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Sep 22-28, 2004

Sep 22-28, 2004 / Vol. 16 / No. 70

JAN ROBERTS

Global Activist, Closet Tango Dancer, Director of Earth Charter USA Communities Initiatives

by CL Staff

BEST ACTRESS

Julie Rowe It´s a rare performer who can truly transform for every role, who can find the personality that a part requires and leave her own personality behind. But if you saw St. Petersburg resident Julie Rowe in A Moon For The Misbegotten and Sliding Into Butter (both at American Stage), you know that´s precisely…

by CL Staff

BEST ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Judith Lisi Officially, she´s not artistic director; she´s president of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. But whatever the specific title, Judith Lisi is, more than any other single person, responsible for the vibrancy of the performing arts in the Bay area. Her watchword is ¨variety¨ — Broadway touring companies and local actor´s theater, homegrown…

by CL Staff

Culinary Events

A TASTE OF PALM HARBOR FESTIVAL Sample delectable food and drink from over 25 Bay area restaurants, view the arts and crafts show or take in some live music, with all proceeds benefiting "Making a Difference Community Grants & Scholarships" program. Admission is free. noon-6 p.m. Sun., Oct. 3. Florida Avenue and Alt. 19 and…

by CL Staff

MARK KAMLEITER

Activist Attorney, Advocate for Children with Disabilities, Green Party of Pinellas County Spokesperson

by CL Staff

BEST NEW BUILDING

Clearwater´s Main Library Building Designed by Robert A.M. Stern The most underheralded new building in the Bay area was designed by one of the leading architects of our time — a pioneer of postmodernism and new urbanism. No, the Clearwater library is not Stern´s most fabulous or innovative building, but when someone of his stature…

by CL Staff

BEST GUTSY COLUMN

Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times, May 23, 2004 Responding to the flash riot activity that occurred in St. Pete a few days before the Tyron Lewis verdict, Maxwell let all his frustrations hang out. He began by condemning the attack on a local doctor´s SUV by a mob of ¨angry young blacks.¨ And then he…

by CL Staff

BEST PLACE TO DANCE

The Castle While some prefer its low-key, classy downstairs bar, The Castle´s upstairs dance floor really draws the crowds (and apparently, the votes). Here, patrons enjoy a large, L-shaped bar, dancers on pedestals, and four projection screens with visuals to accompany tunes varying from one evening to the next. The fun begins on Monday with…

by CL Staff

BEST DRAG SHOW

TIE: Flirt/1470 West Whatever your taste in lesbians — tailored blonde or baby dyke, buxom mama or average Jo — she´s likely to be at Flirt. But really, Flirt is so much more convivial than a pick-up joint, and it´s not even exclusively lesbian or gay. Besides W4Ws and M4Ms, there´s a smattering of heteros…

by CL Staff

BEST NEW SIGN

Tampa Theatre´s New Marquee The restoration of Tampa Theatre has been CEO John Bell´s ongoing labor of love for almost 20 years. From the smallest decorative detail to the grandest architectural flourish, he has insisted on quality and authenticity. In January, he unveiled his piece de resistance: gorgeous replicas of the original marquee and vertical…

by CL Staff

BEST TEST DRIVE

Courtesy Pontiac In years past, this blurb has espoused the fleeting thrill of driving Porches, BMWs, Hummers and who-knows-what-else. We decided to go American this year, and take a trip down memory lane — back to the days when it was still OK to drive gas-guzzlers. We picked the Pontiac GTO. To many baby boomers,…

by CL Staff

BEST OFFBEAT LITIGATION

Rock Stars vs. Diamond Dolls Two of the Bay area´s all-time favorite minimum-contact sports — litigation and exotic dancing — collided again back in June, when it was announced that a cadre of famous musicians (including Creed´s Scott Stapp, Poison´s Bret Michaels, and Janet Jackson) were suing Clearwater strip joint Diamond Dolls. The technical truth…

