Barely legal: The just-turned-21 first-timer’s guide to St. Pete summer pub-hopping.
I've always loved downtown St. Pete, and ever since high school it’s been where I’ve spent most of my Friday nights with friends or family. Whether I go to the movies, eat out on Beach Drive or simply walk around, I always leave appreciating it that much more. It wasn’t until I turned 21, however,…
The scoop on indie joints with frozen treats
Soft-serve, shakes and snoballs worth melting for.
TMA seduces with Pride & Passion tonight!
Celebrate the kickoff of the Pride season with a splashy affair at the Tampa Museum of Art.
Vicki Chase’s mouth writes checks her ass cashes
The Latina porn star on her Gumby tattoo, “pony sex,” depositing stacks of ones, and why she might change her name to Vicki Wells Fargo.
A family affair
The Blatterfein clan transforms Mangroves into Sunova Beach.
Theater Review: Jobsite Theater’s All New People
The Zach Braff dramedy offers several good laughs, several choice obscenities, and a couple of late stabs at deeper significance.
Mitch Perry Report 5.15.14 – Fast Food Nation asks for a raise
Fast-food workers in Tampa and across the world are staging walk-out strikes today, demanding they be paid a living wage of $15 an hour. That's significantly more than what the proposed increase of $10.10 an hour for the minimum wage that President Obama and Democrats have been calling on Republican to support, an issue that…
Transforming Tampa Bay: Saving the good stuff
Americans have a marked tendency to throw stuff out and move on. We initially did this by wearing out the land and moving ever westward. We do this with clothes, jobs and relationships. Persuasive advertising almost always starts with the words “new” or “improved.” Framing a compelling argument for keeping things goes against the grain…
Mick Foley sells out Side Splitters
The famous wrestler and author is trying his hand at stand-up in the Bay area Thursday night.
This year’s Eurovision and its bearded wonder
As Conchita Wurst tops Eurovision, Russia hits bottom.
Primal dream — Denis Gaston at Five Deuces
St. Pete’s fledgling Five Deuces Galleria hosts a Denis Gaston solo show.
Poet’s Notebook: Mayday!
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world… Recently I opened up the Tampa Bay Times to the editorial pages and saw three headlines: DEMOCRACY PUT UP FOR SALE (the editorial), GAP IN WEALTH IS EVEN…
Florida CAIR has serious questions regarding FBI Agent Who Killed Ibragim Todashev
The Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) today sent letters to the Department of Justice, the Orange County State Attorney's Office, and the FBI demanding answers regarding the FBI agent who shot and killed Ibragim Todashev in Orlando nearly a year ago. Todashev was the 27-year-old Chechan-American man who lived in Orlando…
Tropical Heatwave, Day 2, Saturday with The Hold Steady, Bright Light Social Hour & more
A look back at the May 10 fest, in words & photos
Restaurant review: Down on the farm
Bradenton’s monthly Table to Farm experience puts diners as close to the dishes’ origins as possible.
Sexting with Sydney Leathers
Anthony Weiner’s femme fatale on bipartisan sexting, dick pics, and her plans to shoot more porn
Do This: Comedian Mike Rivera lets us in the Teacher’s Lounge tonight in Ybor City
We all had that funny teacher back in school who made us laugh and made their class more fun than any other. But they weren't actual comedians. You wouldn't expect them to get up on stage and entertain everyone for a solid 45 minutes with funny jokes. Unless your teacher was Mike Rivera, of course.…
Tampa Bay Brewing Company to open second brew restaurant in northwest Hillsborough County
The Ybor City success story will expand in 2015.
Tampa Bay House Republicans resolute against raising minimum wage
Mitt Romney made news last week when he said that he supports an increase in the minimum wage, one of the major issues that President Obama and Democrats nationally are running on this year. “I, for instance, as you know, part company with many of the conservatives in my party on the issue of the…
The Laugh Tract — who’s bringing the funny
Pablo Francisco and Josh Sneed head the list of comedy club talent on stage this weekend.
