Daily Loaf

In advance of the big CD release party for the new Have Gun, Will Travel record, Postcards from the Friendly City, Creative Loafing is giving away a free download of their new single, “Sons and Daughters of the Gilded Age” for a limited time only (See below for the link).

Show info:

Saturday, November 14th
Have Gun, Will Travel (CD Release Show)
with Special Guests: Lauris Vidal & The Whiskey Gentry
New World Brewery
1313 E. 8th Ave. Ybor City. (813) 248-4969
9 p.m. $7, 21+

Download after the jump …

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A new Melvins record. A monumental event from a band with a 25-year career that has seen them influence the likes of Nirvana and Mastodon, go through seven bass players (including Gene Simmons and Shirley Temple’s daughter) and release 24 studio albums, three on a major label (Atlantic). The Melvins are nothing if not an outfit deserving of your respect.

I discovered the band in 1992 and, like Peter Billingsley on Christmas morning, I still look forward to the day a new Melvins record comes out. Maybe my expectations were unreasonably high, but I was completely prepared to gush over this CD like Kristina the intern gushed all over The Killers last week.

The hype was in place — Chicken Switch, released last Tuesday, would feature such artists as Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Japanese noise makers Merzbow, longtime Melvins collaborator David Scott Stone and Japanese vocalist/DJ Eye Yamatsuka. They were to be given not just single tracks to remix, but access to entire albums worth of raw material, re-combining the songs into “new compositions.” This had the potential to be one of the greatest compilations ever!

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Two years ago, Creative Loafing unveiled “Project: ReCover,” in which local artists re-painted (or otherwise recovered) four of our distribution boxes. Local artists Blue Lucy curated the project and each box was modeled after one of the four elements (earth, air, fire and water). The boxes were then placed along Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. This week, we discovered that one of the two remaining boxes, the “fire” box produced by Blue Lucy (pictured below), located outside Daddy Kool at 657 Central Avenue had gone missing.

Any information succesfully leading to the “recovery” of the missing box will result in a free Bites certificate from our CL Deals store. That’s right, a $30 meal (on us) in exchange for the safe return of our beloved box. If you have any information (or the box itself), please leave a comment or e-mail us and we will arrange the drop (no questions asked).

Video from the “Project: ReCover” unveiling after the jump.

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This Monday, September 21, Creative Loafing will be hosting a political roundtable here at our office. It is free to attend and open to the public. We will be recording the event and serving light refreshments. More information below, hope to see you there!

The Patel Center for Global Solutions at USF and Creative Loafing cordially invite you to participate in

A NATIONAL DIALOGUE: AMERICA IN THE WORLD

to discuss the below issues and more!

· What are our true national interests—what are our values as we act?

· What goals should we have for the world—how do we go about achieving them?

· How do world events affect you—and how will you influence world events?

Monday, September 21
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Creative Loafing Offices
810 N. Howard Avenue, Tampa

Feel free to share this opportunity with friends & colleagues in your community. To RSVP for this FREE event, please email Bessie Skoures at bskoures@cas.usf.edu

For more information about the event, click here.

The Tampa Bay region has been selected as one of several cities across the U.S. to hold Na­tional Dialogue forums sponsored by the Fund for Peace in Washington, DC and funded by the Ford Foundation. Ideas and themes discussed at these Dialogues will be published in a national report and pre­sented at a major news conference in Washington, DC prior to the State of the Union Address in January 2010.

If you had asked me four years ago whether I’d ever be ringside at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa for a Disney on Ice show (let alone one named “Princess Classics”) I’d have laughed out loud. But last night, there I was, holding my breath in an arena full of 3 – 5 year old girls, waiting for the show to begin.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” boomed a deep voice over the P.A. as Tinkerbell skated onto the ice, setting the stage for a full night of magic by twirling a glitter-loaded wand above her head. Then, Mickey and Minnie Mouse appeared from behind the castle gates to a perfectly timed musical opening, and that’s when the real screaming began.

It was a last minute invitation (our friend Shannon had an extra ticket), but unfortunately my wife Jen had to work and couldn’t take our daughter Alchemy to the show. I, conveniently enough, had no plans whatsoever. Shannon’s daughter Violet “really wanted Alchemy to go” and Jen assured me that she would “have Alchemy’s clothes laid out for me” when I got home. This sounded easy enough. Then, Shannon promised to drive. Even better! How could I say no to an easy “cool dad” opportunity? When I arrived home, however, I discovered my first clue to what the night had in store. Laid out on the dining room table – alongside a juice box and a bag of snacks – was a flowing, blue Cinderella dress and a silver tiara.