by CL Staff

BEST JAVA EDIFICE

Indigo Indigo coffeehouses are so cool looking, we go just to refresh our tired eyes after they´ve been assaulted by Tampa´s urban ugliness. The deep-sea blue trim and imaginative shapes of these tiny oases provide an antidote to the usual boring corporate boxes. The coffee and scones are just pleasant perks. They don´t have an…

by CL Staff

BEST DIVE BAR/BEST BATHROOM GRAFITTI

The Hub Some people will never get over the Hub´s move from Florida Avenue to Franklin Street less than a block away. And it´s true the new location lacks a certain noir quality the old one had. Something about the way the streetlights shone through the windows late at night. Otherwise, it´s pretty much the…

by CL Staff

BEST PATRIOTIC GRIDLOCK

AirFest 2004 After a two-year hiatus brought on by post-9/11 security issues, MacDill Air Force Base´s annual two-day air show/ordnance-and-technology display AirFest returned this past April. (Because if we as Americans can no longer pose next to an authentic Vietnam-era Huey helicopter before being buzzed by two Blue Angels headed in opposite directions, well, then,…

by CL Staff

BEST PLAY

A Moon For The Misbegotten American Stage´s Moon For The Misbegotten had everything: a terrific script, inspired acting, judicious direction and stunning design. The script, by Eugene O´Neill, is an American masterpiece. In it, O´Neill showed his love for his brother Jamie by allowing the character based on him — ¨James Tyrone¨ — to find…

by CL Staff

ERIN CARDINAL

Dancer, Co-Director of Moving Current Dance Collective; Dance Teacher at Blake High School

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL HONOR FOR A LOCAL ARTIST

The Mayor´s First Annual Artist Award: Bud Lee The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Cultural Affairs Committee has been giving out an award for several years to the Cultural Contributor of the Year. It has gone to some very deserving recipients over the years, people who donate time and money to support the arts and…

by CL Staff

Ask the Advice Goddess

He Shrinks the World of You I agree with your advice to the woman with an extremely jealous fiancé — that he could get dangerous, and she should get out immediately — but I'm wondering what to think about subtler stuff. My boyfriend of two months and I have been fighting about issues I've never…

by Amy Alkon

BEST BLOCKBUSTER SHOW

Dale Chihuly Across Florida What artist doesn´t dream of super-stardom, of breaking out of the pack like an American Idol? One who did is Seattle-based, innovative master glassblower artist Dale Chihuly, an art world phenomenon who surged to the top of the charts with awesome well-deserved national and international recognition. Chihuly sightings (his glass objects,…

by CL Staff

BEST JEWELER

Johnston Jewelers In a world quickly being overtaken by corporations of all kinds, it´s nice to know that there are still a few quality jewelers around who merely sell chains rather than belonging to one. This unassuming, family-run jeweler is a pearl among the swine. No repair job is too small for them to take…

by CL Staff

BEST BULLSHIT QUOTE IN A WEEKLY PLANET MUSIC STORY

Chris Carrabba Music writer Mark Sanders interviewed Carrabba, the emo heartthrob and leader of Dashboard Confessional. The general topic was how he squares his increasingly mainstream popularity with indie cred. What follows is an absolute gem of faux modesty: ¨I have been lucky that what challenges me happens to be in line with a certain…

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL THREE-CD CHANGER FILL-UP

The Human Echo, Sonic Blanket; The Mercy Seat, The Mercy Seat; The Tim Version, Prohibition Starts Tomorrow OK, OK, you got us — it´s just another way of saying we couldn´t narrow it down to ONE ¨best local CD.¨ But that´s a good thing, right? (Well, good for everyone but the winners, who´ll have to…

by CL Staff

BEST POLITICAL SHEEP DIP

Johnnie Byrd´s Insult of House Members House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is one of those politicians who seem pretty much determined to offend as many people as possible. Yes, we know the two major parties are about as lovey-dovey as the Hatfields and McCoys, but Byrd took the prevailing political rancor to a new level last…

by CL Staff

BEST COACH

John Tortorella, Tampa Bay Lightning Wasn´t it just a few blinks ago that Jon Gruden was the golden boy who absolutely owned Tampa Bay? It seems like a fair number of folks now see ol´ Chuckie as a little tarnished, what with his bull-in-a-china-shop moves in the front office and his willingness to hire thugs…

by CL Staff

KELLI K

Associate Editor, Double K, Miz K, Honey Bunny, Baby, Little Wild Irish Rose

by CL Staff

BEST NEW BAND

Drone Dimension Their album Faintly Acquainted is a thick and dreamy shoegaze gem that employs the style´s conventions without turning them into clichés; Drone Dimension moves around more, and experiences more catharsis, than your average band of My Bloody Valentine acolytes. Some of the subtleties may get lost in their loud-as-shit live wave of sound,…

