Tok-ing it out: Capitol Theatre screens award-winning film on postwar Sierra Leone
Can lasting justice and peace be achieved not through punishment but reconciliation? That’s the idea central to the community-oriented organization and documentary that shares its name, Fambul Tok. It’s also a concept whose dramatic impact is undoubtedly heightened in light of the atrocities that many were forced to commit during Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war.…
Album review: The Ditchflowers, Bird’s Eye
When The Ditchflowers quietly released their debut album, Carried Away, in 2007, I was blindsided, poleaxed. Ed Woltil, Brian Merrill and company's collection of thinking-person's, post-Beatles pop-rock was, and remains, the best album I've heard come out of the Tampa Bay scene in my three decades covering it. Four years later comes the follow-up, Bird's…
Tonight’s Top Chef Just Desserts preview: Desserts in disguise
Check out the preview videos for tonight’s episode of Top Chef Just Desserts!
CL on the Road: DeLuna Festival, Pensacola Beach
A wrap-up of last weekend’s North Florida music fest featuring Big Boi, Weezer, The Shins + more (with photos)
Sweetwater Organic Farm’s 9th Annual Planter’s Ball: Sat., 10/22
Help them usher in another successful season during their Planter’s Ball and potluck fundraiser.
If Ybor’s walls could talk
Ybor City Architecture: Our Stories connects us with the buildings in Tampa’s famed historic district.
This week in food and drink
Tampa Food Truck Rally, Taste of the Heights, a haunted winery, food film screenings and more.
Mitch Perry Report 10.19.11
Whew. How did you deal last night with that weather?What do you mean, 'what weather'? Oh, nevermind. In other news, though yet another GOP presidential debate hogs the national spotlight, we were checking out the seven men on the ballot next month in St. Petersburg for those City Council races. Actually, we did catch most…
GOP’s Vegas prizefight: Piling up on Romney, Cain
The debate showed that Romney fears Perry, not Cain, in coming months.
St Pete City Council candidates engage in a mostly genteel debate
Gershom Faulkner In three weeks, voters (who care) in St. Petersburg will go to the polls to decide who will be their representatives of half of the seats available on the City Council, and by far the most interesting race is the Midtown seat in District 7 between Gershom Faulkner and Wengay Newton. The seven…
The Devil and the details
Two local playwrights aim for the big screen.
Organized labor to rally behind Obama’s jobs bill in Tampa
The rally is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Wednesday.
Scary good: Recipe ideas for Halloween pumpkins
Curry pumpkin seeds, pumpkin-ginger soup and peachy pumpkin ice cream.
Spoiler Corner: Glee, The New Girl, Vampire Diaries and more!
Curious about your favorite shows? Is someone going to die? Is your favorite couple getting engaged? Hook-ups? Breakups? Well here you will find all the answers to your burning questions!
Photo review: The Dirty Heads with Gym Class Heroes at Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
I'm not one to follow bands I consider Sublime wannabes, but after checking out The Dirty Heads last Wednesday night at Jannus Live, I was impressed. If you missed it, I feel bad for you, even if you aren't into reggae rock. Great show, great people, great sound. Gym Class Heroes put on a wild…
Rick Santorum on SNL parody: Bring It On
Although we haven't seen the polling, we're thinking that Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum isn't all that popular in the gay community, which shouldn't be surprising when you remember some of his offensive comments he's made about them over the years. Now Santorum is crying foul after a Saturday Night Live skit that aired over the…
New Music Tuesday (October 18)
New this week from Jane’s Addiction, Alesana, Chris Isaak, Shelby Lynne, Class Actress + more, with lots of video.
My five favorite monsters
Genetic mutations, toxic waste — and, of course, HAL 9000.
Is there any hope that the U.S. will limit its greenhouse gas emissions?
Politics still stand in the way of efforts to limit U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Savor Seminole Heights at 2nd Annual ‘Taste of the Heights’: Sun., 10/23
Ten stops on this “crawl” will offer food, beer, wine and live entertainment from local bands.
