Blurbex

As of Wednesday, Aug. 20, the Blurbex blog will be folded into our new blog, The Daily Loaf.

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Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton got booed last night — in his home park. That can’t feel good. After being benched twice in the last few weeks by manager Joe Maddon for lack of hustle, Upton made a baserunning error that looked really, really bad:

He hit a sharp shot to right, then hung around the batter’s box admiring the flight of the ball, thinking it was a homerun. Then he ambled down the first base line when he realized it would stay in the park. An easy double. He jogged around first and coasted toward second base. The Angels first baseman followed behind him, took the throw from the outfield and tagged Upton just before he touched second.

Upton looked shocked. He’d been tricked. Worse, it was not a good time to appear lazy on the baseball diamond. He hung his head. All this scrutiny, he had to be thinking, I just don’t need this.

Thing is, I don’t see Upton as lazy. At least not in this case. 99 times out of a hundred, that hit turns into an easy double. The first baseman doesn’t shadow you down the line and tag you.

(more…)

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As I was driving out of my cul de sac in St. Pete, ready to brave Tropical Storm Fay and — fuck it — drive across the bridge to the CL office in Tampa, I had to make a hard right turn to avoid a downed palm branch! Phew. A few blocks later, another downed palm frond. I made it to the office and am hunkered down here for the duration. Where’s ABC Action News and Don Germaise? I want my on-camera!

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From the two school systems:

Hillsborough Schools Closed Tuesday

Tampa, Fla. – (August 18, 2008) – Due to the threat of Tropical Storm Fay and the need to open shelters, Hillsborough County Public Schools will be closed on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday has also been canceled.

The latest information available shows that the Tropical Storm is expected to bring heavy rains and strong winds to the Tampa Bay area on Tuesday.
School officials will be in constant contact with Emergency Operations Center officials monitoring the path and intensity of the storm.  A decision will be made tomorrow (Tuesday) regarding the possibility of reopening schools on Wednesday, and we will use all our communications tools and rely on local media to help get out the word.

and:

Schools, Offices Closed Due to Tropical Storm Fay

All Pinellas County public schools and district offices will be closed Tuesday, Aug. 19, due to Tropical Storm Fay. Julie M. Janssen, Ed.D., interim superintendent, made the decision Monday afternoon based on information from the Pinellas County Emergency Operations Center.

All planned activities at schools today (Monday, Aug. 18) will go on as scheduled, including back-to-school activities for parents.

Parents are urged to stay tuned for communication updates that will be available on the district website, www.pcsb.org; the district’s recorded emergency phone line, (727) 588-6424; Pinellas County Schools’ television, WDPS-TV14 (which may be found on Bright House Networks Ch. 614, Knology Ch. 14 and Verizon Ch. 46), and in media reports. There also will be Connect-ED phone messages from the district to parents with the latest information.
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This is the latest hurricane prep info from the city of Tampa:

City of Tampa Action & Information

•    City of Tampa offices will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, August 19, 2008.  This includes Parks & Recreation facilities and programs as well as the after school program.

•    Solid waste collection services including yard waste and recycling will be postponed for Tuesday, August 19.  Residents with regular Tuesday collection will be serviced on their next regularly scheduled collection day, Friday, August 22.  Tuesday recycling and yard waste collection services will be postponed until the next regularly scheduled collection on Tuesday, August 26.  All scheduled commercial collections will be delayed one day.

•    Sandbags: Residents may continue to pick up sandbags until 8 p.m. this evening.  Residents may pick up sandbags at the Himes Sports Complex, 4500 South Himes Avenue; Jackson Heights Playground, 3310 East Lake Avenue; and the solid waste facility at 4010 West Spruce Street.  Tampa residents interested in receiving sandbags must show identification verifying residence within the city limits. Valid driver’s license, utility bill or electric bill will serve as appropriate identification.

•    The Parks and Recreation Department has cancelled the Davis Islands Park Improvement Fund meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 19. At this time a new meeting date has not been scheduled.

City emergency management officials are continuing to monitor the path of Tropical Storm Fay.  Residents are encouraged to stay tuned to local media organizations for storm updates.

Residents with questions regarding Tropical Storm Fay are encouraged to call the Hillsborough County Emergency Operations Center at (813) 272-6900.

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Arguably the best culinary competition reality show, Bravo’s Top Chef has embarked on a 20-city national tour, which happens to be stopping at Ybor’s Saturday Morning Market on Sept. 20. No telling which chefs will take part (the info is noticeably absent from both the press release and the Top Chef site), but previous appearences have featured Season 5 finalist Richard Blaise (pictured at left) and Betty Fraser from Season 2. Locals are invited to come out and enjoy cooking demos, gourmet tips, and show secrets.

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The Michael Phelps story was impressive, of course — his body of work in this Olympics is mind-boggling — but for my money the most extraordinary individual achievement of these Games thus far has been Usain Bolt’s win in the 100 meters. He blew away the field, celebrated the last 10 or 15 meters and still broke the world record with a 9.69.

At 6-feet-4, 198 pounds — gargantuan for a sprinter — Bolt runs with a kind of joyful lope. In the 100-meter final, he came out of he blocks a bit behind, and at the halfway point started to put everyone in his dust. The last part of his run was pure euphoria.

If you haven’t seen the highlight, you should. I couldn’t get it on YouTube — just still shots set to music, mostly — but it is available through NBC (although you must have the right browser). I got blocked from posting it here, but this is the link.