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL-MUSIC STRIP

Central Avenue, Downtown St. Pete Granted, Ybor´s still got some good rooms — Orpheum and the homey New World Brewery host most intimate touring-act bills, along with regular local showcases. There´s also the jam-friendly Gaspar´s Grotto and, at the time of this writing, dance club Carnival shifts its focus to live music on Friday nights.…

by CL Staff

BEST HIP-HOP CLUB

Skye All you need is an open eye and the time it takes to walk from one end of Seventh Avenue to the other to know what the atmosphere is like in each club. The people in line usually give it away. The best thing about Skye is the variety of people. It´s a hip-hop,…

by CL Staff

BEST GUITAR LESSONS

Don Banks Music Don Banks Music offers guitar lessons to release your inner rock star. In town since 1968 and owned and operated by the man himself, Don Banks has assembled a group of teachers with a dizzying amount of academic and on-stage experience. After journeying upstairs to a personal lesson room, pick the instructor´s…

by CL Staff

BEST VIGILANT POLICE WORK

Hillsborough County Sheriffs Department June 23, 2004, 10 p.m.: Hillsborough Sheriff Deputy Melvin Jones pulled over a 1993 Lincoln Town Car at Orange Grove Drive and Coquita Lane in Carrollwood for a random license tag check. After a few minutes, he informed the driver that he´d have to take her in. The deputy arrested Elizabeth…

by CL Staff

BEST DANCE EVENT

Out and About Other companies have come and gone, but The Moving Current Dance Collective remains, bringing the dance-starved Tampa Bay area innovative modern movement by local and guest choreographers. In Out and About, four choreographers presented five separate pieces in which escape was often the subtext: escape from siblings, from the stressful noises of…

by CL Staff

Freebie

National Banned Book Week Although it sometimes seems like our country is moving rapidly toward a messy meltdown, I take comfort in the fact that I have intellectual freedom. For those who've forgotten, this means I have the ability to seek and receive information from all points of view without limitations. It means I have…

by CL Staff

BEST HOT STONE MASSAGE

Dena Dalquist, Sharmaine´s Salon & Day Spa They´re not just any old stones. These are special ones, brought in from Arizona — smooth, oblong, nearly black and in a variety of sizes. They sit in a warmer. You could simply place these beauties around your body and have a perfectly sensual experience, but it´s in…

by CL Staff

BEST NEW BOTTLENECK

Clearwater-Largo Road at Fort Harrison Avenue Now that we´ve said something nice about Clearwater, we´d like to know what genius engineered this clusterfuck of transportation planning? Dissatisfied with merely mucking up Clearwater Beach with that impossible traffic circle, planners have turned their sights to destroying the traffic patterns in the rest of Clearwater. While towns…

by CL Staff

BEST YET ANOTHER REASON ST. PETE RULES

Traffic (or relative lack thereof) Somewhere up north, there´s a couple talking about retiring. ¨How ´bout St. Petersburg, Enid?¨ Art says, and Enid responds, ¨Nah, Art, we don´t wanna move to a place with a bunch of young people having a lot of fun. Let´s go someplace quiet.¨ By now, St. Pete´s turnaround from the…