Herman Cain under the gun in tonight’s CNN-Las Vegas debate
If you watched Herman Cain's performance on Meet The Press last Sunday and are an undecided Republican voter, we're not certain if you would feel more or less enthused about the new co-front runner (a new CNN survey has Cain just one percentage point behind the man still considered to be the inevitable front runner,…
Mitch Perry Report 10.18.11
We're told this is the last one for awhile, but for all of you who can't get enough of these GOP presidential debates (and the ratings have been growing after each and every one of them), there is the CNN-Las Vegas – Heritage Foundation debate tonight, and we seriously hope Herman Cain starts getting asked…
Buckhorn okay so far with Occupy Tampa protests
Events were held in both Gaslight Park and Curtis Hixon Park for the social activist movement known as Occupy Tampa over the weekend, and, unlike some of their brethren around the country, there were no arrests made. The only real points of contention in the weeks long event took place last Friday morning, when some…
WET Warming lube: a review and giveaway
Lately I have had a non-stop supply of sex lube to try out. While they all serve the same basic purpose, each one has been a little different than the next. My latest test subject was the Wet Warming Gel Lubricant. I've tried warming lubricants in the past and wasn't thrilled with the results. In…
Record high 50% of Americans support legalizing pot
A Gallup poll released Monday shows a record-high amount of Americans, 50 percent, now say marijuana should be legalized. The rise in popular support for cannabis has risen dramatically over the decades. When Gallup first asked the question, some 42 years ago, just 12 percent of Americans favored it, while 84 percent opposed. Support stayed…
Horror stories from The Daily Show’s John Oliver
The Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer and actor shows us his dark side.
Cynical And Southern: Two gay boys making out in a restaurant
There they were. Table 7. Right in the middle of my restaurant. Amongst a dining room full of European and Brazilian tourists sat the young gay couple. One of the boys was wearing eyeliner. They both ordered chicken sandwiches. One drank Mountain Dew, while the other wanted a water, no lemon. They were friendly enough…
Latino advocates to protest Obama in Miami and 9 other U.S. cities
When a politician gets heat from both the left and the right, often times that same elected official will remark upon this bipartisan opposition as a badge of honor, saying something along the lines of 'well, if they hate you on both sides, you must be doing something right.'" That might be the case. Or…
Tampa Urban Food Forum hosts the first annual National Food Day Event: Mon. 10/24
Explore what it takes to build a vibrant, well-supported local food system and restore balance in the human relationship with food.
Q&A with the Trailer Park Boys
Julian, Bubbles and Ricky talk intoxicants, kitties and babes.
New program to renovate foreclosed homes announced in Tampa
East Tampa resident Ricc Rollins says the renovated home is great for his community Between 2008 to 2010, there was 775 foreclosures in East Tampa, and only 74 new homes built in the area. "That's an epidemic," says Ernest Coney Jr., the Chief Operating Officer for the Corporation to Development Communities of Tampa, Inc. (CDC).…
President Clinton to “Embrace Our Common Humanity” at the Straz this spring
In an appearance that's not a rally or convention, awards ceremony or a library dedication, former President Bill Clinton will appear at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa on March 21 at 7 p.m. No, he won't be playing sax. He's just going to talk to us about the world.
The Old Fashioned: A classic whiskey cocktail (hold the fruit)
Nix the muddled cherry and orange. It was meant to be a drink — not fruit cocktail.
Occupy This: Why the Tea Party and Occupy movements are not alike
For one thing, the Occupy Tampa protesters know how to spell.
Mitch Perry Report 10.17.11
Unlike many of the protests of the Occupy Wall Street movement happening around the nation, the fact that Occupy Tampa (and Occupy St. Petersburg) events are still ongoing is something significant – if you actually count how few protests of any sort usually ever happen in Florida (from the liberal perspective, certainly). CL was out…
Eric Cantor backs off from “Mob” comments re:Occupy Wall Street movement
More than Mitch McConnell or John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor from Virginia has become President Obama's chief Republican nemesis in Congress, and was a featured guest on Fox News Sunday yesterday. Cantor was asked by host Chris Wallace if he wanted to walk back from his provocative comments from earlier this month regarding…
Herman Cain’s shaky foreign policy views exposed
With Herman Cain leading many of the national polls for the race for the GOP nomination for President, his signature 9-9-9 tax plan has been getting more scrutiny from journalists and economists, with mixed reviews at best (though perhaps the only critic who counts when it comes to taxes and Republicans, Grover Norquist has been…
TIGLFF, Sun. Oct. 16 reviews: Judas Kiss and Leave It On The Floor
The 22nd annual festival comes to a close with four screenings at Tampa Theatre.
