Spins
The ClienteleSuburban Light The first full-length by this British group actually comprises eight songs previously released on EPs, singles and comps, plus five new tracks. But it's the group's first official Stateside release and, despite its scattered timeline, is actually a consistent package, the sonic equivalent of a patchwork blanket whose squares have all been…
Mi Moto Fidel
Cubaphiles do love their vehicles, and veteran English travel writer Christopher Baker has a very special one. His is a red 1,000 cc Paris-Dakar BMW, which he rides like a fully erect penis across Cuba while doing research for a travel guidebook. He covers 7,000 miles in three months and sleeps with an unspecified but…
Alternating Currents
I can think of no better justification for the cut-and-paste functions of the ordinary word processor than Aubrey Hampton's play The War of the Currents, currently showing at Gorilla Theater. This sprawling, overlong and ultimately confusing work is never less than eloquent; it needs re-conception, rearrangement and reduction far more than it needs rewriting. And…
Vicenta’s House
Vicenta Aquila Borges put out her good bedspread after she saw the paintings in her bedroom. The hand-sewn fabric circles crocheted together like jewels in a net play nicely off the art by Alberto Casado. He has painted crumpled aluminum foil with deep translucent colors that sparkle and shine. The art is part of an…
Music Menu
Dashboard Confessional w/Cadillac Blindside The Boca Raton alt-rock band, fronted by singer/songwriter Chris Carraba, has been called reflective, passionate and intimate by All Music Guide. The band's most recent full-length, this year's The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, was released on Vagrant. (April 19, The Orpheum) Hot Soup The Maryland trio of…
What is the title
Morro Castle stands sentinel over Havana Bay and yields spectacular views of Cuba's enchanting capital city. Completed in 1630, the austere fortress provides eloquent exhibition spaces for the seventh Havana Bienal, an international art exhibition showcasing third world art. In one of a series of long, oddly shaped chambers words are stenciled in dark sand…
Miller Time
April being National Poetry Month, poet E. Ethelbert Miller enjoys an appreciable rise in popularity during the month. Writers like myself receive numerous invitations to read around the country during the month of April, says Miller. The month has generated new interest in poetry. One invite Miller said yes to was sent by the Tampa…
Planet Picks
Thursday 4.19 Doc of the Bay If you haven't treated yourself to a Florida Orchestra concert lately, check out the Super Pops concert, Gershwin, Ellington, Vienna & More. At 8 p.m., the orchestra teams up with guest conductor and trumpeter Doc Severinsen. The Grammy Award-winning artist, who's into everything from big band to jazz-fusion, leads…
From Panama with Love
A World Apart
Letters to the Editor
Eat the PoorRe: Disappearing Act by Gregory Palast (March 22-28) If Al Gore had gotten the vote of every pimp, drug dealer, bank robber, rapist, murderer, etc., etc., he would have won the election. Whoopee! I think only taxpayers, that is, people who actually PAY taxes should have the right to vote. How's that for…
French Kissin’ by the Bay
A reader who fancies himself a gourmand calls me every so often to complain he can't find a decent meal around SoHo. I don't know why he calls me. Perhaps my noncommittal ohs and umms, uttered as he serves his whine, have given him the impression I agree. No way, Jose. This dolt should be…
Freebie of the Week
The crane … a Japanese symbol of longevity and balance. Also the symbol for wisdom and fidelity (China), vigilance and loyalty (Europe) and language and thought (Africa), to name just a few. But those latter three don't matter for our purposes because this week's freebie comes from The White Crane Clinic, which is in the…
The List
Visual ArtsOpenings Feed Your Senses, an evening of art, music and wine, begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at the Clearwater Arts Studios. Check out the works of painter Alexander Kozloff and sculptor Charles Sharrod Partin, while enjoying gourmet desserts, fine vintages from Wines by Morrell, and relaxing tunes by the Zephyr Woodwind Trio.…
Soundboard
Thursday, April 19 ShowsKing Corona Cigars Jonathan Powell & Friends Orpheum Dashboard Confessional/Cadillac Blindside Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Doc Severinsen w/The Florida Orchestra UU Dome (Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa) Hot Soup Clubs42nd Street Bistro Lounge Cats Alley Cat's Cafe Diane Bahama Mama's ML2 Bourbon Street Lost Dope/The Dogs/Neurotica Brass Mug Against All/Vigil-Antis/Precipice/Shiver Budious…
Tax Tips for Tycoons
How the millionaire founder of Home Shopping Network pays a lower tax rate than most middle class families.
Public Life
Taste of the Nation 2001 Wednesday, May 2 ¥ 6 p.m. Share Our Strength, American Express and Williams-Sonoma present Taste of the Nation, a five-course dinner to raise funds for the Divine Providence Food Bank of Tampa. Includes a wine tasting reception and silent and live auctions. Individual tickets are $150. Tables of 10 may…
Once More into the Fray
No disrespect to the people who valiantly gave up their lives to fight in the Vietnam conflict, but, man, is this subject tired! Chaos … drugs … futility — all themes explored ad nauseam by Oliver Stone and a gaggle of writers who've mined the murky depths of that blot on world history. Thankfully, Jobsite…
Books
David Kirby, the W. Guy McKenzie Professor of English at Florida State University, may be an intimidating academic title, but there is nothing academic or intimidating about his memory poems — except maybe some indecipherable French words. Blame them on a sabbatical spent in France, but, you know, if Kirby hadn't gone, he surely wouldn't…
Rockin’ the Big Screen
All Access is like an hour of the best of MTVH-1 on a giant IMAX screen, featuring the new (Macy Gray, Kid Rock, Rob Thomas, Moby), the timeless (B.B. King, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Al Green), the resurgent (Santana, Sting) and some who have proven themselves more than one-hit wonders even if they have…
Cuba Libre
Forty-two years after the Revolution, Cuba remains a paradox of idealism and authoritarianism. A trip to the island is bittersweet Victory
Web Site of the Week
Web SiteZe's Pagehttp://home.earthlink.net/~zefrank/ Sometimes you have to ask, What's the friggen point? And that, my fellow mouse potatoes, is where we stand today. Ze's page is either a personal homepage or one damn fine online resume of a certain fellow named (I'm assuming) Ze. And it simply kicks so much ass it probably kicks its…
Down to a Science
New Works, an exhibition at Hyde Park Fine Arts, affirms St. Petersburg sculptor Margaret Steward as one of Tampa Bay's outstanding artists, not only for her quiet aesthetics, but particularly for her phenomenal versatility. Few local artists demonstrate such fearlessness toward mixed media or use it so inventively. Steward, an award-winning and collected artist gravitating…
See You in Court, Twice
The Weekly Planet isn't the only one chasing a document that could reveal how much politically connected businessman Richard A. Corbett is making off his sweetheart lease at Tampa International Airport. Hillsborough County Property Appraiser Rob Turner will ask a judge to compel Corbett and his partners in the International Plaza mall development at the…