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL THREE-CD CHANGER FILL-UP

The Human Echo, Sonic Blanket; The Mercy Seat, The Mercy Seat; The Tim Version, Prohibition Starts Tomorrow OK, OK, you got us — it´s just another way of saying we couldn´t narrow it down to ONE ¨best local CD.¨ But that´s a good thing, right? (Well, good for everyone but the winners, who´ll have to…

by CL Staff

BEST OBIT/BIRTH NOTICE FOR LOCAL FILM BUFFS

Madstone Theaters/ Sunrise Cinemas For film lovers, the biggest and saddest news of the year was the closing of Madstone Theaters. Just seven months after opening its much-ballyhooed Tampa location, Madstone closed up shop, officially ending the most ambitious and promising cinematic experiment the Bay area has ever taken part in. Madstone was a film…

by CL Staff

BEST DEAD HORSE

WMNF-88.5 FM Tribute Shows Don´t get us wrong, the radio station´s daylong worship services for some of music´s most influential artists have provided a whole lot of good times and communal vibes. But it´s been a couple of years, the idea is getting a bit stale, and both attendance and performance quality have waned noticeably…

by CL Staff

BEST PLACE TO HOOK UP AND COME CLEAN

Laundromat Express Some people scoff at the idea of meeting that special someone in a Laundromat. Generally, it´s considered a dull, miserable place where the underprivileged go to wash their dirty rags. But plenty of ordinary working folks don´t have the luxury of in-home laundry facilities. Fortunately, there are places like Laundromat Express, a South…

by CL Staff

BEST ACTIVIST GROUP

Food Not Bombs Early this year, a small group associated with the international organization Food Not Bombs began having weekly picnics at Massey Park in downtown Tampa to feed the hungry and homeless population in the area. Police arrested some members of this peaceful group, citing an ordinance that made it illegal to distribute food…

by CL Staff

BEST PAYDAY ADVANCE

Florida Payday Express Borrowing money is embarrassing enough. We can say it. We´ve been there. Borrowing money at a place that keeps you waiting 45 or so excruciating minutes is worse. Gives that embarrassment time to fester, your face time to get a little redder. (Of course, even a long wait still isn´t as bad…

by CL Staff

BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH

Oystercatcher´s There´s no way in hell you can leave hungry from this gastronomic bonanza. With made-to-order omelets and Belgian waffles, a roasted sirloin carving station, a raw bar with oysters on the half shell and shrimp cocktail, nine hot entrees, 10 salads and at least 20 desserts, Oystercatcher´s Sunday brunch is a gorging mecca for…

by CL Staff

BEST FALL FROM SLEAZE

Bubba the Love Sponge Bubba always let it be known that he was a breast man, so it seems fitting that he was undone by Janet Jackson´s nipple. Bubba was a victim of a major backlash of indecency on the airwaves, sparked by Miss Jackson´s ¨wardrobe malfunction¨ during the Super Bowl halftime show. Maybe it´s…

by CL Staff

BEST BONEHEAD IDEA FOR A LAW

Hillsborough County Anti-Nudity Ordinance Last year, morality crusader David Caton came, Joe McCarthy-style, waving a ¨study¨ in front of the Hillsborough County Commission that alleged strip clubs cause crime, the degeneration of morals and the heartbreak of psoriasis. Of course, the politicos bought it. They figured if they outlawed nudity in Hillsborough County, including inside…

by CL Staff

BEST DANCE EVENT

Out and About Other companies have come and gone, but The Moving Current Dance Collective remains, bringing the dance-starved Tampa Bay area innovative modern movement by local and guest choreographers. In Out and About, four choreographers presented five separate pieces in which escape was often the subtext: escape from siblings, from the stressful noises of…

by CL Staff

Upcoming Concerts

September29 Terrorfakt/Manufactura/Travis Morgan Masquerade 30 Incubus w/Ben Kweller St. Pete Times Forum 30 Life! The First Family of Funk Bourbon Street October1 The Cramps w/The Chesterfield Kings State Theatre 1 Battery: Masters of Metallica Bourbon Street 1 IQU/KiT!/Subika Orpheum 1 Dubconscious Skipper's Smokehouse 2 LTJ Bukem Masquerade 2 Kid Capri Club 112 2 Converge/Cave In/Between…

