Planetary Shifts
There's a downside to being an edgy alternative newspaper. You can't go around eviscerating the establishment and mooning the mainstream media without occasionally looking in the mirror. Case in point: Last October, the Weekly Planet made a big deal out of a big deal — our purchase of the group of newspapers that had originally…
Culinary Events
CULINARY EVENTS Food Fais Do Do It's Cajun party time, as the Cajun Cafe kicks into gear with its fourth annual Crawfish Festival. Enjoy delicious Cajun foods, everything from good-as-it-gets gumbo to crawfish etoufee, and stomp your feet to lively Cajun, zydeco and blues bands. Cajun Cafe was Weekly Planet's 2000 Best Fais Do Do…
Both Sides Now
It would be difficult to imagine two more different films than the ones opening this week at Tampa's dual (some might say dueling) venues for non-mainstream movies, Tampa Theatre and Channelside Cinemas. The Widow of Saint-Pierre, opening at Tampa Theatre, is a gorgeously mounted period piece with lush cinematography, big themes, a rising international star…
Public Life
Tropical Jive Friday, April 6 7:30 p.m.-midnight The Tampa Museum of Art fundraising group Friends of the Arts (FOTA) hosts a swing dance party, Tropical Jive, to support museum programs. The party features the live music of Dan Electro & The Silvertones and swing dance lessons 7:30-8:30. The cost is $35 per person. Takes place…
Planet Picks
Thursday 4.5 Not-So-Cheap Labour For the next four weeks, St. Pete's Demens Landing is all about the bard during American Stage's 16th annual Shakespeare in the Park production. Be among the first to see this year's play, Love's Labour Lost, at the premiere gala. Begin with cocktails at 6 p.m., followed by dinner courtesy of…
Soundboard
Thursday, April 5 Shows Cajun Cafe on the Bayou 4th Annual Annual Crawfish Festival Clubs Alley Cat's Cafe Jamie Perlow Bahama Mama's ML2 Beach Place (Whitey's) Run for Cover Bourbon Street Born Into Kaos/Cider Budious Maximus HiFi Lounge w/Madhatter/Alex Lugo Carlie's Rebel Pride Club Hedo Gemini/Passthamic/Ryan McGary/Cory K Club More The Outpatients Daiquiri Deck Velvet…
Spins
Laura Nyro Angel in the Dark Recorded independently before and during Laura Nyro's bout with ovarian cancer (which claimed her life in 1997), the songs on Angel in the Dark portray a woman at the peek of her powers, sending a last love letter to her devoted cult of fans. The 16 tracks are about…
Hot Pursuit
Tampa and St. Petersburg may be close in size and well, just close, but the way they deal with auto thefts is a world apart. In 1995 the Tampa Police Department changed its chase policy to deal with the embarrassingly high rate of auto theft. Instead of chasing only violent felons, the police started going…
Dining Guide
HILLSBOROUGH Tampa Carrollwood/Northwest Tampa Kaisen Sushi, 12785 N. Dale Mabry, in Mission Bell Square (813-969-3848). This friendly, casual and tiny cafe offers exceptionally fresh, artfully prepared, delicious and value priced sushi. What more can you ask for? A must-try is the calamari, thick slices of succulent grilled squid served in a dark, smoky sauce. Sweet…
Somewhere Over the Rainbow Flag
the Rainbow Flag The loud buzz of a busy restaurant — glasses clinking, diners chattering, waiters rushing about — makes for a very gay atmosphere inside Tropics on any Saturday night. And though it gets
Letters to the Editor
Invisible Rights Re: "Disappearing Acts" by Gregory Palast (March 22-28) It is incumbent upon all of us to contact Gov. Bush and question why felons whose rights were fully restored in other states were unable to vote after moving to Florida. Was it because the majority was black Democrats that this "mistake" came about? Then…
Blowin’ in the Wind
Don't blame Blow because it's not a drug movie along the high-flying lines of other recent drug movies. Blow is not some complex mosaic about the endlessly sticky worldwide web of drug supply and demand a la Traffic; nor is it a harrowing worm's eye view of the personal trauma of addiction a la Requiem…
Outtakes
15 Minutes (R) Robert De Niro and Ed Burns play the pistol-packing Good Guys on the trail of a pair of mad-dog killers with a mania for videotaping their crimes. Tough, exciting and just off-kilter enough to keep us guessing, 15 Minutes is a thriller that manages to transcend the buddy movie genre and even…
Video Pick: Cotton Mary
VIDEO PICK Cotton Mary (R) Although he's long been identified as the producing half of the Merchant-Ivory team, Ismail Merchant has over the past decade proven himself a capable director in his own right. Cotton Mary is not only Merchant's finest film but one of the very finest in the entire Merchant-Ivory canon. Madhur Jaffrey…
Hello, Norma Jean
The Life and Death of Marilyn Monroe, which opens this weekend at Theatre II of the University of South Florida, is a wild, surrealistic rhapsody on the themes of Hollywood, fame, and the icon-making frenzy of a legend-starved public. In one scene after the next, Monroe's story is told as an exercise in the mythological/grotesque,…
Mr. Wilcox Goes to Tallahassee
Imagine being executive director of Common Cause/Florida. You are the Tallahassee lobbyist for the quintessential good-government group. "Let me tell you, I'm not the most popular person in the capital," said Ben Wilcox. "Politicians can't expect me to pick up the check for a meal or buy a drink." Wilcox, who covered the Legislature as…
Web Site of the Week
A traditional morning ritual used to be get up, make coffee, shower and then sit down for a nice brekkie of unfertilized fowl embryos with a side of porcine flesh while reading the paper. Now it's usually alarm, panic, shower (perhaps washing certain parts faster and more furiously than others, but that's really your concern,…
Books
Roads By Larry McMurtry $25/ Simon & Schuster This attempt at nonfiction by acclaimed writer Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) falls flat almost immediately and never recovers. McMurtry presents us with the romantic notion of traversing America's grids that pass for roads, and shares his thoughts accordingly. If one is not familiar with McMurtry's other work,…
Music Menu
The Irritable Tribe of Poets This creative collective is the result of two ensemble performances last year at the Orpheum. Featuring Greenwich Blue bassist (and music journalist) Philip Booth, percussionist (and singer/songwriter) Jim Beckwith and a host of others, the group's funk/jazz/world hybrid is augmented by spoken-word performances from a number of artists, including Tampa…
Rock ‘n’ Roll Rescue Mission
Remember the first time "Smells Like Teen Spirit" mugged you from the radio? After just 20 seconds of guitar grind and drum flail, you somehow knew that rock 'n' roll had been rescued. It went to shit pretty fast, didn't it? Soon enough we had Seven Mary Three and cookie-cutter pop-punk. The '90s decline was…
