Corner Club’s ‘Big Backyard Block Party’ is also a fundraiser for expat Tampa cyclist Leo Rodgers

Cyclist Leo Rodgers may have left Tampa Bay a few years ago, but his impact is always felt within the tight community that gets around on pedal power. Over the last month, that community has stepped in to support Rodgers—who landed on the cover of Bicycling magazine in 2020—after he had a run in with an SUV on the ride to work in Miami.

The accident led to a neck fracture that required surgery, but Rodgers—who’s used his story to uplift countless people in the cycling community—doesn’t have much feeling in his lower body. As he works to get to rehab, a GoFundMe has raised more than half of its $130,000 goal, which will help in the long road to recovery as well as provide support for his six-year-old son.

Locally, Rodgers’ framily has come together to throw a day-long “Big Backyard Block Party” set for Saturday, Jan. 21 at Corner Club in Old Seminole Heights.

UPDATED: 01/20/22 11:45 p.m.
Due to weather, The Big Backyard Block Party is postponed to a date TBA. The Living Arches, however, will still play at a new venue, The Hub in downtown Tampa, at 10 p.m. with an opening set from DJ Silence and Mes McDonald. There’s no cover.

The shindig features six vegan food vendors including St. Pete’s Nah-Dogs and Golden Dinosaurs, Tampa’s 3 Dot Dash, plus Gabby Bakes, Get Along donuts and Catalyst Creamery.

More than a dozen local makers will hold an open-air market while DJ Cub and the folks behind Emo Night Tampa spin tunes as part of a concert lineup that includes rapper Sintell Terry, rockers Eyelid Cinema and Turkey Boy, plus an EP release show from The Living Arches.

The Arches—also made up of Tampa expats, Michael Hooker and Jensen Kistler—finally got the Saul Bellow EP to tape after the passing of local music scene staple Owen Meats, who normally handled recording for Kistler’s band Florida Night Heat. After his death, Kistler felt deflated since he never got to share the work with the producer.

So he asked Hooker to team up with yet another former Tampeño, Matt E Lee, who helped Hooker put their signature Living Arches harmonies on the track. He then started flying back and forth from his home in Las Vegas to New York City to put the finishing touches on it.

The EP’s title track is about Hooker’s cat, who died while Kistler was house sitting. The band also covered Low’s “In the Drugs” on the outing, as a tribute to the band’s late drummer Mimi Parker.

Death is a hallmark of the record, but Kistler told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that it won’t be a sad gathering. “We pulled out some of our old songs and built a set, so it’ll be a pretty well rounded affair—a retrospective and statement of where we are now,” he added.

Cyclist and Split bags founder Kierstyn Breaux has organized a bike ride from Tampa’s MacFarlane Park (10 a.m. start)—with four stops/meet ups in downtown Tampa, Ybor City and Seminole Heights—to Corner Club where a stacked raffle (including a sick Surly Steamroller frame) will help raise money for Rodgers, too.

This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2023.