by CL Staff

DAVID BRAMER

Copy Editor, Champion of Ambivalence, Co-Begetter of Two Flesh-and-Blood Jewels

by CL Staff

BEST NEW GYM

St. Anthony´s Carillon Wellness Center This expansive facility, which opened in the spring, is affiliated with St. Anthony´s Hospital, so it lacks that high-pressure vibe that so many commercial gyms have, where you just peek your head in the door and a half dozen well-muscled folks in tight clothes start waving contracts in your face.…

by CL Staff

BEST FLORIST

Four Seasons Florals A good florist should have three qualities: an eye for design, a quality flower supplier, and an attentive ear. What is simple and tasteful to you is boring and mundane to the next person, and what is pretty and festive to that person is garish to you. Don´t let things get lost…

by CL Staff

BEST KARAOKE RINGERS

Wilson´s Lounge Despite the recent departure of Shirley, the usual host, Wilson´s still gets our vote. The host is important for moving the night along smoothly, and Shirley was most genial, but a good karaoke night´s nothing without the ringers. You only want to laugh at a drunken version of ¨Me and Bobby McGee¨ for…

by CL Staff

BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR SPORTS CHAMPS

Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Jeff Lacy, Antwun Echols, Edner Cherry Are these names familiar? Tampa Bay remains lathered up over the Lightning´s Stanley Cup win, and still feels a tinge of afterglow from the Buccaneers´ Super Bowl crown, but they are not the only ones making a championship name for themselves ´round these parts. Lately,…

by CL Staff

BEST ART HAPPENING

Industrial Carnival The Big Apple has Tribeca and DUMBO, and St. Pete has Central Avenue. But Tampa has its own unique ambiance, those wonderful, historic cigar factories on the threshold of restoration. For the last several years, enterprising arts community folk have held energetic, cutting-edge exhibitions in these facilities. Whether one-night stands or weekend events,…

by CL Staff

BEST ACTOR

Ned Averill-Snell Since coming to the Tampa Bay area a few years ago, Ned Averill-Snell hasn't stopped growing as an actor. And with the 2003-04 season, his full talent finally flowered. This was first obvious in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten at American Stage. As doomed, conflicted James Tyrone, Averill-Snell was at one…

by CL Staff

BEST PLACE TO SEE A BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE WITHOUT WAITING IN LINE

Muvico Centro Ybor 20 Let´s say you want to rush out and see the latest iteration of Spider-Man on its opening weekend. You can leave early and queue up at any number of multiplexes around the Bay area. If the showing is not sold out, you can squeeze in with the throng. Or you can…

by CL Staff

BEST GAS STATION

4th Street Super Gas First, let´s define terms. We´re not talking about a service station or a convenience store that sells gas. We´re talking about a gas station, where you go to pump fuel into your vehicle. What makes for a good gas station? Low prices and efficiency. We want to make filling up as…

by CL Staff

BEST PROOF THAT IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY

tbt We love it when those stuffy dailies try to go all hip on us in an effort to reach ¨younger readers¨ with a tabloid style paper that´s supposed to look alternative. Usually it just ends up looking patronizing. The latest case in point is The St. Petersburg Times´ new freebie tbt, which is short…

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL-BAND HOMEPAGE

www.elysiumband.com Look, in most cases, intro/splash pages suck. That´s why they all have ¨Skip Intro¨ buttons on them. Nobody has been impressed by a band´s logo materializing out of the darkness for at least two and a half years. It was cool for 15 minutes, and then only with the scads of musicians who were…

by CL Staff

BEST TRULY ALL-AGES SHOW

Rilo Kiley, the Orpheum, Aug. 4, 2003 This show happened after we finished compiling content for the 2003 Best of the Bay issue, but before last year´s issue actually hit the street. Still, no quality club show of the last 11 months has put such a spectrum-spanning assortment of people together in as friendly an…

by CL Staff

BEST MOB ACTION

Runaway Parasail Rescue Historically, when a mob of 100 people has you on the end of a rope, it´s a bad thing. There are exceptions. Take the rescue of the two 16-year-old parasailers whose cord snapped as they were being towed out to sea off Madeira Beach. It would have been a tragedy if not…

