A wide-angle, fish-eye live concert photograph of guitarist and vocalist Dave Decker performing with the band Big Sad at Microgroove in Tampa. Decker is centered, playing an orange-brown Gibson SG electric guitar while singing into a microphone. They are wearing a black t-shirt featuring a graphic of a large cat's face with the word 'IDLES' printed above it. The band is set up in a small, industrial-style room with exposed ceiling joists and red-painted wall accents in the background. Other band members are visible on the periphery, and a small, vintage-style amplifier sits on the floor to the right. — Big Sad plays Microgroove in Tampa, Florida on Sept. 21, 2024. Credit: Rachel Framingheddu

Dave Decker has stories. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s senior photographer has lived many lives, as a bike shop owner, cross-country-traveling punk-rock frontman, and most recently as an award-winning photojournalist on the frontlines of news from Florida, to the midwest and eastern seaboard.

This June, he’ll share some of those tales for the latest installment of “Salud & Happy Days” a placemaking event where a notable Tampeño is interviewed before improv comedians act out the stories they hear from the stage.

This one comes at a heavy time for the Commodore, too.

An indoor, medium-shot photograph of performer Justin Peters on a small stage at The Commodore in Tampa. Peters is caught in an energetic, mid-movement stance, leaning slightly to their left with one leg kicked out and arms outstretched. They have short, dark, tousled hair and are wearing a light-colored, short-sleeved plaid button-down shirt tucked into dark blue jeans. They are smiling broadly at the audience. The stage is sparsely furnished with two wooden stools and a small wooden chair. The background is a dark, painted cinder-block wall, and the stage floor is covered with a patterned, worn area rug. The scene is illuminated by warm, focused stage lighting. — Justin Peters at The Commodore in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 9, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

One of its co-founders—Justin Peters, who usually runs the interviews for “Salud”—was diagnosed with an aggressive Grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumor this month, shortly after helping the Tampa Downtown Partnership’s outgoing Senior Director of Transportation and Planning tell her stories.

Venue co-founder and Peters’ partner-in-comedy Kelly Buttermore told friends of the theater that Peters and his family are back in New York talking to doctors and readying Justin for treatment.

“The thing about horrible, terrifying diagnoses like these is that they force you to live in the present moment — it sounds trite to say it, but improv has been teaching the two of us how to do that for decades now,” she wrote in an email.

So this show—and the others at Commodore, like Tampa Fringe and the 10th Countdown Improv Festival—will go on. In a text message, Buttermore told CL that comedian and improv performer Eddie Geller will likely conduct Decker’s “Salud” interview.

“One of the best ways you can support us right now is by supporting The Commodore as much as you can,” she added. “The space we’ve created with our co-owners here in Tampa is a beautiful, remarkable thing that has flourished beyond any of our expectations. It needs your support right now, whether that’s attending a show, buying a drink (or several) at the bar or telling a friend that we exist.”

She also wants fans to nominate The Commodore for a Best of the Bay award, and is lobbying this reporter to write a “Worst Brain Tumor” Critic’s Pick. Until then, she added, “keep us in your thoughts, and raise a glass to Justin at your favorite Tampa dive bar. We’ll be back to join you just as soon as we can.”

Tickets to see Dave Decker in “Salud & Happy Days” at The Commodore in between Tampa and Ybor City on Saturday, June 6 are still available for $18.12.