Daily Loaf

If Radiohead and the Beatles had a lovechild that grew up to kick your ass and take your girlfriend, it would be Harry Dash.

Everyone can remember one moment that he/she felt alive, where that one spark fueled a true passion. My personal catalyst was an oddly-named band called Harry Dash.

Harry Dash is a local New Port Richey band that means “flash” or “cool” in British cockney slang. I had heard of the band quite a bit growing up, since they’ve been on the local Tampa band scene since the mid ’90s. Their amazing covers of songs such as Pink Floyd’s “Run Like Hell” and “Muscle Museum” by Muse, and the high energy sound of original songs like “Spies.” Not to forget the soulful, powerhouse vocals behind lullaby ballads and inspirational “get off your butt and do something” anthems such as “Tank.”

I was 16 and like many teenagers, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

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Miss Destructo: Zombie Hunter

When you think of Orlando, you may think of Mickey Mouse and the tourist-filled, neon-lit strip of International Drive.  However, now all I see is Mickey’s zombiefied clone terrorizing tourists and International Drive becoming a twisted nightmare of ghoulish zombies … oh and Jake Busey.

My family has some strange traditions. For the last three years, we’ve packed up the whole crew to  go to Orlando for the horror-themed convention Spooky Empire (formerly known as Screamfest).  It’s a three-day-long event full of celebrity panels, vendors selling gory goods and infamously wild late night pool parties. Read more about Spooky Empire and watch the video after the jump…. Read the rest of this entry »

Last time Comedian Mark Malkoff was in town he was living aboard an Airtran airplane for a month. Mark now has a new “Keys to The City” mission, driving him via Ford Fusion to collect 100 city keys in 28 days. His comedic road trip antics brought him to Tampa on Monday to be presented the key to the city of Tampa by Mayor Pam Iorio. Maybe next time Mark will come live in our IKEA?

Read more about Mark Malkoff’s “Keys to The City” project here.

Many of us are so used to using social networking sites daily that we forget that there is a big world out there. I admit, I have also become accustomed to living life at 140 characters or less. The allure of being able to network in my underwear has become all too tempting. Finally, having enough of staring at status updates about someone’s lunch, I put some pants on and attended the Tech/Social Media conference BarCamp Tampa Bay 2009 on Sunday, September 27th at USF.

The local social media driven event was running two consecutive days, Saturday was focused on Tech/Development and Sunday was geared towards the Social Media/Marketing crowd. Each day is filled with attendee driven panels and discussions, making BarCamp a unique experience. Unlike most conferences, every guest at Barcamp has a chance to sign up for a panel spot to speak their minds about the hottest tech/social media topics. Best of all, it’s free!

Video below the jump. Read the rest of this entry »