by CL Staff

BEST GALLERY DIRECTOR

Dorothy Cowden, director of University of Tampa´s Scarfone/Hartley Gallery Sometimes what you´re looking for is right under your nose. So while the new-kids-on-the-block creative cultural movers and shakers conjure up new paradigms to foster the Bay area as a winning attraction, they ought to consult Dorothy Cowden, University of Tampa´s secret weapon. Cowden, former co-owner…

by CL Staff

SUSAN CAIN

Former Nurse and Trapeze Artist, Devoted Wife, Cosmic Cowgirl, Housekeeper, Old Soul

by CL Staff

BEST TREND IN LIVE MUSIC SHOWS

Acoustic Shows Purveyors of original Bay area music of every stripe are finding out what beach-bar strummers, coffeehouse pros and just about everybody who frequents Skipper´s Smokehouse have always known: that stripped-back performances are a great way to connect with crowds, particularly crowds not composed exclusively of other band members. The State Theatre´s In The…

by CL Staff

BEST TAILOR

Peter´s Tailor Shop Tailors have gone a bit out of fashion. Not only are the kids dressing like slobs these days, but when Gap alone offers its pants selections for women in half a dozen different lengths, the value of a good tailor is shuffled aside. When your clothes break, you don´t have them fixed;…

by CL Staff

Letters

Health Note Re: “A Friend Indeed,” by Scott Harrell (Sept. 8-14) I don't write too many "letters to the editor" but … I was introduced to George Harris about 15 years ago at Dan Smith's recording studio, where I was making my first album. I didn't know how lucky I was to play with George,…

by CL Staff

BEST BATTING CAGES

Gandy Driving Range and Learning Center We don´t need fancy batting cages. We don´t even need indoor batting cages. Just give us cheap rates, a decent selection of bats and something to protect our fragile noggins, and we´ll be fine. The GDR has only three cages — one slow, medium and fast pitch each —…

by CL Staff

BEST DISMANTLING OF AN IMAGE

Tampa Bay Buccaneers There was a time, not long ago, when a Bucs player would shudder at the thought of making the police blotter. Tony Dungy, devout Christian and coach who loved ¨character guys,¨ would not tolerate much in the way of bad behavior. General manager Rich McKay was on the same page. Then came…

by CL Staff

BEST SET DESIGNER

R. T. Williams Twice in the last season, R. T. Williams designed sets for Stageworks that were among the most attractive that company has offered its audience in years. First was the set for Euripides´ Medea: the facade of a gray palace, supported by classical columns, in front of which were abstract elements resembling rock…

by CL Staff

Outtakes

Short reviews of movies playing throughout the Tampa Bay area.

by CL Staff

Music Venues

420 Park Place, 420 Park Place Blvd., Clearwater, 727-796-7867 42nd Street Bistro, 516 S. Howard Ave., Tampa, 813-253-0042 4th Street Cigars & Martini Bar, 2900 Fourth St. N., Suite A101, St. Petersburg, 727-898-1884 The Aging Still, 11561 Walsingham Road, Largo, 727-581-5466 Alley Cat's Cafe, 2475 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater, 727-797-5555 B B Magee's Tavern, 12400 Ramfis…

by CL Staff

NOEL SMITH

Tampa Native, Culinary Adventurer, Education Curator at USF’s Graphicstudio

by CL Staff

BEST INTERNATIONAL HONOR FOR A LOCAL MUSICIAN

Larue Nickelson, second place Montreux Gibson Jazz Guitar Competition Ever hear of the Montreux Jazz Festival? How about Gibson guitars? Two of the most prestigious names in music teamed up this year to find the best jazz guitarists in the world. That´s right, the world. Know who they found? Larue Nickelson, an unassuming composer and…

by CL Staff

BEST TREND IN LIVE MUSIC SHOWS

Acoustic Shows Purveyors of original Bay area music of every stripe are finding out what beach-bar strummers, coffeehouse pros and just about everybody who frequents Skipper´s Smokehouse have always known: that stripped-back performances are a great way to connect with crowds, particularly crowds not composed exclusively of other band members. The State Theatre´s In The…

