4 of this year’s most outstanding TV show episodes
From Breaking Bad, Justified, Girls and Parks and Recreation.
Album review: Fowler’s Bluff, Fowler’s Bluff
Music scene vets and former players in ’90s-era outfit The Boats, bassist Todd McBride and guitarist George Eckerle, formed Fowler’s Bluff with keysman Mike Todd and drummer Chad Mairn a few years back, and the experimental/alt rock quartet finally compiled enough original material to release a six-track eponymous debut this summer. The six-track release deftly…
Album review: The Hip Abduction, The Hip Abduction
Videos included.
Mitch Perry Report 12.23.13 – Rick Scott the beneficiary of low expectations?
Welcome to the Monday before Christmas, the beginning of a two-week dead zone for news. Yours truly is in town for the first time ever this holiday season, and will blog when appropriate, but let's face it folks: With the exception of the unexpected (natural disasters, deaths or good old crime stories), the country sort…
Best of the Day: The Scott & Patti Christmas Special
Those of us over, um, 30, have fond memories of holiday specials — whether they involve flashbacks of Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin crooning “O Holy Night” with a highball and cigarette, or Karen and Richard Carpenter singing sweetly by the hearth in matching turtlenecks. Local cabaret duo and "mother-and-son" cabaret act Scott &…
High-powered football takes over Tropicana Field
Beef O'Brady's BowlEast Carolina (9-3, 6-2 Conference USA) vs. Ohio (7-5, 4-4 Mid-American)Monday, Dec. 23, 2 pm ET (ESPN)Tropicana Field (28,453), St. Petersburg, Fla.History: East Carolina and Ohio have met just twice in the past with the Pirates winning both times. In their most recent meeting, ECU earned a 21-14 victory during the 1998 regular…
Mike Huckabee says 50-50 whether he’ll run for President
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee danced around the idea that he may run for president in 2016 on Fox News Sunday, saying he's got plenty of time to decide. Asked by host Chris Wallace whether he was open to the possibility of running, he said, "The honest answer is yes." When asked the odds that…
Congressional supporters AND critics of Edward Snowden agree that he should return to U.S. and face the music
This has been a big week when it comes to the consequences of revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance program. A federal judge ruled that the agency's program, which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States, is likely unconstitutional. And a panel commissioned by President Obama…
Do This: The Nutcracker Twist and Ringling’s Greet the Light
Ben Weickert FIRE! Ringling's Greet the Light will feature professional fire spinners. Over the years, The Nutcracker Twist, formerly known as The Chocolate Nutcracker has been a community project consisting of more than 200 children from the Tampa Bay Area. Students along with professional, national artists team up in a 12-week training experience in both…
Best of the Day: Hallicination Before Christmas & Brokenmold Holiday Party
Two big seasonal throwdowns take place just blocks from each other in Ybor City on this night. Hallucination Before Christmas is the ridiculously big seasonal soiree and canned food drive thrown by locally-based electro music-repping Hallucination Recordings has been described as a collision of Christmas and Halloween; flamboyant attire — club kid, cosplay, goth, fetish…
How to fall in love with fiction
Busy? Wary? Bored? Follow these tips.
Change agent
Traditional gender roles got you down? Just ignore them.
Kathleen Peters asks David Jolly, “Got transparency?” Jolly replies, “Got Google?”
A day after Kathleen Peters called David Jolly a "hypocrite" for criticizing Obamacare while allegedly profiting from it, the Pinellas County state representative was back on the attack on Friday, issuing out a press release entitled, "Got Transparency?" In the release, Peters calls on Jolly, her main Congressional District 13 Republican challenger in next month's…
The Well-Played List, Best of 2013, Part 4: Grand Finale
The final wrap-up of the year’s best music releases.