Another Occupy Tampa event brings out several hundred to Gaslight Park
The youth movement in action at Occupy Tampa In an afternoon devoid of humidity, several hundred activists spent part of their Saturday in downtown Tampa's Lykes Gaslight Park, the latest in a series of protests in the Occupy Tampa movement — itself one of the hundreds (or is it thousands?) of offshoots of Occupy Wall…
Legoland Florida: Let the block party begin
The new theme park’s grand opening has us wondering if it’s hip to be square.
Ann Landers at American Stage: Good advice
A beautifully performed one-woman show recalls an era when an advice columnist could shock the world.
TIGLFF, Sat. Oct. 15: Moving, intelligent Bashment
A powerful film by Rikki Beadle-Blair about reggae, racism and gay-bashing.
Four pumpkin ales to spice up your autumn
Taste the great pumpkins.
Boogie-woogie with Bathhouse Betty
Halloween provides a candy-bag-full of opportunities to bust out fabulous boas and sky-high heels. But why not dress divine even earlier than Oct. 31? Come looking good to the New American Stage cabaret performance of The BETTE set-a musical journey to MIDLER Earth featuring Sara DelBeato and Michael Raabe. Sure to satisfy Midler fanatics, the…
Pairing American-made cheeses with handcrafted Creminelli charcuterie
America the cheesy
The New Pornographers in Orlando 10/13: An open letter to Carl Newman
Some thoughts on the New Pornographers’ oddly lustrous and lackluster show this past Thurs., Oct. 13.
Energy use from social networking sites and web surfing
Boils down to energy usage, which affects the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Lessons from NightMoves 2011: How to talk to porn stars while avoiding a knee to the groin (NSFW)
Le Teaze performing at the NightMoves Awards The “Star Spangled Banner” kicks off the 19th Annual NightMoves Adult Awards. What better reason to take pride in America than by celebrating our freedom of speech via our superior porn? Dostoevsky once wrote, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”…
One last day to enjoy Mema’s Alaskan Tacos in Ybor
Stop by, enjoy one last taco and say goodbye to this beloved late-night dining spot in Ybor.
Mitch Perry Report 10.14.11
CL blogger George Niemann is also a Hillsborough County political activist, and he comes in today with a fiery post against the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners, for allowing former Administrator Pat Bean to collect a sizable financial settlement when she left local government last year. Did you know that there have been financial cuts…
Combined funding cuts could put some Florida nursing homes out of business
You hear a lot these days about fears of budget cuts cutting into essential services, such as health care. The fact is those cuts have already happened, and are already having a deleterious effect here in Florida. Scott Allen runs the Palm Garden of Tampa for profit nursing home, an 120 licensed bed facility that…
Dining Guide: Tea Shops in Tampa Bay
Where to get a taste of the trend.
Neighborhood Dining Guide: Downtown St. Petersburg
Great eats in St. Pete.
Former County Administrator Pat Bean, we want our money back!!!
Daily Loaf contributor and R-LAND, UCAN, FSP activistThe views expressed are my own and not necessarily the same as organizations to which I belong. In 2010 Hillsborough’s Board of County Commissioners fired then County Administrator Pat Bean for secretly giving herself and County Attorney Renee Lee a pay raise in 2007. The Hillsborough Board of…
Liberal activists plan rally this Saturday in front of St. Pete bridge
The Occupy Wall Street rallies continue in Tampa and throughout the country (and Occupy St. Petersburg kicks off this Saturday at 2nd Avenue North and Beach Drive). So far there have been no reported incidents with the Tampa Police Department, which is not the case up in Boston, for example. Though many of those in…
Concert review: All You Need is Duran Duran, at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater
Eighties nostalgia is big business. Younger folks who really don't remember the decade of decadence (or may not have even been born yet) look at the era with a romantic, fuzzy feeling often propelled by their love of the music that served as the soundtrack of the time. Those who were old enough to live…
Twice the rice: Creative twists on two standard dishes
Chinese fried rice and cheddar and apple risotto.