by CL Staff

BEST PERFORMANCE EVENT

Mollie Bailey´s Traveling Family Circus Featuring Scenes From The Life of Mother Jones Tampa´s Alley Cat Players have never been satisfied with the usual theater spaces. Instead, they´ve produced shows at nontraditional venues — for example, the ¡Viva La Frida! Café y Galeria and the Covivant Art Gallery. But earlier this year, Alley Cat brought…

by CL Staff

BEST COSTUME DESIGNER

Amy J. Cianci The mark of a great costume designer is the ability to find the clothes that express a theatrical character´s personality, and to do so quietly, without distracting our attention from the action on stage. This is precisely what Amy J. Cianci did in two productions at American Stage last season: A Moon…

by CL Staff

BEST SHIRTMAKER

Varchi Custom Shirts Blink and you´ll miss it. It´s a house on Himes Avenue not far from I-275. Block letters on the mailbox say ¨Shirtmaker.¨ Inside is a tiny showroom with yards and yards of fine cloth draped on holders — in dozens of colors and designs. Paolo, the Shirtmaker, is a feisty Italian with…

by CL Staff

BEST LANDSLIDE VOTE

Albert Whitted Airport In ´03, a group of developers, lawyers and environmentalists made it their mission to turn St. Petersburg´s Albert Whitted Airport into a park. Citizens for a Waterfront Park paid people to gather signatures, and succeeded in getting the referendum on the November ballot. The group had the backing of none other than…

by CL Staff

BEST NEVER-ENDING FUNDRAISER

The WMNF Building Fund God bless the good folks at MNF. They want a new building. Bad. They started putting on events for THE BUILDING FUND in, we can´t remember exactly … sometime in the fall of 1958. Thus far, they´ve raised $2-million toward the budgeted $2.3-million ($250K less if they pass on the Italian…

by CL Staff

BEST EDITORIAL ¨OOPS!¨

Tampa Tribune Normally, we at the Planet would pile on the Trib for one of their gaffes. But this was a screw-up of such epic proportions that we actually feel a bit sorry for them. You know the one: The Lightning editorial. The Trib prepared two editorials — one in case of a win, one…

by CL Staff

Planet Picks

THURSDAY 9.23 He Was Always Chasing Rainbows "I'm no good," Liberace once admitted. "I've just got guts." So what was it about an outrageous, piano-playing borderline drag queen that caused women to swoon like schoolgirls? The mystery continues even beyond his death and you can try to figure it out at Liberace, the Legend Lives,…

by CL Staff

BEST ANNUAL TRADITION IN THE MAKING

Florida Bandango In 2003, a handful of die-hard Tampa music fans set up a party in the midst of that year´s installment of the weeklong showcase/shmoozefest/industry self-admiration seminar that is Austin, Texas´, South by Southwest. But they weren´t content to just head out there and see the sights like they had in previous years —…

by CL Staff

BEST DEAD HORSE

WMNF-88.5 FM Tribute Shows Don´t get us wrong, the radio station´s daylong worship services for some of music´s most influential artists have provided a whole lot of good times and communal vibes. But it´s been a couple of years, the idea is getting a bit stale, and both attendance and performance quality have waned noticeably…

by CL Staff

BEST MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING — SO FAR

Ybor City´s New Noise Ordinance Last fall, it seemed like Steve Bird was the only owner of an Ybor City live-music venue paying close attention to the folks pushing to saddle the entertainment district with a volume limit. The dance clubs sporting outdoor speakers down on Seventh Avenue were named as the primary inspiration. But…

by CL Staff

BEST THEATER COMPANY

American Stage Jobsite´s season was hit and miss, Stageworks´ Medea was too naturalistic for its own good, Gorilla Theatre turned back into a rental house — but American Stage, under the leadership of new artistic director Todd Olson, presented one impressive show after the next, with often inspiring acting and superb directing. First there was…

by CL Staff

BEST SHOE REPAIR SHOP

Heel Sew Quik Though we´d never claim the stratospheric obsession of a Sarah Jessica Parker, it´s safe to say we love shoes. Our collections range from top quality, high-tech performance sandals (yes, you heard that right) to snazzy little leather kitten boots in colors unknown in the local drugstore´s shoe polish section. Only the good…

