Florida prepares to execute the 32nd person in the past 20 months next Tuesday
The spiritual adviser to Florida death row inmate William Silvia made a plea Wednesday for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to personally view Silvia’s execution, scheduled to take place Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke at 6 p.m. “If you’re going to sign it, watch it,” the Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood said. Silvia was convicted…
Fresh off baking for Cardi B, Tampa’s Cake Girl offers treat deals for 813 day
The Cake Girl has no time to chill and is back at it again with fresh cupcakes for 813 Day. The Carrollwood bakery celebrates Tampa’s unofficial holiday by offering BOGO deals on cupcakes, where customers can buy a dozen mini cupcakes and get half-a-dozen for free. The first eight customers through the doors at 14851…
Live Nation, which John Oliver once accused of having a ‘chokehold’ on live entertainment, brings John Oliver to St. Pete this winter
If you’re a fan of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” you may remember an episode from about four years ago, where host John Oliver absolutely dumps on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, accusing the conglomerate of holding customers and musicians hostage with fees and essentially having a “chokehold” on the live entertainment industry. “Ticketmaster…
Tampa Bay is getting the country’s first combination Buffalo Wild Wings and Jimmy John’s
We all know the struggle. You pick up an order of bone-in Mango Habanero wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. You get back in your car. You haul ass to Jimmy John’s – shove the wings into a spread open, fully dressed Vito, and enjoy a “Bone’d MangoVito” within the sanctuary of your Jeep Gladiator. Luckily, the…
The race between Tampa Bay’s Fentrice Driskell and Michele Rayner might be the Legislature’s most competitive
One of the most interesting state legislative primaries taking place on Aug. 18 is the race for the state Senate District 16 seat in the Tampa Bay area between Democratic state Reps. Fentrice Driskell and Michele Rayner. The district encompasses the downtowns of two of Florida’ biggest cities — Tampa and St. Petersburg — with…
Blind Tiger opens ninth location at downtown Tampa’s Rivergate Tower
The beer can building now comes with a little bit of bite. Homegrown coffee chain Blind Tiger cut the ribbon on its ninth location during a grand opening celebration inside the cube at the base of Rivergate Tower, located at 400 N Ashley Dr. The new 1,000 square-foot-location is just a six-minute walk from another…
Photos: Mumford & Sons brings ‘Prizefighter’ to Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena
This month, nearly 17 years to the date since its release, Mumford & Sons’ breakout single “Little Lion Man” surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify. The news comes just on the heels of the band’s return to Tampa last Friday for the band’s first show in the area in nearly a decade (and the first…
Chef Yariel Berrios, from Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Coro, brings six-course dinner to Ybor City this weekend
Skip a meal on Sunday, and bring that appetite to Lara in Ybor City. This weekend, Chef Suzanne Lara welcomes Chef Yariel Berrios to the historic district. Berrios, a chef at Tim Lovero’s Michelin-Bib earning Coro, recently went on TV and admitted that he loves talking story with guests. “Sometimes I spend more time talking…
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Tampa Bay’s best things to do this weekend including ‘Sunshine City Scare’ and more [August 13-20]
There are only 82 days left until Halloween, and anyone freaking out over that timeline will want to be in St. Petersburg this weekend for Sunshine City Scare. Billed as “a new breed of horror convention,” the two-day get together includes about 50 confirmed vendors, plus guests like Garrett Sander, the creator of Monster High.…
Buddy Brew opens first Pinellas County coffee shop this week
Popular Tampa-based coffee chain Buddy Brew is headed over the bridge. Buddy Brew will celebrate the grand-opening of its first Pinellas County outpost this Friday, Aug. 14 at 9:45 a.m. Unlike Buddy Brew’s more standard brick-and-mortar locations, this one’s inside the Sprouts Farmers Market at 7263 Seminole Blvd. To commemorate the event, Buddy Brew will…
Photos: Hillsborough Democrats gather for annual gala, after keynote speaker cancels over AIPAC comments
It would appear taking hardline jabs against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) didn’t hurt Democrats in states like Michigan and New York, Democrats across the Tampa Bay area aren’t so sure. The Hillsborough County Democratic Party got together last Saturday, Aug. 8, for its annual Kennedy-King Gala, despite the keynote speaker dropping out…
Tampa Bay’s best new concerts include fall show from Kiwi rock favorite The Beths
The Beths are not from Australia. The New Zealand indie-rock band, however, is in America and headed for Florida this fall. The Kiwi quartet is a bonafide band of sweethearts famous for a bouncy, joyous, album-accurate live show that touches every part of its now four-LP discography going back to 2018. Touring behind last year’s…
Photos: Titus O’Neil’s back-to-school returns to Tampa, giving kids 30,000 backpacks, plus medical and dental care
Thaddeus Bullard is an omnipresent figure in the Bay area, and much of his work centers around children. And as Florida public schools stare down a potentially dark future under potential first lady Erika Donalds, Bullard, aka WWE superstar Titus O’Neil, is celebrating the wins. Last month, the middle magnet school that bears his name…
Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura are coming to The Hub in downtown Tampa this week