Best of the Day: American Hustle is a must-see
After weeks of hype, director David O. Russell's follow-up to last year's beloved Silver Linings Playbook has finally arrived — and for once, the hype is more than justified. American Hustle is one of the best, most-entertaining movies of 2013. Featuring an amazing cast (Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner ……
Christmas Sports Binge: Bucs, Rays, college football bowl games and much more …
Christmas is in the air. Office parties, neighborhood parties, that friend of your wife's friend is having a party, two parties or more every Saturday — December just flat out rocks the party scene. Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh had evolved into Booze, beer-guts, bloodshot eyes and bare butts on the copier. Jesus would be proud.…
Paul Mecurio: Comedy, politics and cheese sticks
Paul Mecurio brings his stand-up comedy to Ybor City this weekend. You're almost as likely to see Paul Mecurio on a cable news station as you are on Comedy Central. But in both cases he's usually pointing out the absurdity of politics and politicians, and finding humor in things many Americans find maddening. Mecurio covers…
Anchorman 2 is kind of a so-so deal
Ron Burgundy ushers in cable news.
Walking With Dinosaurs deserves extinction
A family film shouldn’t be this dumb.
Ex-Florida Governors (and Rick Scott) star in silly new animated video
With Christmas just days away, Kevin Cate with Cate Communications (and the son of WFLA-TV anchorman Keith Cate) has sent out a humorous video starring Bob Graham, Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and Rick Scott. Funny stuff, and Kevin says each viewing will kick in a dollar for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (up to $1,000).…
Mitch Perry Report 12.20.13: Ezell Gilbert & the misery of mandatory minimum sentences
Previously known as a rich man's drug, cocaine use became much more prevalent if not downright ubiquitous in the late 1970's and early 80's in America. And then the crack cocaine scene developed, and it became a much more devastating drug because of its cheaper value. All of a sudden lower income people, many black,…
Mitch Perry’s Top Ten films, books and music events of the year
'Tis the season for Top Ten lists, and since taking over as CL's News & Politics editor back in the fall of 2009, I've taken advantage of my platform to post my favorites of the year in movies, music and books, the stuff that keeps me going. The stuff that matters. Beginning with the caveat…
Kathleen Peters calls David Jolly a “hypocrite” for lobbying for Obamacare, a charge Jolly denies
Kathleen Peters meets the press at a news conference in St. Pete In the increasingly bitter Congressional District 13 GOP primary race, Kathleen Peters today accused David Jolly of personally profiting from the Affordable Care Act, the bete noire of Republicans nationally. Jolly's financial disclosure forms show that his lobbying firm, Three Bridges Advisors, made…
Do This: Antique Alley’s 3rd Thursday Holiday Marketplace and Inequality for All
This evening, from 6 to 8 p.m., you can knock out last-minute holiday shopping while enjoy tropical cocktails, checking out live tiki carving, scoring sales and browsing holiday decor at Antique Alley's 3rd Thursday Holiday Marketplace in Belleair Bluffs. Stop in Roadside Attraction to take a tag from the "New Year, New Beginning" Giving Tree…
Tampa’s Refinery Trading Places dinner serves up fine Southern fare
Arielle Stevenson Kyndal's spoon bread with the description "corn, butter." Wednesday night, The Refinery's front and back of house staff switched places for charity. Chef Greg Baker and his kitchen crew took over the dining room, while general manager and wife Michelle Baker planned the menu and made dinner in the kitchen. All proceeds and…
9 thought provoking sex books of 2013
Best Sex Writing 2013: The State of Today's Sexual Culture (4/16/2013)Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel Each year renowned sex writer, Rachel Kramer Bussel, compiles the most provocative, challenging, and serious essays on sex. This literary and entertaining volume serves as a sexual almanac, mapping the ever changing topography of America's sensual landscape. This year's essays…
Best of the day: Tampa’s Orpheum brings its own Evan Williams barrel-aged bourbon to Ybor City
The Orpheum What happens when barrel-aged bourbon collaborates with a classic Tampa concert venue? Magic in a glass of course. Historic Tampa concert venue, the Orpheum, recently teamed up with Kentucky-based distillery Evan Williams (Heaven Hill) to bring one special barrel of bourbon to Ybor City. "There is only one barrel of this bourbon," Dufrain…
Mitch Perry Report 12.19.13: Will Weatherford for LG?
Wikipedia In a blog post, the Miami Herald's Mary Ellen Klas tosses out a new name in the now eight-month saga of determining who will eventually end up replacing Jennifer Carroll as Florida's Lieutenant Governor, and it's definitely a wild card – House Speaker Will Weatherford. That's impossible, you say? I mean, why would Weatherford…
Mark Leibovich: Bard of the Beltway
Talking with the author of This Town, the book of the year for political junkies.
Nirvana: About a band
The illustrated history of the grunge-rock legends is more than another bathroom book.
A healthy dose of good reads
From e-reading to vanguard fiction to cultural mash-ups, there’s good lit out there for what ails ya.
May the odds be ever in your favor
Taste the Hunger Games’ sweet and savory lamb stew with dried plums.
Put a lid on it
Canning for the New Generation: This isn’t your grandma’s marmalade.
93.3 FLZ Jingle Ball brings holiday cheer to Tampa with Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke & others
A review of the Wed., Dec. 18 show, with pics.
Tom Stoppard’s Darkside
The award-winning playright commemorates the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Food and drink books perfect for a tasty holiday
The best tomes, new and old, printed and electronic.
CL Fiction Contest: They went wild
Notes from our contest judge on the year’s top 10 stories.
CL Fiction Contest: Judge’s Pick
“Last Summer Fire”
CL Fiction Contest: Readers’ Choice
“Knife Party”
Want free e-books, Internet, movies and music downloads?
Interior of the Jan Platt library with help desk and public computer terminals When was the last time you visited a Hillsborough County library? For that matter, when was the last time you used anything but Google to learn something new?Today's libraries are evolving into centers where people come to create information, not just research…
The Laugh Tract — who’s bringing the funny
Sinbad, Hawk and Wayne and Brokenmold are among the highlights this week.
This week’s top LGBT events
Derrick Barry will perform in drag as Britney Spears at Georgie's Alibi on Saturday, Dec. 21. Thursday, Dec. 19 Largo’s Quench Lounge, 13284 66th St. N., presents its “Naughty or Nice” holiday extravaganza. TJ’s Closet will be on hand, selling adult novelties for all of your Christmas needs. Sexy C. Jay will be dancing throughout…
Trailer on new Netflix doc on Mitt Romney shows him ironing a suit that he’s still wearing
A two-minute trailer on an upcoming Netflix documentary on Mitt Romney's unsuccessful run for the White House has been creating a buzz on the Internet today. It's directed by Greg Whiteley, who it's reported is a longtime Romney family friend. Based on the some of the scenes shown in the trailer, Whiteley absolutely was granted…
Live and Local Spotlight: Pelican Pop Fest 4
Right as the concert season is slowing down for the holidays, Pelican Pop Fest 4 gifts us one more multi-band multi-venue party to look forward to. The bill of mostly Pinellas-based acts touches on a range of indie music terrain — synth pop, psych rock, punk, garage blues, experimental, alt folk, post-punk and more. The…
Darden Rice on the number of openly gay St. Pete City Council members: “It’s a big deal”
2013 was an historic year for the LGBT community, both nationally and in St. Petersburg.
Jeff Brandes remains skeptical that Hillsborough’s PTC can reform itself
Jeff Brandes Two weeks ago the Hillsborough County Legislative delegation shot down a proposed bill sponsored by state Representative Jamie Grant (R-Tampa) and state Senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) that would have allowed the voters to kill the county's Public Transportation Commission, which has been marred in controversy for years. The PTC is the only…
Mitch Perry Report 12.18.13: Bid to get medical marijuana on ballot making a comeback?
A lot of our readers are paying intense attention to the push to get medical marijuana legalized in Florida. If the voters get a chance to weigh in on the matter, polls show there's little question the state would become the 21st in the nation to legalize medical pot. But it is by no means…
CL Holiday Auction: Let the bidding begin
Todd Bates The Creative Loafing Holiday Auction for the benefit of The Children's Home is up and running, and every single item in the auction is deserving of its own individual Best of the Day status. But here are a few highlights of the first week, which is now live on eBay and concludes next…