by CL Staff

BEST LOCAL NAIL IN THE NU-METAL COFFIN

The Absence Black stage wear, acid-gargling vocal histrionics and guitars strapped to nipple-height are coming back in a big way. Of course, death metal never really left Tampa (or Central Europe´s colder climes, for that matter). But a new breed of young band, raised on both death metal and all-ages hardcore without the boundaries that…

by CL Staff

BEST REASON FOR ST. PETE TO BE ASHAMED OF ITSELF

Race Relations When St. Petersburg Police officers shot and killed TyRon Lewis in October of 1996, igniting riots that made national headlines, the city was already shedding its image as a small town near Tampa where old people went to die. Since then, the ´burg has come into its own in earnest, as more and…

by CL Staff

BEST WORK ETHIC

Jafar Curry Twenty-three-year-old Tampa R&B singer-songwriter Curry was a slave to his muse long before his solo EP hit the Bay area back in May; he´s been a vocal coach, instrumental instructor and volunteer for various musical programs for inner-city youth. Now Jafar´s applying that same tireless motivation to his own recording career, in the…

by CL Staff

BEST PLACE TO BUY EYEGLASSES ON THE CHEAP

Opti-Mart It´s a little off the beaten path, but this Opti-Mart outlet has racks and racks of frames and eyecare accessories that it sells on a two-for-one basis. The store may not have the trendiest specs, but if you´d rather get a root canal than spend $1,200 for frames (and if you tend to lose…

by CL Staff

BEST UNSUNG HERO

Alexa Favata, Associate Director, University of South Florida´s Institute for Research in Art In show-biz tradition, second bananas are faithful sidekicks who are always working behind the scenes to ensure that the show runs smoothly while others step before the spotlights and bask in applause. In our book, the second banana is an unsung hero,…

by CL Staff

BEST LOOKING WAITSTAFF

Hooters Obviously, you haven´t made the effort to see what´s underneath those giant cartoon animal heads they wear at Chuck E. Cheese´s. No, but seriously, we can appreciate your sense of aesthetics, as well as your refusal to single out a particular Hooters location at the risk of hurting the feelings of the waitresses at…

by CL Staff

Music Events

THURSDAY, SEP. 23 42nd Street Bistro Raphael and Co. 4th Street Cigars & Martini Bar Gulf Coast Aces Alley Cat's Cafe Michael Hastings Babalouie's Mark McGourley Bahama Breeze Denny Falzon Bahama Mama's Chris Murphy Barnacle Bill's Jason Longoria Big J.R.'s The Johnny Charro Band Blackstone Grill Expressions Blue Shark Darryl Jarmon Brandy's True Colors Band…

by CL Staff

BEST CAR SALESPERSON

Kia Davtalab at Crown Nissan By rights, he should be selling Kias, but why would such a sales master bother with trash like that? He sells Nissans at Crown in St. Petersburg. Davtalab is what every car salesman should be, but too often is not: honest, genuine and fair. He does not turn a car…

by CL Staff

BEST PLAYWRIGHT

Kim Hanna There are only a few top-notch playwrights in the Tampa Bay area, so it´s a pleasure to note the arrival of a new talent. And talent is the word for Tampa author Kim Hanna, whose Hypoxia Zone was presented by Stageworks last July in a terrifically acted, beautifully designed production. This is a…

by CL Staff

BEST PLACE TO BUY USED BOOKS

The Public Library When most of us want to borrow a book, we hit the library. When we want a book for keeps, though — something to love, cherish, fold, spindle and mutilate — we look elsewhere. Like, oh, a bookstore. But some libraries have their very own mercantile arms, staffed by local Friends of…

by CL Staff

BEST ACTIVIST GROUP

Food Not Bombs Early this year, a small group associated with the international organization Food Not Bombs began having weekly picnics at Massey Park in downtown Tampa to feed the hungry and homeless population in the area. Police arrested some members of this peaceful group, citing an ordinance that made it illegal to distribute food…

by CL Staff

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