Daily Loaf

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 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 Bluelucy, 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 shindig is completely gratis. Sat., Nov. 14, 7-10 p.m. , The Ritz Ybor, 1503 E. Seventh Ave., Ybor City, free, squareoneflorida.com. – Franki Weddington

What goes together better than wine and blues? The holy union (which drew more than 30,000 folks downtown last year) gets its due this weekend at Dunedin Wines the Blues, when the Suncoast Blues Society heats things up at Dunedin’s Second Friday Art and Wine Walk and a blues jam takes the stage to accompany the arts and crafts, food and wine vendors. The real party gets started on Saturday, with an all-day jazz and blues jam-session that welcomes Grammy-nom John Lee Hooker, Jr., The Steve Arvey Horn Band, Kathy Jo and The Bluzification Band to the stage. Visit dunedinwinestheblues.info for more info. Nov. 13-14, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Fri., 5-11 p.m. Sat., Downtown Dunedin, free. Read the rest of this entry »

All photos by Phil Bardi.

Upwards of 70,000 people were crammed into Raymond James Stadium, waiting for musical liftoff, and were rewarded with a colossal production spectacle steered by the voices, instruments and magnetic charismas of the Irish mega-foursome.

The stage was a four-legged spaceship and U2 was central command.

I was among the thousands, a diverse crowd composed of every sort imaginable from families (kids included) to groups of ladies in their night-on-the-town best, some in heels I’d never wear out, let alone to a concert, to jocks and goths and tattooed types, to fathers and their adult sons, to scattered groups of non-English speaking tourist types (which made me wonder how many people had flown in from other countries to see the show, and why they chose Tampa), to middle-age couples attending their sole concert of the year. Some were mega-fans, other curiosity seekers and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

The 360 Tour four-legged spaceship monstrosity (which had a huge spire in its very middle that reached into the sky and had a disco ball at its very top) was set-up at the Galley end of the stadium. A huge 360-degree screen hung over the round main stage, which was located in the very middle and was encircled by an outer platform connected to the round with moving bridges for crossing back and forth, and a crowd jammed in between the platform and stage in a half-circle of bodies where the “front” of the stage was set up. (I imagine these were the $250 tickets.) Rather than try and clumsily explain the layout in any detail, I’ve included pictures and some interesting facts at the end of this post. (In case you’re wondering, the 360 Tour has its own comprehensive Wiki page. For real.)

U2 set the mood for the evening with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” the song blasting through the sound system speakers and heralding the band’s entrance — drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. coming across one of the “bridges” to sit behind the drums in the round, bassist Adam Clayton and guitarist The Edge appearing through “holes” in the round, and Bono bursting onto the round with much fanfare and to a screaming, enthusiastic crowd. Read the rest of this entry »

A quick breakdown of this weekend’s most worthy concerts beginning with Thursday, ’cause that’s when the weekend really starts, right? For a more comprehensive schedule of concerts, check out our Upcoming Events page.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8
Johnny Winter w/Damon Fowler Group Progressive blues guitarist Johnny Winter, brother to “Frankenstein” keytarist Edgar, was ranked 74th in Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” for taking blues into hard rock territory and producing a series of Grammy-winning albums for Muddy Waters. In recent tours, Winter performs seated due to various health issues, and avoids playing rock music all together to focus solely on the blues. Don’t expect a “Rock ‘n’ Roll Hoochie Koo” (one of his few hits), though you might hear his renown blues-out rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.” 8 p.m., State Theatre, St. Petersburg, $25 dos.