“Shit,” I thought, “I’ve got to dress her up like a princess?”

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This year, as part of our 2009 Restaurant Week, we not only offered a $25 prix fixe menu at great Bay Area restaurants, but we also added a new “server photo contest.”

We asked everyone participating in Restaurant Week to take a photo of themselves with their menu and their server to be entered to win $500 in CL Deals gift certificates for themselves, $500 in certificates for the server and $1000 ad campaign with CL for the winning restaurant.

This morning, we drew a random number and chose the winning photo. And the winner is …

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Every day’s a summer vacation day in Tampa Bay, and on Wednesday, May 20, Creative Loafing’s Summer Guide will tell you how to make the best of the sultry months. We’ve got complete listings of what to do and where to go, from museums to camps, arts centers to amusement parks. Want something hotter? How about the top eight adult getaways? And if you just want to stay inside, get ready to vote for your favorite movies in CL’s Battle of the Summer Blockbusters.

Your summer vacation begins here: Creative Loafing’s Summer Guide.

To celebrate the release of this year’s Summer Guide, we’ll be having a party on Wednesday, May 20 from 6 – 9 p.m. at Fly Bar and Restaurant in Tampa. Music will be provided by Best of the Bay-winning DJ duo Soft Rock Renegades who will be spinning a special “Summertime Playlist” and taking requests via Twitter. Admission is free and there will be hors d’oeuvres and drink specials courtesy of Fly.

What: Creative Loafing Summer Guide Release Party
When: Wednesday, May 20, 6 – 9 p.m.
Where: Fly Bar and Restaurant, 1202 N. Franklin St. Tampa 33602.
Why: To celebrate the release of CL’s Summer Guide 2009
More: Free admission, all ages.

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Watch the CL Street Team snuggle, drink and “sausage” their way through the tailgating parties at Super Bowl XLIII.

More CL TV

This was a busy week for the Street Team!

We went to downtown St. Pete and downtown Tampa handing out Super Bowl supplements to out-of-town visitors, we hit the St. Pete Times Forum, we saw Al Roker Thursday morning at Teatro in Ybor (and even got our CLTampa.com sign on the Today Show!), we rocked out to the Pink Floyd Orchestra at the Mahaffey Theater, saw Snoop Dogg and 3 Doors Down at Bud Bowl and finally tailgated outside RayJay for Super Bowl 43.

Here are some pics from Bud Bowl to hold you over. More pics and video of Super Bowl weekend to come.

Watch the Creative Loafing Street Team endure a nighttime challenge that includes mysterious clues, creepy motorcyclists and dead camera batteries. See how they make out!

Video: CNN’s John Zarrella reports on Tampa’s J.C. Newman Cigar Co. Keeping 100 Tampa residents in jobs regardless of the bottom line.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?JSONLINK=/video/us/2008/12/26/cigar.smoke.factory.cnn

Congratulations to the winners of our Shop Local + Shop Indie contest – Christina Hillenburg and Philip Benyola. They both won over $1000 in gift certificates to locally-owned and operated businesses, simply by pledging to spend $100 within the community (and not at big box retailers). See, it’s that easy.

For more contests, visit our CL Promotions page and click on Fun & Free Stuff. 

Listen to Christina win big!

Listen to Philip take it home!

Photos from Beer Club at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. Alfie strips down to his speedo before the Legendary JCs bring the house down.

 

Events editor Leilani Polk discusses Shop Local, America Unchained, what to do over the weekend as well as this week’s cover story.

Here are some Street Team pics from this year’s Wine Rave event – ART XTC, held at the West Tampa Center for the Arts on November 22.  

And many more here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenhammill/sets/72157609810143939/

 

The new episode of SMAsh Radio (our local music podcast) is now live. Click here to listen. It features tracks from The Beauvilles, Automatic Loveletter, Rebekah Pulley, The Sheaks, Infinite Skillz, Tides of Man, a track from the vaults and more. It also showcases the sheer power of our new recording studio (pictured). Yeah, that’s right.

And don’t forget the BIG SHOW at the State Theatre tomorrow!

Jen, Alchemy and I early voted on Sunday. We stood in line for a good 3 1/2 hours. Got in line around 9:30. Doors opened at Noon. The line soon wrapped completely around the block. Actual voting took around 15 minutes.

Here are some photos from this year’s Beer Fest at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg.
Further evidence that beer is recession-proof.

Click the Image to View the Slideshow >

Send the word BEER to 50618 to receive Creative Loafing Beer Club updates via text.