Wine 101
In Cyberspace, anything goes. There's a whole helluva lot of useless info on wine. But since there's no SAT test or wine certification required to put up a wine Web site, sifting through the morons and blowhards is no easy task. But not an insurmountable one. The following is a list of Web sites that…
Spins
Reviews of the new CD from Tampa band The Washdown, plus Beck, Little Feat and Kahil El'Zabar Trio. The Washdown The Washdown In the space of roughly a year, five local guys (most of them veterans of Tampa's posthardcore scene) and one local woman instigated more hype than a score of death metal bands managed…
Ready to Explode Again: Helium Bomb
The last time the Bay area saw a performance by former original-music scene champions Helium Bomb was about five years ago. Out on tour from their new home base of Chicago and featuring a new bass player named Dave Koots in a goofy Jamiroquai hat, the Bomb packed the State Theatre with old friends, old…
Commissioning Change
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms says this is how Tampa works: In February 2000, after she and three colleagues refused to cram 251 more homes into a 1,830-house subdivision plan for U.S. 301, Storms received Tampa lawyer Theodore C. Taub and two others in her office. Storms claims Taub asked if she realized that retired…
Stripped Beyond Meaning
There are two plays vying for dominance in David Dillon's Party, the debut offering of St. Petersburg's new Central Stage Theatre. The first, and more important one, is about gay friendships in a setting where there are no straight men or women — much the same territory that Terrence McNally so movingly covered in Love!…
Kitsch-22 — Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box
There are very few things in this world cooler than a good 3-D movie. Even a bad 3-D movie has its merits, and Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box is a more than a little of each. As magnificently overblown a piece of Uber Kitsch as you could ever want to find, the Siggy and…
2002 Weekly Planet Primary Elections Guide
Politics and Pragmatism by Rochelle Renford Democrats can't afford to vote their race or conscience in the gubernatorial primary. If they want to boot Bush, they have to think strategy. Let's face it, the best person for the job of running Florida isn't in the race and never will be. And that's just as well,…
Outtakes
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (PG-13) The worst movie of the summer, for sure, and quite possibly the stinkiest thang of the whole year. Everything you've heard about Pluto Nash is true. Ostensibly a comedy, there's barely one healthy laugh in the entire mess, which plays out like the most boring, unimaginative sci-fi action movie…
Web Site of the Week
http://www.neave.com/webgames
It’s Not Too Late
Injecting untreated wastewater into the Florida Aquifer. Trusting telecom conglomerates to cut the cost of a long-distance phone call. Curtailing the rights of advocacy groups to testify at permit hearings. Our state lawmakers have once again done us proud. Who elected these guys anyway? The bad news: We did. You can look away in embarrassment.…
Good Getaway: Skidder’s on St. Pete Beach
Along Pinellas County's 35 miles of beaches, there are many idyllic stretches that offer a respite from the stress of daily living. Leave the cell phone and the laptop at home, and let the sand's heat and the repetitive lap of the surf leach the tension from your knotted back. Take a couple of hours…
underCURRENT underDONE
underCURRENT/overVIEW 6 continues Tampa Museum of Art's commitment to artists working across Florida's West Central Coast. Seventeen (from five counties) are in this broad survey organized by the museum's curator of contemporary art, Elaine Gustafson, who selected the works. Artists range from newly emerged to long-established work in all contemporary genres, from electronic media and…
Books
Columnist and contributor to NPR’s This American Life, Sarah Vowell presents a mix of the clever, neurotic and pleasantly hilarious situations for her latest collection of personal essays, The Partly Cloudy Patriot. Vowell shows us the true meaning of being a good American via sharply witty though sometimes sardonic anecdotes plucked from her own experiences…
9/11: A Year Later
I fear that all I have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve. — Admiral Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor attack, Dec. 7, 1941 A strange day, this Sept. 11. Whether you go about your business as if it were just another Wednesday, or choose to commemorate the date,…
