- Senior Editor
ric Snider has been called “The Dean of Tampa Bay music critics,” which basically means he’s been around longer than everyone else. Snider’s been at it since the early 1980s, when he helped found Music Magazine, our area’s first music rag. He was the St. Petersburg Times music critic for six years, and has been at Creative Loafing for 12 years as a staff writer, music columnist, entertainment editor, senior editor, and, throughout, music editor.
Over the years, he's written for Rolling Stone, Downbeat, Billboard,
Jazziz and a laundry list of major daily newspapers.
email: [email protected]
Leilani Polk - Music and Events Editor
Leilani’s been writing for CL since she was an intern back in ’03, before she earned her Mass Communications degree at USF and used it and her wits to get a full-time position at the paper. She is quiet and unassuming, except when it comes to food (chocolate and sushi), travel (the farther the better), sci-fi (books, movies and some TV), dancing (the girl can tear a rug) and music (from pleasant to dissonant). These diverse interests collided for her in the perfect storm of ear-opening music otherwise known as Phish. This has been both a blessing and a curse – the knowledge that she is superior in her musical evolution is counterbalanced by the fact that she is mocked by most who consider themselves fellow critics. Persevering through this musical McCarthyism has left her confident, however, that she has an unfiltered, all encompassing love of sound and she’d like to spread it ‘round.
email: [email protected]
Leilani's Facebook | Leilani's MySpace
Stephen Hammill - Online Producer
Stephen joined Creative Loafing as its online producer in 2008 after a two-plus year stint at the Tampa Tribune.
He's an engineer and former on-air programmer (The 11th Hour) for WMNF 88.5.
His band, Life of Pi, has called Tampa home since 2002.
He's also an accomplished giftwrapper.
email: [email protected]
Stephen's Myspace | Stephen's Facebook
Joran Oppelt - Marketing + Promotions Director
Joran Slane Oppelt is the Marketing + Promotions Director for Creative Loafing and Media Producer for CL Studios. He is also the founder of the Southeast Music Alliance and before being hired by the Loaf, he was a 10-time Best of the Bay Award winner. He has toured and recorded with his own bands (Auditorium, The Gita) and was a regular contributor to FOCUS magazine from 2000 - 2002. Joran also hosts the monthly SMAsh Radio podcast (available on SMAflorida.com and via iTunes) and has produced hundreds of concerts, showcases, conferences and workshops throughout the Tampa Bay area.
email: [email protected]
Joran's Myspace | Joran's blog
Lorna Bracewell - Contributor
The St. Pete-based singer, guitarist and songwriter has released six albums on her own label Braced Well Records and has toured throughout the United States and Europe. In addition to her musical performances, Lorna lectures at colleges and universities nationwide on topics ranging from folk music and the civil rights movement to constitutional law. To bring Lorna to your campus, coffee shop, community event or house concert, hit her up at lornabracewell.com.
email: [email protected]
Lorna's Myspace | Lorna's Facebook
Ivan Pena - Contributor
Ivan has an Advertising degree from UF, 8+ years in corporate and consumer marketing, 10+ years in graphic design and promotions. He's also the leader of the group Soulfound and runs his own independent record label, Mohawk Bomb. In 2008, Ivan was named one of the Top 30 Under 30 by the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
email: [email protected]
Nicole Kibert - Contributor
Elawgrrl is a legal eagle shutterbug bringing music photography to you through her "only music has the answer" Flickr site, blog, and Myspace. Her photography has been found in gallery exhibits, CDs, music publications, websites, blogs, and of course, Myspace pages. In past lives, she has been a music director and DJ for WRGW (GWU college radio station), a show promoter, zine writer, music reviewer for really, really swank publications and an undefeated Ms. PacMan champion.
email: [email protected]
Autopsy IV - Contributor
Autopsy IV is the owner of the music blog ninebullets.net. He lives in a nondescript house in Southeast St. Petersburg with his wife and 2 bulldogs. He can regularly be found with a whiskey in hand in a multitude of Downtown watering holes and music venues. When sober, he is better at Guitar Hero than any self-respecting 35 year old should be.
email: [email protected]
B.Treotch - Contributor
B.Treotch grew up in Texas, but was born on the Supertramp tour bus somewhere between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Having played in enough bands and seen enough shows to make him a real asshole about music, he now spends most of the daytime sciencing things at USF. B.Treotch is also one of the contributors to the Coventry Music Blog.
email: [email protected]
Christopher Nadeau - Contributor
Practically tactless and often sweaty, cnadeau writes songs, sings, contorts and guitars in the band Blast and the Detergents. Besides sometimes changing nouns into verbs on a whim, he reads a lot of books (mostly science fiction), supports third-party non-corporate politics, dj's rock n roll voodoo magic about once a month at Cafe Bohemia, just got a history BA from USF and fights for every other losing/unreasonable cause he can find. Cnadeau lives with his wife Susan Dickson above someone's garage in up-and-coming St. Petersburg.
email: [email protected]
Infinite Skillz - Contributor
Infinite Skillz started writing lyrics while attending high school in Virginia. While in college, he joined an Atlanta based crew called Unparalleled Sound (UPS). This four-man consortium went their separate ways after graduation but remain friends. Infinite left Atlanta after graduating from Morehouse College and moved to a small town named Searcy in North Central Arkansas for grad school. After finishing his two-year program in 16 months, Infinite started channeling his considerable drive into his many hustles. Music is one of them.
His debut album, The Anomaly, dropped in 2007 | baseincmusic.com
Joel Weiss - Contributor
Joel joined CL as a Tampa Calling contributor in 2009. After earning a radio degree from Emerson College in Boston, Joel moved back home to the Tampa area and has spent time DJ-ing at local stations since 2003. Through his ten years of radio experience, Joel has hosted metal, local, and old-school alternative shows.
Twitter: @lifeindeadtime
e-mail: [email protected]
Aly Carr - Contributor
Aly is the music editor of Pop Rock Candy Mountain, and the creative director and co-host of The Merry Andrews Show. She engages in clumsy behavior regularly and loves to play Super Mario Bros. She cannot sing or dance.
email: [email protected]
Nick Truden - Contributor
Nick has been living in the Central Florida area for 25 years. His theme song is "Ms. Jackson" from OutKast. In his opinion, Kostritzer is the finest beer ever to be brewed. Nick lives vicariously through Anthony Bourdain's travels and in between graphic design, losing Tupperware and the perpetual search for the sublime Chicken Korma he writes about music on his bi-weekly column 5 Songs In A Row.
email: [email protected]
Meagan Bemis - Contributor
As a student at Eckerd College I am privy to a different side of the world where we laugh at the word “diversity” because we represent every kind of person there is. I love the school, my professors and the atmosphere. I’m a communications major, hoping to break into the world of journalism after I graduate in May 2010. I’m really into music; my boyfriend is the guitarist and vocalist in the band Dreadful Memories (support LOCAL!) and we both indulge in our fair share of alternative rock, indie, metal and the like. I also have a strange affection for acoustic, female indie artists and Broadway shows. Other than that, I’m the editor of the newspaper at Eckerd and am happy to be a part of the CL culture.
email: [email protected]
Sam Goresh - Contributor
"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."
~Alan Watts.
But I will try anyhow, at least briefly. I love photography. I am a student in her last quarter of the digital photography program at Tampa's IADT, and a graduate of Eckerd College's Visual Arts program. I hope to stay a student, and plan on pursuing a MS in Photojournalism within the next year. I've also been known to run marathons, and ride my bike 163 miles to raise money for cancer research. I like the color purple, live music, and I love to travel all over the world. Email: [email protected]
Kate Cillian - Contributor
Kate is a quirky blonde who loves to write, and one day hopes to be a professional journalist. Former lead singer of the all girl band, Isn't She Lovely, Kate now utilizes her vox strictly in the shower. She wants to travel the world in a Volkswagen Bus. She loves swimming and cats.
Email: [email protected]