New Dem super PAC ad blasts Rick Scott for avoiding to answer the tough questions
It's no secret that Rick Scott is sort of famous amongst Florida political reporters for avoiding answering certain questions. Not always, but frequently the governor doesn't just direct you to another subject that he would rather talk about (as all good politicians often do), but just stays relentlessly, frustratingly on message. A new web ad…
Mitch Perry Report 5.14.14: You still can’t drive 75 in Florida
A host of bills from the 2014 Florida legislative session await Governor Rick Scott's signature, among them two pro-life bills that have angered Democrats and some women's groups, prompting a conference call to protest them led by DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz yesterday. But it's a bill the governor refused to sign that's getting him the most press.…
Ed Jany says fear of losing his job, not Times piece, is why he dropped out of the CD13 race
Although Ed Jany's departure from the CD13 race comes just two days after a report in the Tampa Bay Times revealed that he had inflated his education credentials, the Marine Corps Reserve colonel insists that the timing is coincidental, and that if he were a wealthy man or had a "sugar daddy" he could have stayed in the race…
DWS & other Florida Dems bash Florida GOP for passing abortion bills
Perhaps because it's an election year, the GOP-led Florida Legislature seemed to be on their best behavior when it came to voting on divisive "wedge" issues. But that doesn't mean they went cold turkey. Two bills restricting abortion rights that were passed and will soon be signed into law were bashed by a trio of…
Going global
Workers are set to rally Tampa during the largest fast-food strike yet.
Listen to a demo from Talk Nice, a new local group featuring members of Alexander & The Grapes and Jensen Serf Company
Two BOTB-winning bands team up for nostalgic dose of 90’s slacker rock
Allen West latest conservative to go off on #BringBackOurGirls
Add former South Florida Congressman Allen West to the parade of conservatives disapproving of the emphasis by the Obama administration and others on the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by the militant Islamic group Boko Haram. Yesterday, nearly a month after they were kidnapped, some of those girls re-emerged in a 27-minute propaganda video shot…
R.I.P. H.R. Giger
The master surrealist was responsible for the haunting, iconic creature in the Alien movies.
Mitch Perry Report 5.13.14 – The Crist campaign takes a page out of the Obama playbook
Immediately after President Obama was named the winner of Florida in the 2012 presidential election (which incidentally was five days after Obama actually defeated Mitt Romney), then Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith talked about how the Dems could overcome their traditional turnout disadvantage in 2014 by relying on the same group of voters that…
New Music Tuesday! (May 13): Michael Jackson, Tori Amos, The Black Keys, Little Dragon & more
Releases out this week; audio & video included
Watch Neil Young & Jack White Perform and press a vinyl record on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
After announcing his ultra-high fidelity music service and personal audio device Pono, Neil Young seems to be going in the complete opposite direction with a performance that will be recorded and pressed directly to vinyl tonight on Fallon. Young will be joined by Jack White, the musician and founder/creative ringleader of Third Man Records. The…
Inkwood celebrates Children’s Book Week
Celebrate the 95th anniversary of a nationwide worldwide event — locally.
The horizons of Dakota Skye
The tiny Tampa native turned porn star on sleeping with women at 13, being a band geek, quitting Wal-Mart for porn, and what sex acts are on her “no list”
Bill Maher to headline Ruth Eckerd on Oct. 25
Tickets go on sale this Saturday, May 17, at noon.
Boundary Disputes
The heart wants what the heart wants, but know where to draw the line.
New survey on road rage calls Tampa 11th Most Courteous City in the US
In terms of upsetting a fellow driver on the road, a new survey says you'd probably prefer to have such an incident in Tampa vs. any other big city in Florida. That comes via the AutoVantage's Driver’s Seat Road Rage Survey, which identifies Tampa as having the 11th most courteous drivers across America’s largest cities.…
David Jolly believes man has had an impact on climate change
Unlike Marco Rubio, David Jolly definitely believes that climate change is caused by human activity. But like the Florida Senator and potential 2016 presidential candidate, the Pinellas-based Congressman says his issue is with how to address the issue moving forward. "I believe climate change is occurring and I believe man has had an impact," Jolly…
Harvard students to hold Satanic “black mass” tonight
First the statue at the Oklahoma State House, and now this: Members of a Harvard student group plan to hold a Satanic black mass tonight at a space on the school's campus, as part of, you know, totally checking out everything the world has to offer. Posters and fliers announcing the "reenactment" have been showing up all over…
Do This: Bring Back Our Girls, Scott & Patti: The Mother Lode
St. Petersburg offers activism and sassy cabaret tonight.
