Best of the Bay 2020 People, Places and Politics: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay critics and readers pick the best—and shittiest—people, places and politicians of the last year.
Best of the Bay 2021 Arts & Entertainment: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's 2021 readers and critics pick the best in local theater, poets, museums and so much more.
Best of the Bay 2021 Food & Drink: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay critics and readers pick all the best things that made their mouths water in 2020.
Best of the Bay 2021 Goods & Services: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay critics and readers pick the best goods and services in Tampa Bay.
Goods & Services
Best of the Bay 2021 Music: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay readers and critics pick the best songwriters, rock and rollers, clubs, DJs and more.
Teenage Bottlerocket at VFW Post 39/ SPoT
After it was announced in May, everyone felt some kind of way about this show. Tickets for the June gig at St. Pete’s VFW Post 39 were just $18 if you were vaxxed, and $999 if you weren’t. Leadfoot Promotions’ Paul Williams said he just wanted to keep his friends and the band safe while driving money to one of the South’s oldest VFW halls, but literally every outlet from the Washington Post and seemingly every news station in the U.S. wrote about it, and the global attention led VFW elders to back out, leaving Williams with no choice but to move it to the Skatepark of Tampa where, well, no one took him up on the $999 no-vaxx offer, leaving a bunch of 5G’d-up punks to have some fun on their own. @leadfootpromotions on Facebook
Metropolitan Ministries and Feeding Tampa Bay
Hunger has always been an issue in Tampa Bay, and we’re not talking about the kind of pangs you feel when scrolling through foodie Instagram, either. We’re talking about the kind that can turn a family on its head and drive folks to do things they normally wouldn’t. Thankfully, pantries like Metropolitan Ministries and Feeding Tampa Bay have always been there—and stepped up especially huge in the peak of the pandemic—for the community. Powered by donations and volunteers, these essential nonprofits do work that we hope isn’t necessary one day—until then we’re glad they’re here to feed the city. metromin.org and feedingtampabay.org
Winner: Jenergy Air Services
Runners-Up: Mosley Heating and Air, Dunedin Refrigeration
See all winners from Best of the Bay 2021.
Michael Ross
By and large, bass players don’t get as much love as they deserve, so it’s high time we honor Ross. He’s been a fixture on the Tampa Bay jazz scene since 1977, when he arrived from Pennsylvania as a freshman music student at USF. He’s provided rhythmically agile, harmonically savvy bass work—not to mention stirring solos—for an array of bands, most notably Liquid Bebop, which he led in the 1980s. Ross willingly schleps his big, shapely, wooden instrument from gig to gig and plays his ass off—and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude. He hasn’t owned an electric bass since 1978. The acoustic bassist has lived in Sarasota for quite some time, but still performs intermittently north of the Skyway. Keep an eye out for his duo shows with vocalist Fred Johnson. They’re something to behold. michaelrossbass.com