Afroman The “Because I Got High” tongue-in-cheek rap artist has released 11 albums in 11 years; his most recent, Frobama: Head of State, dropped in May. 8 p.m., Bourbon Street Night Club, New Port Richey, $15.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9
U2 w/Muse There’s no denying the sheer superstar power and awesome dynamism of U2, the foursome’s longevity earned after years of solid hits and a consistent effort to evolve without losing their distinguishing Dublin-brewed alt rock sound. Aside from the shady 12-year $100 million deal with Live Nation (which gives the live events company control of U2’s merchandise, sponsorships and official website), the band has been pretty good about retaining a sense of decorum and integrity, donating some of their billions to charitable causes around the world, bringing global issues of poverty, disease, and social injustice to light via performances, appearances, campaigns and fundraisers, and even starting their own nonprofits or backing initiatives to help those in need. No Line on the Horizon is their 12th and latest studio album, and critics (myself not included) are falling all over the thing like it’s Irish gold. But when has U2 ever really disappointed? The current “U2 360° Tour” features a 360-degree staging/audience configuration, which should make for quite the RayJay spectacle. Not sure who can afford the $250 seats in this economy, but someone’s gotta pay for that stage show and it ain’t the $35 nosebleeds (those go towards Bono’s wardrobe). 7 p.m., Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, $35, $55, $95 and $250. Read the rest of this entry »

So far, we’ve given you a heads up about a range of this fall’s best bets in music — Leonard Cohen, electronica artists from Paul Van Dyk to Junior Boys, Yo Yo Ma, a quintet of quality indie artists (The Decemberists and MuteMath, among others) who are not stopping in Tampa but at least gracing us with their presence in nearby Orlando, and a couple of worthy jazz shows. Here are rest.

The Big Drawers
We get most of the big tours in Tampa because we have the audiences and venues to support them. This fall is no exception and the biggest among them are longtime barn burners Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (Sat., Sept. 12, Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, $36-$98); U2, the first band to play Ray Jay solo, i.e., not for any Super Bowl festivities. (Fri., Oct. 9, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, $30-$250); and the queen of teeny bop pop herself, Miley Cyrus (Tues., Dec. 1, St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, $39.50-$79.50). Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, it’s been awhile since the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory in early 2003. But if you’ve spent a long time in Tampa, you remember all the years before that—orange uniforms, jokes and double-digit years of double-digit losses. Right now the team is competitive and missing the playoffs last year was a disappointment. I remember when a winning record—playoffs or not—was grounds for a parade. Expectations are higher because the team is better.
So if you’re ready for some football, the team’s annual Fan Fest event is this Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »

I was poking around the Internet this morning, reading about last night’s Phish show in Mansfield, MA., when something hit me. The author kept referring to the concert’s venue, The Comcast Center, by its pre-sponsorship name of Great Woods. I started thinking about the big-three Bay area sports venues and their old names, and now I’m thinking about ditching the corporate sponsorship names too. I have my reasons, and they are as follows:

Building: That big stadium with red seats on Dale Mabry where they play football
Corporate sponsorship name: Raymond James Stadium
Old-school handle: Tampa Stadium. OK, technically it’s always been Raymond James Stadium, but it was built next door to, and replaced, Tampa Stadium.
Reason to switch back: It’s The Great Recession folks, and you want some investment bankers slapping their logo feces all over the local altar to the biggest sport in America? (On a personal note: I think Raymond James had a hand in the Loaf 401(k) program last year. Fell free to label me bitter in the comments.) Tampa Stadium is an excellent name, a simple-but-solid description of the place the moniker represents. Tampa Stadium sounds tough. Not to many players want to travel to Tampa Stadium, a blistering sand pit where opposing teams get the life suffocated out of them. Raymond James Stadium, on the other hand, is the type of place that sees cash from the hometown squad’s retirement account vanish quarterly for as long as they’re in the league.

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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.

Talk about your fish out of water.

Take a veteran alt-weekly journalist and thrust him into Super Bowl Media Day. Loaded down with a video camera, a digital audio recorder and a digital still camera (oh, and a notebook, made of paper), the one-man-media-gang that was me joined a sea of others for more than two hours today at Raymond James Stadium.

A zoo. There had to be more than 2,000 media types herding around one side of the stadium, documenting the finer points of Larry Fitzgerald’s hair, Hines Ward’s diet, Troy Polamalu’s spirituality (and hair), Mike Tomlin’s hunger for winning, Ben Roethlisberger’s admiration for Kurt Warner (and vice versa), and more X’s-and-O’s 101 than one could stand.

Larry Fitzgerald and his hair

See more photos below the jump…

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