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Last year, Creative Loafing (then Weekly Planet) dared to sum up Tampa Bay in 100 bullet points with “The Must-Do List: 100 Things You Gotta Do to Be a True Resident of Tampa Bay.”
We received lots of praise for that story, but also lots of letters, emails, and questions — questions like, “Why wasn’t such-and-such on the list?” and “How could you have missed so-and-so?” and “Did you know that Must-Do Item #XX has closed down?”
So, though we know many of you have not yet checked off enough items to make it from Hermit (21-40 items) to Homeowner (41-60), let alone to True Local (100), we decided it was time to refresh the list.
And we’ve got just the right guys to do it. Brian Reed and Ted Scheinman are two complete newbies to Florida, here for a summer internship before they return for their last semester at Yale. They’ve already traveled across the country, writing about the people they’ve met and places they’ve been for something they call the American Backyard project. But they didn’t make it to Florida – till now.
Introducing our newest blog: “Must-Do II: The Hundred Things You Gotta Do When You’re New To Tampa Bay.”

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Net radio hasn’t been saved yet, but its demise won’t be Monday, according to Wired.com.

Because negotiations are under way between SoundExchange (the nonprofit offshoot of the RIAA that collects royalties from digital media), payment has been postponed until an agreement has been worked out. This gives Congress time to work on passing the Internet Radio Equality Act.

Also, the House Small Business Committee yesterday introduced H.R. 3015, which gives small webcasters a 60-day grace period before SoundExchange can send their collection agencies a’knockin.

Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez said of the bill: “There has not yet been an agreement reached that provides fair compensation to artists while allowing broadcasters to stay on the air without excessive fees.”

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The Loaf newsroom just received word of a major accident on I-275 South in St. Pete. According to the county, just before 1 p.m. today a rock hauler traveling south hit the guard rail and flipped over just past 54th Avenue N. (Exit 26). The truck burst into flames (since extinguished) and spilled 80-100 gallons of fuel onto the road. Per the press release:

“St. Petersburg Hazmat is handling the cleanup, which will include bringing a backhoe and dump truck full of dirt to the scene for absorption. During this maneuver, traffic will be restricted to one lane on the southbound side of the highway.”

That sounds like it’s going to take a few minutes, so consider this your head’s up: If you’re commuting to St. Pete from Tampa this afternoon, you might want to consider taking the Gandy Bridge or the Causeway.

Drive safe, everyone!

UPDATE: As of 4:30, Florida Highway Patrol has I-275 southbound as closed. Good luck getting home, Burgers.

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We love elections! And bullet points! Here’s a little bit of both:

• Clinton and Obama in a dead heat.

• “Some things are worth losing elections over,” says the candidate currently in fifth place.

• Ever seen 10 men run from Bush as fast as their geriatric legs will take them?

• U.S. Court of Appeals rules if Bush & Cheney can blurt out profanity over the airwaves, the F.C.C. has no right to punish broadcasters for similar offenses. Fuckin’-A right!

• War is hell. “I wish it would end already!”

• Outsourcing Morning Roundup?

• Michael Moore’s on Oprah today pimping his new flick Sicko.

• Everyone remain calm: Paris is fine. She may even have a new roommate soon.

(Thanks Dawn M. for the assist.)

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The PoHo is on vacation all this week, leaving us depressed and counting the hours until we can escape another dreary Monday. You too, huh? Let’s kill some time together with today’s Afternoon Roundup:

Debating Dems pound each other over the war in Iraq.

Congressman William Jefferson finally gets his Louisiana indictment.

The Billy Donovan drama drags on, as the Magic look at an ex Miami Heat coach and consider whether or not to seek damages from their waffling ex-future head coach.

Dr. Death speaks.

And speaking of death: the military is hard at work on an underwater gun. Al-Qaida has reportedly put the plans for their Deep Sea Alpha Terrorist Training Camp on hold.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

Techies and Early Adopters rejoice! The Apple iPhone drops on June 29.

After getting a verbal smackdown from Sarah Silverman at the MTV Movie Awards, Paris Hilton was so eager to escape the public eye that she reported to jail two days early.

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Wayne is out for the next week and the kids are running amok… 

This one’s for the dogs: The ASPCA reports that some 30K animals euthanized in Hillsborough each year could be saved if animal shelters improved a few policies.

Tyra Banks a “dork?” Doubtful. Now this guy’s got it in the bag.

Between this and the two minute bedroom “cycle,” what ever will we do with all our spare time?

Frampton comes alive at Taste of Pinellas (with proceeds to benefit All
Children’s Hospital).

Lock up your grandma! Dr. Death is a free man once again.

A real canceled TV show about a fictional struggling TV show airs its last five episodes, in which the fictional show-within-a-show is facing cancellation. To keep your head from exploding, Jay Black of TV Squad offers an explanation.

“I need a Whopper. Take me to the Burger King or I’ll shoot you in the face
with my B.B. Gun!”

Things are getting very Harry at Universal Orlando.

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“Funny article, I’ve been to Elmer’s,” writes Eric Swanson in an email that refers to my recent Bar Tab column “Car bomb backfire.” “If you want a true car bomb go to The Dirty Shame in Ybor. Richard Boom’s (former owner of The Irish Pub) new pub. The proper car bomb has the Jameson in the Guinness and the Baileys in a shot glass.

