Blurbex

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.

Yeah, as you might have guessed, I’m a big fan of the Gonzo god. I’m also a big fan of William McKeen’s new biography Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson. Here’s an excerpt from my interview with McKeen:

McKeen’s bio smartly focuses on Thompson’s singular writing style, his mastery of invective and the lengths he went to make sense of a world gone wrong. McKeen adroitly dismantles the Raoul Duke persona exploited by uppity doodler Garry Trudeau, as well as Hollywood and Thompson himself. The book addresses the Gonzo journalist’s acts of brutality and self-destruction but keeps the emphasis on the writer and his ability to demonstrate the “power of language when used well.”

Click here to read the entire piece and for info regarding McKeen’s appearance at Inkwood Books in Tampa on Thursday. See ya there.

Cross-posted from TampaCalling.com.

In today’s St. Pete Times, political columnist Adam C. Smith says it’s time for Gov. Charlie Crist to forget about any vice presidential aspirations he might still be harboring, citing the “return $50,000 of suspicious campaign donations [to John McCain] funneled through Charlie Crist’s pal and top fundraiser, Harry Sargeant III of Boca Raton.”

Earlier today, Crist appeared on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and probably did little to boost his chances in McCain’s veep-stakes. Right out of the gate, when Blitzer asked Crist if he’d been through the vetting process for vice president, the governor said he was unable to comment. Blitzer then said, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”

After a brief, awkward pause, Crist responded, “You can take that anyway you want to.”

The balance of the interview consisted of Crist giving his support to McCain, calling him a “maverick” (where have we heard that before?) who opposed President Bush’s 2005 energy policy while Barack Obama voted for it. As he spoke, Crist looked and sounded like he was on autopilot.

When the topic of nuclear energy and Crist’s support for it came up, the guv smarmily pointed out that Blitzer’s mother is a Florida resident. It was a meaningless, patronizing reference (and one that Blitzer quickly moved past) in an otherwise Stepford Wives-like performance. Crist didn’t embarrass himself, but he also didn’t do anything to steal the limelight from Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

After Suncoast Resort announced it was closing last year, Gypsy Productions — the Bay area’s sole purveyor of gay alternative theater — found itself without a home. Gypsy Artistic Director Trevor Kellor has recently returned to the scene and stages his company’s first production in more than a year later at The Ritz in (Ga)Ybor. The play is MoisĂ©s Kaufman’s Gross Indecency: The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde, which uses trial transcripts, personal correspondence, interviews and other source materials to document Wilde’s downfall. The show runs Aug. 29-Sept. 14.