Mitch Perry Report 5.12.14: Looks like this Sterling thing isn’t going away anytime soon
In what was by far the most dramatic game of the entire second round of the NBA playoffs, the L.A. Clippers knocked off the Oklahoma City yesterday afternoon 101-99, tying that series at 2-2. If you like basketball, this series has it all, with four of the most exciting players in the game in the…
Nigerian-born shoe designer Shola Yusuf realizes her dream in Tampa
When a woman survives a near-fatal car crash and the first thing she seeks is her missing Christian Louboutin, you know she’s got a thing about shoes. That was Shola Yusuf’s reaction even before leaving the scene of her accident, which took place in NYC in 2009: She put the EMT to work finding the…
And here’s the trailer for NBC’s series adaptation of Constantine (VIDEO)
The noir-ish tale of one lost soul and those he saves is officially coming to the small screen.
Nothing cheesy about this Mac Daddy throwdown
The inaugural Mayor’s Mac & Cheese Throwdown was a huge success.
Rubio disputes human activity is “dramatically “contributing to climate change
The failure of Jon Huntsman to break on through as a legitimate presidential candidate in 2012 cemented the perception that Republicans must run to the right to capture their party's nomination, then take their chances in the general election. Rand Paul is trying to upend that theory. On Saturday he again differentiated himself from the…
Bill’s Sports Binge: Draft, Rays and Racism
It's that time of the year, kiddies! A time when college kids are handed millions of dollars and told which of 32 cities they will soon call home (Cleveland? I'm moving to Cleveland? On purpose?). That's right, football freaks. The 2014 NFL Draft is off and running, proving once again that if football is cigarettes,…
Jolly says latest Benghazi investigation is “Not a witch-hunt”
David Jolly was joined by state Rep. Kathleen Peters at press event at Treasure Island Beach Whether or not Democrats will participate in the House select committee investigating the deadly attacks that occurred in Benghazi remains an open question this weekend. The issue is among the most partisan going in Washington these days, but David…
A look back at Tropical Heatwave, Day 1: Friday
I was a Tropical Heatwave virgin last year and I made some critical mistakes that I didn't plan to duplicate this year. So, I mapped out my evening, previewed as many bands as possible, and picked a lineup at the Cuban Club and New World Brewery that I could loosely stick to. I had inside…
Belt out for Bella Voce 2014
Attend an opera fundraising gala extraordinaire.
Do This: The Weekend’s Top 10
Great music, theater and an abundance of carbs highlight this weekend’s to-do list.
Movie Review: Devil’s Knot unravels nothing new
The well-acted dramatization of Mara Leveritt’s true crime book pales in comparison to previous efforts.
Top LGBT weekend happenings
Looking for something fabulous to do this weekend? Here are our top LGBT events taking place in the Tampa Bay area this weekend.
Jessica Ehrlich says Pinellas County Democrats, not D.C. ones, should decide who runs in CD13
Jessica Ehrlich says the fact that the DCCC has been able to control who runs for Congress in the past two election cycles in CD13 is a manifestation of the fact that the Pinellas County Democratic Party is still working to assert itself. Ehrlich was the 2012 Democratic nominee who lost to the late Bill…
Photo review: of Montreal bring their bizarre celebration to State Theatre
A look back at the Tue., May 6 show.
Hear Benjamin Booker debut new songs on NPR’s World Cafe, watch his Letterman appearance too
Drunk Camera Guy Things just keep heating up for once Tampa-based artist Benjamin Booker and his band (Max Norton of Roppongi’s Ace and The Laurel Canyon, and Alex Spoto on drums and bass, respectively). Last week saw them make their late night television debut on Letterman and yesterday found them at WXPN in Philadelphia, Pa.…
A Q&A with Mike Reno before Loverboy plays Taste of Pinellas
The lead singer engages CL in a pleasant chat before this weekend’s food-music extravaganza.
Catching Ybor’s biggest wave
The community-oriented Tropical Heatwave celebrates 33 years this weekend.
Movie Review: Go go Godzilla!
Director Gareth Edwards’ reboot makes the big guy believable again.
Movie Review: The German Doctor
The German Doctor peeks in on a post-World War II Josef Mengele.
Tropical Heatwave: ask the DJs
A few of WMNF’s finest share their recommendations and thoughts for this year’s Tropical Heatwave.
Down to Ybor City again: The return of The Hold Steady
The cult-beloved Brooklyn rock act headlines this year’s Tropical Heatwave.