“[The photo] is Richard Boom’s 56th Birthday,” Swanson continues. “And he lined up 56 car bombs on the bar and 56 people downed them together.”

I’ve sipped Jameson at The Dirty Shame a month or so ago and plan to return for a car bomb in the near future. Cheers.

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Architect Stanley Saitowitz presented his preliminary design for the new Tampa Museum of Art today in a meeting with some of the museum’s trustees.

The mood in the room was jubilant, and rightfully so. The structure Saitowitz is proposing—subject to the approval of the entire board of trustees next week—takes part in an international conversation about the future of museum architecture. It is a world-class design for a structure in a medium-sized city.

Saitowitz’s museum would sit along the Riverwalk, flanked by the Poe Garage (to the north), a new park designed by landscape architect Thomas Balsley (to the south), and the new children’s museum (to the east).

Sure, it looks like a box, but that’s not a bad thing.

(more…)

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OK, so David Warner isn’t the only Creative Loafing staffer who doesn’t know how to read the warning signs.

Any right-minded person who had to drive my car this morning from the Tyrone Square Mall area of St. Pete to CL’s headquarters on the corner of Lemon and Howard in Tampa would have taken one look at the fuel gauge and thought, “Better gas up.”

Not me.

Not that it didn’t cross my mind. In fact, I kinda sorta (read: not at all seriously) considered adding a few gallons to the tank before deciding that I was already late enough for work and should just take my chances. Chances that I considered heavily stacked in my favor.

In my defense, my car and I have had an understanding (at least I thought we did) that a needle hovering precariously close to “E” isn’t as dire as it might seem (at least I thought it wasn’t). You see, I’ve owned my ’85 Mercury Marquis for over 11 years, and in that time, I like to think I’ve come to know her pretty well. And one of the things I’ve taken for granted is that her needle usually belies the truth about how much is left in the tank. One look at the fuel gauge and she’s nearly running on empty. Glance away, look back and voila, a comfortable breathing room has appeared.
(more…)

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Here are a couple of pics taken by CL Finance guru London Fajkus of the Weary Boys at New World Brewery in Ybor City last night. The highlight of the show, for me, was a tasty cover of the Hank Williams classic “Jambalaya,” which made the rustic courtyard feel like a Bayou juke joint.

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from Dawn Morgan:

Noelle Price was coming through town from California, as she often does, to play bars and clubs and visit her friend Lara Cerri.

Lara asked her Parson Brown bandmate Ed Lehmann if he knew of any place they all could play together. Ed made some calls and came up with New World Brewery, adding local music staples Rebekah Pulley, Cat Cheshire, and Natty Moss-Bond to a bill he lovingly called Girls with Guitars. He would like it to be the first in a series.

When the show started at 7, there was about 35 people around the courtyard. Many more straggled into the bar throughout the night.

Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fut Coat played between sets and I recommended the Framboise to all the non-beer drinking ladies (and Ed).

Conversation tidbits heard throughout the night: from singing to books to the unfairness of paying tax on tampons.

Ed’s wife, Jennifer Hollowell, is host of the ND Hour on WMNF, and a full time “cookie baking” stay-at-home mom. She used to go with her friend Bev to Orlando or Atlanta at the drop of a hat. But she’s so tired by the end of the day, Jen says she only made it out tonight because the show started so early. “Most shows don’t start until 10. I’m in bed by then.”

Cat Cheshire (pictured left with friend Jaime Jensen), originally from Reading, England, came to the States 4 years ago after meeting Joe, an American, backpacking in Thailand. Cat had been living in Cardiff, Wales where she enjoyed “loads of music clubs, art and underground stuff. A very eclectic scene.” She misses the down-to-earth Welsh people and loves their music, but finds it comparable to Tampa and St. Pete.

Alas, she hasn’t been getting out much lately due to being “busy writing very bad songs.”

Carrie Waite, techie by day and some-time photographer for CL, was out supporting friend Natty Moss-Bond. They are apart of a group of girlfriends that periodically go out. “It started with Monday night facials and turned into 30 of us going out to the Garden.”

Natty performs every Thursday night (Ladies Night) at Dave’s Aqua Lounge, along with April Maxwell, Rebekah Pulley, and female allies Meyer Baron and Crash Mitchell. “All kinds of girls will join us,” Natty said. “Sometimes poet Lori Karpay. We play acoustic, just a couple of mics plugged into the P.A.”

Despite the line up of local all-stars, Natty says not many women make it out to the weekly event. It makes her think back 20 years, when she was just beginning to play rock ‘n’ roll in high school. “There wasn’t a single girl when I started playing. It was more acceptable for them to be in the church choir or in chorus.”

But Natty confirms that it’s changed by leaps and bounds. “The amount of women that play music has increased exponentially in every genre. Things really are changing, for the first time in history we’re getting to be even.”

However, she adds that some club owners still don’t give her the time of day, but will speak with her male band mates in an instant. “You have to be really stubborn in any industry. Banker, lawyer, reporter - just to get your foot in the door.”

Still, Natty is well known for being just plain nice. She cites the early band days when club owners would try to chump change the musicians after playing a gig. The guys in her band wouldn’t stand up to owners, instead sending Natty when it was time to collect.

“How could you be mean to this face?” Natty says, eyelashes aflutter. They’d hand over the money no problem.

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