Bert Kreischer recently tried the dry life after going on blood thinners, but promises to get to the bottle this fall. In the meantime, he’s signing bottles for fans at liquor stores across the Bay area. The 53-year-old standup comic and Jesuit High School alumnus will be at The Hub in downtown Tampa this week…
Popular Japanese convenience store Ebisu will open world’s largest location in Tampa Bay this Friday
Ebisu Life Store, a wildly popular Japanese lifestyle shop filled with snacks, blind boxes and obscure collectibles, will debut its largest ever location in Tampa Bay this week. According to a social media post from the company, the new Ebisu will open this Friday, Aug. 14, at 10 a.m. at 6234 Commerce Palms Dr., in…
Pinellas County’s first Shake Shack location will open in Seminole
Despite having locations in Hillsborough and Pasco, Shake Shack has not yet expanded to Pinellas County. That’s set to change soon. The New York City-born chain has plans to add a fourth Bay area location at the Seminole City Center strip mall, according to St. Pete Rising. The Seminole location, at 1165 Park Blvd., joins…
Interview: Before Clearwater concert, Glenn Tilbrook discusses Squeeze’s lost 1974 project ‘Trixies’
Way back in 1974, a couple of wannabe songwriters named Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook wrote an album’s worth of songs about the goings-on at a fictional London club called Trixies. They were immediately proud of the songs, but various circumstances—including the fact that Difford and Tilbrook were too young to get real gigs in…
Red Mesa’s ‘Mercado West’ closes this month in St. Pete, after less than a year in business
Less than two months after Red Mesa Cantina abruptly and dramatically closed in downtown St. Petersburg, another Red Mesa concept is closing its doors. Red Mesa Group announced Wednesday that Mercado West, its Cali-Mex restaurant at 6001 Central Ave., will permanently close later this month, after less than a year in business. “After much thought—and…
Tampa Bay’s best live music happening August 6-13
Tampa Bay’s live music weekend has arrived, and it’s got an 808 in its hand thanks to Egyptian Lover, who headlines Zodiac in Ybor City this Friday. The Americana crowd will pile into Benchmark International Arena for Mumford & Sons, and per usual, the jazz folks have a myriad of options, from Jeremy Carter’s Imagine…
Pasco state Rep. Kevin Steele faces questions over his race to represent Hillsborough County in congress
UPDATED: Pasco County Republican state lawmaker Kevin Steele has resigned from his seat representing House District 55 in the Florida Legislature, which he has held since 2022. Steele had previously announced that he would not run for re-electionthis fall. He entered the race for the Republican nomination for Congress in Florida’s 14th District in May,…
In endorsement, progressive caucus says Dayna Marie Foster ‘speaks to voters disappointed with the institutions of the Florida Democratic Party’
In a reflection that Florida progressives still aren’t comfortable with a former Republican as their standard bearer for governor this fall, the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida has endorsed educator Dayna Marie Foster for governor in the Aug. 18 primary election. The 32-year-old Foster resides in Fort Lauderdale and has never run for public office…
Grit & Rumble, a new concert series booking femme, queer, and BIPOC bands, launches in St. Pete on Saturday
With the closure of Crowbar in Tampa, St. Petersburg has emerged as a surefire community where small, indie-centric stages still exist. Suite E Studios continues to hold it down in the warehouse district, this time bringing in a stacked local bill that marks the debut for Grit & Rumble, a new live series curated by…
The Nest offers rock and roll version of St. Pete’s First Friday
St. Pete’s First Fridays are more than just dudes in polo shirts. A short walk away from First Block, Tampa rock band Just Courtesy headlines a gig at The Nest where the Bay area gets a visit from Orlando indie-pop project Holly Pocket, and an introduction of sorts to Library Card, a Tampa band that’s…
‘Egypt, Egypt’ hitmaker, Egyptian Lover, plays Tampa on Friday
There is no forgetting “Egypt, Egypt.” The hit song from 1984 defined the decade and remains as recognizable as other hits from the same era including Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “The Message.” It also inspired an entire generation of would-be beatmakers to save up money to buy a…
Tampa’s ‘813 Day’ celebrations include a concert from giant sea shanty ensemble
Tampa’s unofficial holiday, 813 Day, celebrates the second-oldest area code in Florida (if you have a 656 area code, you can still come). Parties are happening across Hillsborough County on Aug. 13, including one that was supposed to feature Old Time Sailors, a straight up sea shanty ensemble. The band’s show is an immersive experience…
Interview: Florida author of BookTok hit ‘Daggermouth’ finds hope in dark dystopia
Like many authors right before their book takes off, H.M. Wolfe didn’t expect “Daggermouth” to become a social media darling. The dark, dystopian story was a palate cleanser for Wolfe, who had been writing mostly fantasy worlds and magic systems. “Daggermouth” was her “last-ditch effort” to make full-time writing work before returning to the corporate…
![Gig from stand-up comic and novelist Sam Tallent tops list of best things to do in Tampa Bay this week [August 6-13]](https://i0.wp.com/www.cltampa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Sam-Tallent-Facebook.png?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Gig from stand-up comic and novelist Sam Tallent tops list of best things to do in Tampa Bay this week [August 6-13]
There’s a whole heck of a lot going on inside Sam Tallent’s egg of a skull. In 2024, the 39-year-old told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he was excited to head to Paris and get to work on a follow-up to his critically-acclaimed debut novel “Running The Light.” On Sept. 22, “Brut,” his 368-page thriller…
