Metal man artist Frank Strunk posted a photo of a shirtless James Franco in the upcoming film Spring Breakers back in April, along with this rant. The photo got close to 100 responses on Strunk’s Facebook in a matter of minutes: “So this is how our town is being depicted by the movie industry. We work so hard to have what we have here and douchebag filmmakers come down and find the single worst element of our city and represent us with it. Tell me exactly WHY we should be welcoming to these assholes. Nice “727” tattoo dickhead. I don’t care how much “money” they bring to this area, if they are doing it at the expense of our hard work and reputation, they can stay the FUCK where they came from.”
Two years ago Charlie Justice held the state Senate seat that encompassed both Tampa and St. Pete. He left it to run for Bill Young’s congressional seat and lost. This year, the Democrats failed to field a candidate in the race.
After Sileo called three black football players “monkeys” in a passing reference, WDAE 620 announced that they “would like to apologize for Dan Sileo’s ill-chosen on-air remarks earlier this week. He absolutely meant no disrespect to the players and he is sincerely embarrassed and upset that his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken as hateful, disrespectful, or in any way racist. Dan and the station regret any offense to the players; to the Bucs organization; and to the people of the Tampa Bay community.” Shortly thereafter, WDAE canned him.
Who would have guessed that a movie about male strippers would be the best Bay area recruitment film ever made? Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum as a Tampa-based exotic dancer with dreams of hitting the big time in Miami, makes the Bay area look like a tropical paradise chock full of beautiful bodies and scenery. Get past the soft R-rated content (sorry folks, no dongs), and what’s left is a beautiful travelogue of Tampa and St. Pete, complete with glistening beaches and the hip urban cores of Ybor City and downtown St. Pete. Magic Mike will hit DVD right as the weather turns to slush up north, and in addition to inspiring daydreams about abs and ass, the film will surely draw a few new transplants looking for fun in the sun. (Clothing optional, of course.)
Whoa, easy there, baseball fans. Sure, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon might get the boys into the playoff picture, but do you think it will amount to anything more than an early exit, like the last two seasons? Well, we can dream. Bucs fans? I'd sure like to see coach Greg Schiano’s crew bring playoff pigskin back to the Bay. I'm just not sure the former Rutgers top dog (don’t get me started) has had enough time to get his house in order. Leaving us the Bolts, under Guy Boucher, who has captain Vinny Lecavalier supported by alternates Steven Stamkos ("best goal scorer in the world," according to Barry Melrose), Marty St. Louis, Mattias Ohlund and Eric Brewer. There's your winner.
For five and a half years, activist group St. Pete for Peace showed cutting-edge documentaries for free at Cafe Bohemia. The weekly series was cut short after the new owners of the café found themselves shocked and awed by American: The Bill Hicks Story, the animated documentary about the comedian’s life and early death. The film, and Bill Hicks’ potty mouth (or words of wisdom, depending on your taste), got the film series canned (temporarily) until it found a new home at the L Train. stpeteforpeace.org.
Of all the pre-RNC cosmetic improvements to the Bay area, one stands tall: The “Welcome to St. Pete” tower erected on the west end of the Howard Frankland Bridge. Formally known as the “Interstate City Welcoming Structure,” the sign was paid for by St. Pete businessman/Baywalk head honcho Bill Edwards, who apparently felt St. Pete needed to project a stronger image to those traversing the Bay. The structure allows the St. Pete name to penetrate almost all the way to Hillsborough, though the verdict is still out on whether it will make visitors come. How long until Tampa starts planning an even bigger tower for its side of the bridge? Let the stiff competition begin …
In a subsequent email message to his constituents, Young asked them what they thought about raising the minimum wage.
Let’s face it: John Romano had huge shoes to fill as the chosen successor to the inimitable Howard Troxler. And let’s be honest: Nobody thought he’d be this good. But he consistently makes strong arguments in columns on Bay area issues. No one is saying “Howard who?” yet, but they are wondering why it took the Times so long to move this former sports columnist into the big leagues of the Times metro page. As for Joe Henderson, though he doesn’t look it the former sports scribe has been working at Mother Trib for 38 years. He ascended to news during the upheaval at the paper last December that resulted in the terminations of many of his longtime colleagues. Henderson is one reason why it’s still good to read the Tribune.
The state Rep and former state Senate candidate got busted for proposing a resolution that would officially call on the federal government to reduce corporate taxes, but forgot to remove language from the proposal that had been taken directly from the mission statement of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