Submit Your Song for the Creative Loafing Holiday Mixtape
If you are a band, producer, singer-songwriter or MC interested in donating a track for Creative Loafing's upcoming holiday mixtape/compilation, today is your lucky day. We’re looking for holiday/Christmas standards or original tunes done by local and regional artists for inclusion on this very special forthcoming release. The compilation will be included as part of…
Green Community Calendar weekend events
Tampa Veg Fest, Pinellas Coastal Cleanup Day, Roots seed & plant swap and more!
Mitch Perry Report 10.13.11
Well after seeing and hearing so many GOP debates over the past month, it was refreshing for CL to venture down to St. Petersburg last night to hear some local candidates discuss issues pertaining to their beautiful city. Last night at Kenwood High School, the issue that brought forth the most discord was on red-light…
St Petersburg City Council candidates clash on red-light cameras
St Pete City Councilman Bill Dudley Although relatively sleepy so far, the campaign for the four City Council races in St. Petersburg will begin to accelerate in advance of the November 8 election. Wednesday night in South St. Pete, all seven of the candidates on the ballot participated in a quick paced forum co-sponsored by…
Refractory in the middle: The battle over the Kress building
How an ongoing preservation battle stranded a multimedia arts event.
The days and nights of Occupy Tampa
Tracing the protest, from a Clearwater IHop to the streets of downtown Tampa.
Occupy Wall Street: Getting to the point
A local reporter and activist says the media’s demand for soundbites is at odds with the protests’ larger vision.
Artists find their true Colors at Bluelucy
Twelve artists, 12 hues randomly assigned.
Best Potential 2012 Election in Tampa Bay
Mark Sharpe vs. Kathy Castor
The New Pornographers shoot for Orlando
Plus: Lucinda Williams, David Rovics and more of this week’s best upcoming concerts.
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: True originals
The musical innovators return to their original lineup for a new album & tour that stops at Jannus on Thursday.
Out on campus
Why hasn’t starting college made me more open about my sexuality?
Tea parties: Bay area tea shops turn over a new leaf
Watch out, coffee: A nice cuppa tea is gaining ground.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs and Al Davis
Plus: Firing squads, National Coming Out Day and more …
Red Pepper: New play recalls the campaign against FL Sen. Claude Pepper
Anti-Communist scare tactics and the power of big bucks.
BEST NEW FASHION KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Disco Dolls
Feedback
Comments on cltampa.com continued to swirl around Occupy Tampa, including some, like the message below, that were not attuned with the cause. Twitter liked Scott Harrell's take on the New Global Economy, and on Facebook, posts on Herman Cain and kinky sex drew some impassioned responses, including an exchange between Sex & Love Editor Shawn…
Poet’s Notebook hits 100 (columns, that is)
One milestone leads to consideration of another.
BEST RUNNING SHOES
Feet First
This weekend: 31st Annual Clearwater Jazz Holiday
Maceo Parker, Dianne Reeves and many more play the free festival
BEST LOCAL PUNK ACT
Car Bomb Driver
A lot of people were excited about Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan. Until they actually read it.
Due to his surge in the polls, fueled to a great extent by his surprising victory at the Florida Presidency 5 Straw Poll last month, Herman Cain was the center of attention for much of Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate at Darmouth College in New Hampshire. But even more significant than the carping from his…
Marie Tillman, wife of the late NFL player and slain veteran Pat Tillman, to speak at USF
Marie Tillman Pat Tillman lived a short but intense life. 10 years into the war in Afghanistan, Tillman's "friendly-fire" death in the mountains of Afghanistan 2004 is still the most high profile individual casualty of the U.S.' interventions in the Middle East over the last decade. Though he's been gone for more than 7 years,…
No Big Thing
Reboot? Remake? This Thing is a little bit of both.
Sticky fingers wanted for Art Beyond Sight event
Don't miss Nan Colton's imaginative performing Georgia O'keefe. Come be as touchy and feely as you want during the Museum of Fine Art's Super Special Saturday on Oct. 15. From the hours of 10a.m. -3p.m. Galleries will be paying tribute to Art Beyond Sight Month with handful of activities fit for feelers.
The Gaily News: Pinellas County School Board rejects Boy Scouts grant
The Pinellas County School Board voted to cut ties with a character-building educational program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, turning down a nearly $55,000 grant because the organization refuses to admit gay members. At a recent meeting, school board member Linda Lerner, who has a gay son and has been fighting the BSA…
