Tampa Calling

Hear ye! Hear ye! Disillusioned gay folks, sympathetic straight folks and all fair minded Floridians who fall anywhere in between on the spectrum of human sexuality, it’s time to stand up and be counted! This Saturday, November 15 is your chance to voice your opposition to the recent passage of several anti-gay (and anti-civil rights and anti-common sense) state constitutional amendments, including Florida’s very own Amendment 2.

The cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg will both hold rallies as part of the Join the Impact National Day of Action, a nationwide demonstration for GLBTQ rights. Rallies all across the country, from Missoula, Montana to Birmingham, Alabama, will kick off at 1:30pm EST. The St. Petersburg rally will be held in Mirror Lake Park (at the corner of 1st Ave. N and 6th St. N). Tampa’s rally will be held in Joe Chillura Courthouse Square at the corners of Morgan, Kennedy, Pierce and Madison. Read the rest of this entry »

So, in case you haven’t already heard me talking this up on the mic at my shows, on any WMNF show that will have me, in line at the bank or in the waiting room at my gynecologist’s office, I am performing at Ruth Eckerd Hall’s Murray Studio Theatre this Friday night, November 14 at 7:30pm. What makes this performance extra special is that I will be backed by My Boyfriends, an extraordinary face-melting, balls-to-the-wall rock n’ roll band. Since I’ve got this spiffy new blog, I thought I’d take a moment to brag about my spiffy new band…

On drums is Hiram Garzaro. (If the rhythm doesn’t get you, his accent will.) This Venezuelan born drummer, percussionist and back up vocalist has been touring nationally with various bands since 2000. Today, Hiram resides in St. Petersburg with his wife and continues to share the stage with the best performers in the Bay area. Check out one of Hiram’s other projects, The Roberto Debourg Band.

On bass is Jody Gray. (He’s got the most amazing low end in the business.) Jody Gray left Tupelo, Mississippi with fake ID in hand at the tender age of 15 to play bass in his older brother’s band. Thus began a career in music that has spanned over two decades. He’s an accomplished bassist, vocalist, guitarist, producer, arranger and engineer. He is currently the co-owner of Pro Star Recording Studio in St. Petersburg.

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Editor’s note: Most Creative Loafing readers already know and love Lorna Bracewell. Luckily, for us, the St. Pete-based singer, guitarist and songwriter has agreed to be a contributor to our music blog. She will be blogging about everything from her adventures on the road as a musician and speaker to politics, religion and any other topics that raises people’s blood pressure. Lorna has released six albums on her own label Braced Well Records and has toured throughout the United States and Europe. In addition to her musical performances, Lorna lectures at colleges and universities nationwide on topics ranging from folk music and the civil rights movement to constitutional law. To bring Lorna to your campus, coffee shop, community event or house concert, hit her up at lornabracewell.com.

I received an email forward yesterday warning me about an imminent Federal Communications Commission hearing on something called “RM-2493,” a petition that would “pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior on the airwaves of America.” (If you’re baffled as to why an agnostic, folk-singing lesbian such as me is receiving email forwards such as this you should definitely come spend Thanksgiving with the Bracewells this year!) Now, I adopt a generally skeptical attitude toward all email forwards so, before raising the alarm to all of my First Amendment-cherishing, agnostic, folk-singing, lesbian friends, I subjected this email to my standard vetting procedure: Snopes.com, an online urban legend encyclopedia.

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