Daily Loaf

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. It’s hard enough to wrangle a hip group of artists/musicians/designers/models together at the same place and time, but it’s even harder to convince anyone to come see the spectacle. The visionaries at Square One do just that with scenester-crowded, can’t-miss-‘em shindigs — like this Saturday’s eco-themed Magnum Opus — that draw party people in droves.

More than 75 visual artists display their work (among them CL faves like Blue Lucy, Kat Wilson, KLAAREN and Robert Wegmann), Jeremy Gloff hosts his album release party, and dance and fashion shows by Bella Danza, Enigma Dance Kru, Kinetic Dance Group and Wear To The Tear Fashion mean that there’s always something shiny and new to look at onstage. The cherry on top is that this nightlong art extravaganza is completely gratis. Sat., Nov. 14, 7-10 p.m. , The Ritz Ybor, 1503 E. Seventh Ave., Ybor City, free, squareoneflorida.com. – Franki Weddington

Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

“Where eeez yer pipe?”

A 6’4 security guard towered over me, glaring.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he repeated in a thick Islands accent.

“What?” I replied, not sure he really just asked me what I think he just asked me.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he asked again.

“My what?” I said again, still shocked.

“Yer pipe. Yer pipe.”

Now he was aggravated. I’m enjoying feigning ignorance.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, man.”

The guard switches tactics.

“Drugs?”

I smile.

“No, no drugs.”

“OK, go ahead.”

So began my very first experience at an extended-day music festival, and only my second time ever seeing the seminal jam band, Phish. Luckily, the rest of the three-day fest at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. went smoother than my entry.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Dream Momma, In my dream I was in the middle of 4th grade and we moved because my father got a job offer with this other company. Even though I was sad about leaving my kindergarten friends and classmates behind I knew in the dream it was supposed to happen. My parents found the house we’re living at now. Suddenly I’m in 5^th grade. In 5th grade all the 5th grade classes did a little act in the talent show. There was this guy who did a little rap and he had two friends who did a little dance behind him while he did it. I have no clue about the song or what he said to this day. I’m not a fan of rap. One of the guys who was doing the dance I was very drawn to. Being in 5th grade in the dream I didn’t think much of it just that I was physically attracted to him.” (sic)

On a purely symbolic level your dream is about sexual identity or, more specifically, Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to On the Radar, where we preview up-and-coming arts events to mark your calendar for. This weekend, HCC’s Visual and Performing Arts Series presents a limited run of playwright Danny Hoch’s (pictured) acclaimed one-man show, Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop — with a twist.

Accompanying lone actor Curtis Belz’s eight monologue characterizations – which include Flip, a good ol’ boy from the Midwest who has come to identify with urban hip-hoppers; Bronx, a sidewalk vendor who gets pinched for selling without a license; and Sam, a prison guard with an anger management problem (evidenced by his beating a prisoner nearly to death) — are musician Matt Wetherington and choreographer/dancer DeMario Henry. Wetherington’s original score includes mixing on stage and live guitar; Henry shows off fresh hip-hop moves and dance, and his hip-hop troupe, the VYB Dance Company, kicks off the show. Sept. 17-19, 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., Hillsborough Community College – Ybor Campus, Performing Arts Building, Corner of Palm Avenue and 14th St., Ybor City,  $10 general admission, $5 students and seniors, free for HCC students, faculty and staff, 813-253-7695. – Lily Reisman

The week leading up to Skin Two, eyes lit up whenever I mentioned I had extra tickets to Secret Room’s fetish party and medical fashion show at The Castle. Friends were excited to finally have a chance to show off their fancy lingerie or to just ogle fetishists in fishnets. Of course when Saturday rolled around, I stood alone in line to The Castle, fighting my impulse to flee.

Normally I pride myself on going out in public wearing one of my wigs and an outfit that highlights my aerodynamic crotch. But, I wasn’t used to wearing a bedazzled codpiece in front of a crowd that thought this sort of thing was normal. Read the rest of this entry »

Skipper’s by T.R. Robbins

I first really noticed her
when she was waddling out of the
bathroom door – either because her
hip was plastic or her tolerance
was low.

