I have always been a terrible skateboarder. Lord knows I've tried: the aesthetics of physical activity, reckless abandon and risk of personal injury appeal to me on an ideological level, but my lack of skill and commitment caused many bad and embarrassing falls. I even listen to semi obscure hardcore punk bands like Big Boys, who's fast rhythms and anarchy driven lyrics characterized skateboarding (in the 80s at the very least). Regardless of my personal abilities, celebrating 16 years of the Skatepark of Tampa seems very worthwhile, especially since SPOT along with Transitions Art Gallery remains one of the safest and best places for the kids of Tampa to hang out and spend their time instead of raiding their parents' liquor cabinets or just being bored to death with TV brainwash.
Walking into the Czar on Saturday night with a friend, we navigated ourselves through three rooms of schizophrenic, non sequitur rooms filled wall to wall with scenesters and club personalities of all ages. In the third and decidedly more "rock n roll" room, I walked into a band playing generic sounding punkish music with those whiny vocals that I don't really associate with very easily. The voyeur in me snuck back into the second room and watched all the people at and around the bar acting silly and trying to get to know each other. Amazing how many senses these places tickle in such a short period of time. Flashing lights, red walls, perfume, sweat, hairspray, flesh, pounding beats and the buzz of constant chatter flourished all around the room while my friend and I yelled at each other about art and crap. Not wanting to miss the bands No Age or Les Savy Fav, we meandered back into the third room, got some free Pabst and settled into the much more boring people watching of scensters and hipsters who looked more or less the same as one another…
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2008.