Slicks and the City
Aaron R. Fodiman and Gregory L. Snow were best friends. In fact, Fodiman was Snow's best man. "Aaron was there when I needed him," Snow said. The two were cosmopolitan back when you could still buy undeveloped land in Pinellas County and Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous still fueled America's lust for worldly goods.…
The Cheesy Side of Wine
I often hanker for a hunka cheese. Something about that creamy, protein-enriched stuff converts me over to cheese worship. So it's perfect that my two favorite consumables are a match made in heaven: wine and cheese. Although stringent food and wine pairings are not my bag, it's what readers ask about with plenty of fervor.…
Letters
Your paper certainly knows how to pick the people they choose for awards. Do you really want to support a candidate, Sami Al-Arian, someone who will blow up in your face and rub mud on the wounds? You really don't want to be embarrassed when he is truly exposed for what he is. A leader…
Website
Dialect Generators4 da longest time, I resisted scratchin' dis column, because I didn't want yo' ass sucka's t' git da damn impression dat I is so despuh'ate 4 entertainment dat I sit around translatin' puh'fect-like well-written spida' pages into odd dialects. (Courtesy of The Jive Server, http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/ ~eclectic/toys/jive.html.) After all, I'm, like, totally a busy…
Femme Powered: Bitch and Animal
Animal, the diminutive, percussive half of invectively inventive music/poetry/performance art duo Bitch and Animal, is a sexually outspoken, socially confrontational and visually eccentric artist, one who's doubtlessly endured more prejudice, harassment and outright hate than a guy like me ever will. Still, she seems to give her fellow humans far more credit and leeway than…
Coley on the Rocks?
Last Jan. 26, the St. Petersburg Times and The Tampa Tribune published their first and to date only stories about the demise of Coley Communications Inc. Businesses fail all the time. But the circumstances surrounding the collapse of Coley Communications were a bit unusual. First, the company's sole owner was Tampa political consultant Jon P.…
Books
Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy Putnam/$28.95 It wasn't long ago that Tom Clancy's work was considered eerily prescient, at least in a not-so-distant-future sense of time. His novels have foreshadowed the end of the Cold War, the rising militarism of China, even the threat of nuclear terrorism. In fact, the plot of the movie based…
Lucky 13: The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Some 76 films, more than half of them feature-length productions, will be unveiled at this year's Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. In case there was any doubt in your mind, that's a lot of movies — well over three solid days and nights worth, were you so inclined to prop your eyes open…
Outtakes
Short reviews of movies playing throughout the Tampa Bay area 24 Hour Party People (NR) One of the better rock "n' roll movies of the last few decades, and certainly the definitive film about the Manchester music scene of the punk and post-punk era (actually, it's the only one). 24 Hour Party People is a…
Tender Mercies: Julian’s at the Heritage
As I sunk into the luxurious leather booths at Julian's, smelling the clean white linen tablecloths and admiring the civilized, sleek curve of the glistening martini glass, I began to recall some of the terrific steaks I have consumed over the years. One in particular came to mind. An emergency certainly has a way of…
Spins
Reviews of latest releases from Hot Water Music, Bill Evans and Paul Thorn Hot Water Music Caution One of the most enthralling live acts anywhere, ever, Gainesville posthardcore quartet Hot Water Music was known for years as a band whose recorded output never quite matched its visceral, cathartic sets. Even the best studio effort of…
Orbitals
Wrestle Mania Amateur boxing at your local tavern is dead. "Professional" wrestling rules all the more. Long live the king of the squared circle. The king of hair pulling, eye gouging and cross body blocks. Three Ybor City businesses — Blue Devil Tattoo, Monique's Body Essentials (also a tattoo parlor) and Video Mayhem — have…
Prodigal Poet: Dionisio Martinez
That Dionisio Martinez is among the fold of Bay area poets is a small blessing. His proximity allows local readers to do that rare, invaluable thing that people who love good writing long to do: read a great book thoroughly and then meet its author — shake their hand, query them, applaud them. It's a…
Proceed With Caution: Hot Water Music
On the eve of the release of Hot Water Music's seventh full-length, Caution, bassist Jason Black is actually at home. No, seriously. In Gainesville, not Japan or England or some other far-flung locale, trying to fit both food and sleep into a travel day. When Caution officially drops in a week or so, the notoriously…