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1. Crowbar presents a bill of alternative music, with sets by The Sleeping and Envy on the Coast, both of Long Island, New York, Asheville’s Secret Lives of Freemasons, and New Jersey duo The Gay Blades (pictured).

2. Make hurricane preparations.

3. Celebrate International Lighthouse Day with some lighthouse appreciation.

4. Week two of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games; tonight’s excitement includes the women’s trampoline final, the second night of individual event gymnastics (men’s rings and vault, women’s uneven bars), women’s beach volleyball semifinals, and several track and field competitions: the men’s steeplechase, 400m hurdles and long jump, and the women’s pole vault.

5. The Tampa Bay Rays kick off a three-night stand of home games against the Los Angeles Angels tonight at Tropicana Field.

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Atlantic Records partner and famed producer Jerry Wexler, pictured right with Dusty Springfield, helmed many of my most beloved albums. He also provided me with a cherished memory and one of my proudest journalistic accomplishments — two things for which I will always be grateful.

I knew death had been looming for years but when I saw the news online late last night it saddened me greatly. Still does. It’s not like Wexler and I were ever friends but the hours we spent together, which I recall vividly, and the kindness he showed me, made me feel like we had connected in way that rarely occurs during an interview.

Read this post in its entirety, and the Jerry Wexler interview I did in 2003, at TampaCalling.com.

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1. Leepa Rattner Museum of Art opens its 2008-09 season this Saturday with Playing a Hunch, a new exhibit of 90 images by NYC award-winning photojournalist Mel Finkelstein.

2. Indianapolis indie collective  Margo & the Nuclear So & So’s play a show at Crowbar this Sunday with Audreye Sessions of Oakland, Calif.

3. Suds lovers unite at Limey’s Pub in St. Pete for the next installment of Beer Club, a monthly Creative Loafing beer tasting event. Tonight’s featured brews: Michelob Hefeweizen, Beach Bum Blonde, Red Hook Sun Rye, and Red Hook ESB.

4. Beach Theatre continues its Friday Night Cult Flicks series with a screening of The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965.

5. Comedian Jim Gaffigan brings his “Sexy Tour” to Ruth Eckerd Hall and performs two shows on Saturday.

Pictured: “Marilyn Monroe with Arthur Miller,” Mel Finkelstein, 1957.  

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1. The Hush Sound, a Chicago indie quartet who craft blissfully saccharine pop songs marked by the throaty vocals and lively piano playing of Greta Salpeter, headlines a show at State Theater tonight. They are joined by The Cab, Steel Train and the Morning Light.
The Hush Sound; photo by Matt Wignall.

2. Comedian Jim Florentine of Crank Yankers fame (remember Special Ed and belching, blazing Bobby Fletcher?) brings his stand-up to Side Splitters Comedy Club; he performs tonight through Sunday.

3. Author William McKeen talks about and signs copies of his fantastic new book, Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson, at Inkwood Books this evening.

4. HCC-Ybor Art Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring two exceptional visual arts students: Eric Lawson and Laura Mendes. 

5. For the next installment of WMNF’s Live Jazz Series, the station welcomes Larue Nickelson, a preeminent Bay area jazz guitarist and composer.

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As you’ve no doubt read by now, the Pinellas-Pasco State State Attorney’s Office has cleared St. Petersburg police officer Terrence Nemeth in the shooting of 17-year-old Gibbs High School student Javon Dawson after the young man allegedly pointed a gun at Officer Nemeth when police arrived to break up an out-of-control graduation party.

Officer Nemeth is still on leave. Dawson’s family is calling the decision a travesty of justice. The Uhurus are making veiled threats of “consequences.” Just yesterday, after protesters descended on his office, Gov. Charlie Crist asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to do its own review of the case. But, if everything reported so far is correct, there’s probably enough evidence here, including DNA and gun residue, to show Dawson did fire a gun at the party.

But there’s an interesting aspect of the case that could have larger consequences for St. Pete in the future.

Take a look at the St. Petersburg Times’ special report on the shooting, and you’ll find a copy of Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe’s memo to St. Pete Police Chief Chuck Harmon that outlines the results of the investigation. In that memo are the names of witnesses that came forward and talked to the state attorney’s office about the shooting.

If you recall the climate surrounding the shooting in June, police and investigators had an extremely difficult time finding witnesses for the case, despite the fact that some 250 kids were present at the graduation party where Dawson was shot. This spurred all types of commentary on the no-snitching code that’s prevalent in many black communities here in Tampa Bay and across the nation.

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office finally convinced some witnesses to talk, and now, their names are splashed on the Times website for all to see. That includes any Internet-savvy gang members that investigators say Dawson was affiliated with.

I’m not sure how I feel about that.

As a rule, I always err on the side of “the more information, the better.” Sometimes revealing names and confidential information on a subject might be uncomfortable, but that’s our job as journalists.

But if I look at this from another point of view, as someone who regularly goes into communities that are hostile to fact-finding folks like police investigators and journalists, I worry this could have a negative effect on future investigations. If witnesses know their names will end up in print (or on the Web), will they still come forward when the next shooting happens? I’m not faulting the Times — I can’t say for sure if I would or wouldn’t do the same thing — but I am surprised the state attorney’s office didn’t redact any names from the report. Just two weeks ago, I was stonewalled by the SPPD for just trying to get a police report of a 2-year-old art theft. Now, a state agency has released the names of witnesses and perhaps put them in danger.

Again, I’m not passing judgement, only curious on the conversations that did (or did not) go on about the ethics of publishing these kids names.

What do you think?

(Photo Credit: Beard Papa)

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