out what Bay area choreographers have up their sleeves during NewGrounds 2008’s “Show and Tell” presentation.

5. Florida author/journalist Jeff Klinkenberg reads from and signs copies of his new book, Pilgrim in the Land of Alligators: More Stories about Real Florida.

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1. Bryan Adams (left) isn’t coming here but if you dig his raspy croon, you can see him in Orlando tonight at B.B. King’s Blues Club, where he plays in support of his latest album, 11.

2. The Tampa Bay Sierra Club talks transportation at its monthly meeting.

3. Members of the community, local politicos and other area folks involved in or affected by the redevelopment of Tropicana Field take part in a public forum.

4. Another local screening of the heartwarming documentary, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, this one presented as part of Studio at 620’s Indy Film Café series.

5. Show Palace Dinner Theatre continues its run of the Burlesque musical comedy, Sugar Babies.

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A little more than a week after returning home from New Orleans, I’ve finally recovered enough to reflect on my experiences.  

We meander down Frenchmen Street casually seeking a place to eat. Me, my husband Phil, and our good friend Alex are three revelers among several hundred soaking up the festive atmosphere and cheerful chaos created by a citywide celebration of good times and great music. It’s the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, sometime around 11 at night, and the vibe is laid back in such a way that I hadn’t seen since my first Jazz Fest in ’05, the one before Katrina.  

People crowd the sidewalks and spill out into the streets, some standing in disorderly lines outside the range of bars and clubs, waiting to get ID’d and stamped or wristbanded, others flocking to see a many-piece brass band that has set up right at a crossroads and is playing the sort of lively, Creole-infused jazz you only hear in New Orleans. The performance has caused a traffic gridlock, the vehicles barely able to move around the crush of bodies having a joyous, spontaneous party in the street.

Everyone is having a grand old time. Even the cops seem to be in good spirits; we pass a pair who are patiently dealing with a sloppy drunk frat-looking guy. “Move along,” says one with a long suffering look and a gentle push. Frat Guy’s not catching the hint and in fact, turns around and holds out his hand, slurring to the cops, “Dudes, let’s shake it out. Can we shake it out?”  

“Keep walking,” says Sgt. Long Suffering, more sternly this time and with a forbidding look at Frat Guy’s friends, who start tugging, then dragging him and cajoling him urgently, “Let’s go, man, come on.” We slide around the scene, exchanging amused looks, and make our way a few blocks down and over to grab dinner and drinks at a little bar called Mojo’s on Decatur Street. Once we’ve fueled up, we head back to Frenchmen to see Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at d.b.a.  

*** Read the rest of this entry »

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Wubete, a fistula patient featured in A Walk to Beautiful.

1. PBS presents A Walk to Beautiful, a one-hour doc that explores the tragic lives of Ethiopian women who’ve become outcasts in their communities due to obstetric fistula, a serious childbirth injury.

2. Vote on your favorite waterfront bar or restaurant.

3. Tim Dorsey signs copies of his books – including his latest, Atomic Lobster – at the Hills Park Recreation Center in Tampa.

4. Black on Black Rhyme continues its weekly open mic and spoken word performance event.

5. Pick up a copy of the new Old 97’s album, Blame It on Gravity, released on New West Records today. Then, read the review by Music Critic Wade Tatangelo.

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The friends of Friendly Fisherman in John’s Pass are voting up a storm in our Best Waterfront Bar/ Restaurant race. Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill and Rick’s on the River are putting up a fight, too. But no fans for Oystercatchers? Cafe Dufrain? Sloppy Joe’s? Fresco’s? To vote for your favorites, scroll down or click here.

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Mmmmm … beer …

1. It’s American Craft Beer Week; celebrate at Dunedin Brewery with beer specials and a variety of other offerings.

2. Learn how to be successful and happy in today’s constantly-changing marketplace at the Tampa Bay Success Summit at Tampa Theatre.

3. More Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees head-to-head action kicks off tonight at the Trop.

4. Eat yummy Mexican fare while supporting a high school jazz ensemble at Casa Tina’s Viva La Musica Fundraiser in Dunedin.

5. The Spencer Davis Group plays Largo Cultural Center.

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1. Chicago animator Jodie Mack (pictured at left with cut-outs) hosts a premiere screening of her new stop-action animated film, Yard Work is Hard Work, at Studio at 620.

2. Sweetwater Organic Community Farm invites the public to attend its 16th annual under-the-stars fundraiser, Pesto Festo.

3. Comedian Bill Maher offers his humorous spin on American politics at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

4. Fine art teapots, the World’s Largest Coffee/Tea Break, and plenty else are presented at the Second Annual Craftsman House Invitational Teapot Show.

5. Riddle of Steel returns to rock Crowbar.

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