This particular establishment Read the rest of this entry »

Watch out everybody, Bridget’s unleashed for the summer!

Well, you know, that really is an overstatement ‘cos I’m not much of a late night gal, but the Gorilla Theatre is dark for the summer (which means we don’t have any shows going on and I’m working “normal” hours) so it’s time for me to get out more and …. to see theatre in other places.  This week I went to an All Out Rep show at the Ritz, I visited Arts on 9th, and went to the 5th Annual Night of Alternative Theatre at American Stage in St. Pete.

Oh, and I welcome all your comments on this blog (like “stop writing about yourself already” or “what’s with the strange European punctuation?”) so please chip in, loveys! Read the rest of this entry »

Since I was a kid I’ve always had a weakness for hula-hooping; I even bought my own a few years ago. Little did I know that hooping is more that just rolling the hoop hula-style around your waist.

I started noticing hoop dancers at  shows and festivals. These girls could wind the hoops over their bodies so that they’d flow like water, from head to ankle, out to their arms, and back again.

Abby is one of those girls; I met her at the St. Pete Saturday Market. She is a certified Hoop dancing Instructor, and is president and founder of St Pete’s own Hoola Monsters. She invited me to photograph some of her Hooping classes. Read the rest of this entry »

So I have been mad crazy busy these past few weeks with the final touches to The Agreeable Husband. I say final touches, but this is just the beginning.  We are polishing up for our premiere performance tonight at the 7th Annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image It’s a one-night-only deal, we are one of the mainstage performances (And, btw, none of this would have been possible without the incredible support that David Audet has extended to us through the Festival). It will be our first full performance in front of an audience.  Following the premiere, we workshop the piece for a few weeks – sort of a back to the drawing board treatment based on how the audience received it as well as filling in the new elements that were too complicated to add to try for right out the door.  After that we will be appearing during the summer and fall at various stages in the Bay Area and around Florida.  Each for probably a weekend run, then more working it then more performances in another space – you get the idea.  I have never worked on a project of this size quite like this, to have the opportunity to toss a piece in front of an audience and then have the opportunity to adapt before it gets seen again. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s been this new sound swirling around; it sounds like hip hop but with an electro beat … I’m no music critic and my vocabulary to breakdown the proper terminology is laughable. All I know is this sound is propped up by new female “alternative” artists, and they all have a killer style.

In our first Fusionistas podcast (embedded below, check it) my guest is Shunda K, creator of the group Yo! Majesty. We have a candid conversation about where she’s been and where shes going, and how she was a forerunner of this new sound. Shunda has been collaborating with many artists on different tracks and we’ll link you some so you can hear for yourself. (check ‘em down below)

Read the rest of this entry »

Working in the art/nightlife scene for six years, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of really talented people from all areas of the industry. So when I saw that Marissa Alma Nick was back in town from LA working on a project called Peace Piece, I had to get in contact and find out what it was all about. The email I got back was full of energy and a request for me to get involved in the show in a scene called “Disco Town.” Honored to be asked to be a part of the show, I accepted. I was told that RHYMES WITH ORANGEz created the dance opera “Take a walk in my shoes” that was a part of Peace Piece. The project supports world peace, naturally, but also strongly advocates the arts in our school system. Both are great causes, and that is why I wanted to bring the information to the masses, but I was still left a bit confused on the exact details of RHYMES WITH ORANGEz, Peace Piece and “Take a walk in my Shoes.” So I had a sit-down with Marissa Alma Nick to get the DL.

Read the rest of this entry »

In episode 5 of ArtsSpeak, Creative Loafing editor David Warner talks with Marissa-Alma Nick and Tera Greene, the creative team behind the multi-disciplinary Peace Piece project and the dance opera “Take A Walk In My Shoes” which premieres February 24 at USF. This episode also introduces Brianna Kole and Lennox of The Fusionistas, CL’s new arts-and-fashion bloggers, who brought the Peace Piece to our attention.

Download

See pictures below the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »