Savage Love: Great Pains
What to do if vulvar pain persists after losing your virginity, navigating a MFM threesome, what to do if your husband loses interest in sex…
HGTV Dream Home keeping millions on their toes
I’ll admit, I was a bit taken off guard when I discovered that viewership of the Home and Garden Television channel (HGTV) is actually quite intense. Some out there, myself included, may be hesitant to admit out loud that shows like “Income Property” and “House Hunters” are frequent visitors to our living rooms. The fact…
Intrepid cabaret duo aims to SeXxx us up!
Coco and Homo, aka Colleen Cherry and Zachary Hines, wormed their way into our hearts a couple of years ago with their entertaining cabaret lunacy, chock full of fun interactive games, spirited musical numbers and bitchy jokes galore. We even gave them Best of the Bay for "Best (Only?) Trashtastic Cabaret in 2011. Individually Cherry…
Album Review: Young the Giant, Mind Over Matter
Young the Giant tries to rekindle the spark that blew them up, but the results are mixed.
Tampa’s culinary jackpot at Council Oak Steaks & Seafood
Dine like a high roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino’s Council Oak.
Pirates invade and make merry this Saturday
Right around lunchtime Tuesday, the streets of Downtown Tampa echoed with the sounds of cannons and pirates demanding to see the mayor. When he emerged from the crowd, the bilge-sucking heightened with shouts of “Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!” and “Coward” being thrown about. “You will not get the key!” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn retaliated. Despite the scoundrels' efforts…
Live music radar: Mustard Plug at Crowbar, People’s Blues of Richmond redux at The Hub
A few tasty highlights in live music tonight. Ben Kremaku Photography Mustard Plug Ska-punk forebearers Mustard Plug hits town behind seventh studio album, Can't Contain It, its first single "White Noise" mixing punk-crunchy distorted guitars, ska tooting horns, sampled radio transmissions, bouncy-fast rhythms and over it all, gruff braying vocals yelling, “You got nothing left…
Belleair ruling delays Biltmore demolition
A 3-2 vote favored postponing a decision on the land use change.
Best of the Day: TIGLFF 25th anniversary screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch
One of the most memorable films of last decade, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the best rock opera/musical made into a motion picture since The Who rocked Tommy and Frankenfurter sashayed in Rocky Horror Picture Show. It combines a snazzy garage rock/pop score, sassy comedy, a heartfelt coming of age story, lovesick melodrama, cool animation and…
Alex Sink speaks out on flood insurance rate hikes
Alex Sink, Democratic contender for Congressional District 13, rolled out potential solutions to Pinellas County’s dire flood insurance crisis at a press conference in St. Pete’s flood prone Northeast Park Neighborhood yesterday afternoon. Using a home located in a FEMA high risk flood zone as a backdrop, Sink emphasized her commitment to bipartisan efforts in…
Mitch Perry Report 1.22.13 – Shock poll: Rick Scott has nearly caught up with Charlie Crist
The big news this morning is a new Public Policy Polling survey that shows that Rick Scott has virtually eclipsed the sizable lead that Charlie Crist has had on him for months. PPP shows Crist up 43-41 percent, with 15 percent undecided. Good news for Democrats with the Attorney General's race though, with Pam Bondi…
Slamdance Review: Goldberg & Eisenberg
Goldberg & Eisenberg Goldberg, a lonely and awkward Israeli computer programmer, wanders the parks of Tel Aviv with his dog, in hopes of making a love connection. The connection he makes, with an abrasive and persistent man by the name of Eisenberg, is not what he was looking for. Unfortunately, Eisenberg won’t take no for…
Sundance Review: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is a fascinating experiment
Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood 12 years in the making, Richard Linklater’s late inclusion into the 2014 Sundance Film Festival lineup does something very rare in fiction cinema. His actors age naturally in a film whose story spans over a decade in the life of an extended family. I’ve seen something like this in the fascinating…
Peter Meinke headlines Eckerd writers series tonight
Christina Wright OUR POET LAUREATE: Peter Meinke will read at Eckerd's Writers in Paradise tonight. The Writers in Paradise in literary conference at Eckerd College has featured a star-studded lineup with bestsellers like Dennis Lehane, Andre Dubus III and Tim O'Brien headlining free readings this year. Tonight, the Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg and CL…
Photo review: Sunshine Music & Blues Festival in St. Petersburg
A look back at the Sun., Jan. 19 fest.
The Laugh Tract — who’s bringing the funny
PUBLICITY PHOTO TWEET HEAT: Brendon Walsh, who's known for his Twitter absurdities, headlines the Improv this weekend. Another week, another fresh group of funny people at comedy clubs across the bay area. Each venue has a different style of performer, but they're all serving up jokes throughout weekend. Here's the lineup: Comedy Clubs Brendon Walsh…
Six couples challenge Florida’s gay marriage ban
From left, couples Don Johnston and Jorge Diaz; Jeff and Todd Delmay; Dr. Juan Carlos Rodriguez and David Price; Vanessa and Melanie Alenier; Summer Greene and Pamela Faerber have teamed up with Equality Florida to bring marriage equality to the Sunshine State. Not pictured: Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello. As the fight for marriage equality…
Bike sharing in Tampa is almost ready to roll
Courtesy of Tampa Bay Bike Share Coast Bike Share rental locations will be available at dozens of hubs throughout Downtown Tampa, Ybor City and Hyde Park, including the Tampa Riverwalk. Coast Bike Share is Tampa’s new official bike share program, set to launch this spring with 300 bikes located at dozens of hubs throughout Downtown…
New Music Tuesday! (January 21): Mogwai, Young the Giant, Against Me! & more
Releases out this week; audio & video included.
Dem AG candidate says investing in kids now will prevent crime later
Facebook George Sheldon As promised, Democratic Attorney General candidate George Sheldon has released the first of what he promises to be a series of position papers on his platform, this one on the importance of spending money on early-childhood programs as a tool to fight crime and make Florida safer. "We need to get tough…
Visions of chocolate from Tampa’s Festival of Chocolate at MOSI
Walking into the fourth annual Festival of Chocolate at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry last weekend, the first booth you're greeted with is The Sweet Tooth. There, guests find an array of colorful toothbrushes (I got orange with blue bristles) and get their picture with life-sized candy props. After snapping a photo with a…
Bike share program just months away in Tampa
Mayor Bob Buckhorn can't wait for Coast Bike Share to begin. A bike-sharing program in Tampa that incorporates technology not used in any similar program in the country is due to begin in just a few months, officials said Tuesday morning. The first phase of the plan will originate in three locations in Tampa —…
Review: Billy Joel thrills a sell-out crowd at Tampa Bay Times Forum
A look back at Friday night’s show; with photos & full setlist.
DCCC begins airing new ad attacking David Jolly’s lobbying past
(Updated)Fairly or unfairly, lobbyists aren't ranked very high by the American people, and haven't been for awhile. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in supporting Alex Sink in the CD13 special election, wants to make sure everyone knows that her GOP opponent, Republican David Jolly, has made a career out of such work. So starting…
Do This: Alter at Centre Gallery
They're like candy, they're in paper form with cartoons drawn on them, or they're sleek capsules with pretty multicolored dots inside. The look and shape of pills, capsules, powders, blotters, et al. can be part of what lulls people into partaking of them. Ericka Richardson's sculptural works examine the aesthetics of drugs and more as…
Best of the day: Cheese department at Mazzaro’s Italian Market in St. Petersburg
Arielle Stevenson It's true, if I had ample disposable income, quite a bit would be spent on cheese. Not on some no-name brick of cheddar, this isn't about quantity. I'm an explorer hot on the pursuit of cheese knowledge. But this journey is a costly one, upwards of $20 a pound. So in the meantime,…
Savage Love: Quickies
How to support a gay nephew without leading him on, where to send a submissive husband, how to tell if your new boyfriend is gay…
Mitch Perry Report 1.21.14 – Charlie Crist’s new weapon?
Jim Messina, President Obama's campaign manager in 2012, is joining Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial campaign as a senior strategic adviser. This is potentially a big boost in the arm for the former and possibly future Florida governor's campaign chances in knocking off incumbent Rick Scott. According to Politico, Messina will not be involved in the day-to-day…
Album review: Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes
Bruce Springsteen put together a more unorthodox album than usual for his 18th effort. High Hopes is more a hodge-podge of covers, outtakes and leftover material than a fully-realized piece of work, but it flows surprisingly well considering the lack of continuity in the tracks themselves. Bruce delivers some of his most forceful and commanding…
Shovels & Rope to play Crowbar in February
The excellent South Carolina pair is coming to town
Clearwater’s Pair ‘O Dice Brewing Company draws crowd at grand opening
Facebook Ken and Julia Rosenthal didn't know what to expect when they planned the grand opening of their Pair O’ Dice Brewing Company. So they were a pleasantly stunned when they opened the doors at 2 p.m. last Saturday to find a line outside the warehouse space along 118th Ave. N. Located in the north…
In The Party’s Over, Charlie Crist says the GOP has been taken over by “the forces of intolerance and extremism”
Let the governor’s race begin …
Listen: Gators In The Sawgrass, “Johnson Boys”
The band is part of Venture Compound’s excellent Friday night bill.
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit fills the January doldrums
Chris Pine and Kenneth Branagh aim for international intrigue but miss the mark.
10 Songs for Civil Rights & Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Spotify playlist included.
Ride Along can’t even pull the trailer
Kevin Hart isn’t enough to elevate this flick beyond standard buddy-cop fare.
On police chases and gun control, differences surface between Kriseman, Buckhorn
Being former disciples of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council (the D.C.-based ’80s think tank created partly in response to perceptions that the Democratic Party was too liberal), you'd think that Bob Buckhorn and Rick Kriseman would share a similar political DNA. In most cases they do. But two recent moves by the newly inaugurated St.…
Dunedin’s 7venth Sun Brewing expanding and pushing craft beer envelope
The Dunedin-based brewery eyes a second location.
Do This: Festival of Chocolate’s Great American Candy Run
If Willy Wonka and his sugar mogul cohorts were to hold a field day corporate competition, the Great American Candy Run would be included in their activities. The obstacle course for all ages, fitness levels and backgrounds invites you to come "face-to-face with a giant cookie pit, hurdle through a peppermint patch or dive through…
Mitch Perry Report 1.20.14 – Pot Bowl approaches
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. everyone. There are several events happening to celebrate the day in the Bay area, including two big marches in Tampa and St. Pete. Well, we have our two teams playing for the Super Bowl: The league's number one offense in Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will face off…
Best of the Day: MLK Events in Tampa & St. Petersburg
Today is the third Monday in January, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. To commemorate the occasion, there are a variety of events happening on both sides of the Bay. Perhaps the most accessible for those who want to celebrate the occasion are the parades scheduled for later in the day. In Tampa: The…
Billie Jean King tells Vladimir Putin to change his anti-gay law
With the beginning of the Sochi Winter Olympics less than three weeks away, Vladimir Putin is now out a major PR offensive to tell the world that Russia is actually an oasis of freedom. But the passage of an anti-gay rights bill last summer has had the Russian President madly backpedaling in recent weeks, as…
Do This: Bad News Bears , National Popcorn Day at Tampa Theatre
DARING DELINQUENTS: The Bad News Bears. If you grew up in the 1970s or have a fondness for films made it during that time, you no doubt reserve a special affection for coming of age films that celebrate the underdog — movies like Breaking Away and My Bodyguard. A classic from that rough-and-tumble hall of…
Best of the Day: People’s Blues of Richmond at New World Brewery
Video included.
Glimpses of last Friday’s S̴͉̰̯̻͇̼̲̿͒̈•̟̘̲͙O̸̱ͣ͋̽͆∞U͍̮̻̪͖ͩ̀̇ͨ̅͊͡ͅ ̹̫̩͍͚ͦ̾̎̈́͌ͣ͑ T̝̹̼̺̘͛Ḣ show
Danny Olda A GOOD EGG: Artist Sarah Valdez performs seemingly in vitro as i_like_dog_face at Friday Night’s digital art exhibit S̴͉̰̯̻͇̼̲̿͒̈•̟̘̲͙O̸̱ͣ͋̽͆∞U͍̮̻̪͖ͩ̀̇ͨ̅͊͡ͅ ̹̫̩͍͚ͦ̾̎̈́͌ͣ͑ T̝̹̼̺̘͛Ḣ Friday night artists and art lovers crowded around a storage unit in East Tampa for a unique art show with a peculiar name: S̴͉̰̯̻͇̼̲̿͒̈•̟̘̲͙O̸̱ͣ͋̽͆∞U͍̮̻̪͖ͩ̀̇ͨ̅͊͡ͅ ̹̫̩͍͚ͦ̾̎̈́͌ͣ͑ T̝̹̼̺̘͛Ḣ. Projectors and monitors illuminated the space…
Matthew McConaughey shines in True Detective
This is an era of difficult men. It’s been said many time but it still holds true. Walter White, Don Draper, Tony Soprano and many more down the line. They’re simply more compelling characters. Our latest difficult man is Rust Cohle, expertly played by Matthew McConaughey. You wouldn't find Matthew McConaughey and “expertly played” in…
Best of the Day: Gorilla Theatre’s “An Iliad”
Brendan Ragan. The return of Gorilla Theatre would be great news no matter what they were up to. But I want to make a special plea to anyone who enjoys bravura acting and the power of a good story: Go and see Gorilla's production of An Iliad. A 2012 adaptation by Tony-winning actor Denis O'Hare…
Whole grains you might not have heard of (but should probably be eating)
Great grains you might not know about.
Do This: Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, Daniel Mrgan’s show show at Bluelucy and more
TAMPA BAY BLACK HERITAGE FESTIVAL HORN BLAST: Eric Darius at last year's Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival. Honor MLK's legacy and the holiday weekend in his owner at the 14th Annual Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, which celebrates the indelible influences of African-American culture just in time for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and…
At Dem AG candidates forum, Perry Thurston says Pam Bondi cares more about ideology than the people of Florida
Democrats AG candidates Perry Thurston & George Sheldon in Tampa Unlike some other cabinet positions (CFO, anyone?), Florida Democrats actually have a vibrant primary election going on in their contest to see who faces incumbent Attorney General Pam Bondi in the fall. House Minority Leader Perry Thurston and George Sheldon, who last served as the…
Genetically modified mosquito plans draw opposition
Jeffrey M. Smith Genetically modified organisms were the topic Thursday night at the University of South Florida's Oval Theatre, but this time the focus wasn't only on what we eat. The biotech company Oxitec has been pushing to release genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, as part of an experiment aimed at curbing the…
Visit Crystal River this weekend: Manatee Festival by day, Plantation overnight
Daniel Veintimilla NEARBY ESCAPE: Crystal River offers more than transparent waters. Nondescript strip malls and corporate retail have been more invasive than kudzu in our Old South state. If you're craving an old-fashioned Florida setting, take a day trip or spend the weekend in Crystal River. An hour and 20 minutes from Tampa, Crystal River…
Preservation drama: Has the curtain finally fallen on Tampa’s Jackson House?
Photo by Linda Saul-Sena Preservation requires guts and tenacity… it is not for the faint of heart. As the curtain lifts on the latest scene in the roller coaster saga of the Jackson House, we see a bright blue tarp on the roof of a decrepit building standing forlornly in a sea of asphalt parking…
Best of the Day: Soul Rebels plays for free at Ale and the Witch
You’ve probably never encountered a brass band with such a wildly diverse resume as that of The Soul Rebels. The eight-piece ensemble (made up of two trumpeters, two trombone players, a saxophonist, two percussionists and a sousaphone player) played “Tom’s Diner” with Suzanne Vega at the 2012 Boston Summer Arts Weekend and “Seek and Destroy”…
Mitch Perry Report 1.17.14 – Rooting for Denver/Niners, expecting Pats/Hawks
Plus: Chris Christie, Oscar nods and more …
The Well-Played List, 1-17-2014: Awkword, You Blew It!, Phantogram, Robyn Hitchcock & more
This week’s most listen-to jams. Audio, video & Spotify playlist included.
Hot Water Music alum Chuck Ragan reveals album release date
The Gainesville indie veteran follows his alt-country muse on forthcoming latest.
Why I won’t see 12 Years a Slave
Gone with the Wind gave me all the Mammy I needed.
Theater Review: Tampa Rep.’s Heroes
Even with a Tom Stoppard translation, this French play remains inert.
Beer brewers and distributors at odds over growler legislation
Craft beer is booming, but will the political machinations of industry heavyweights flatten the market?
When bad guys do good things
He’s probably a bastard, but can’t I still love his art?
