Controversial cover stories, headlines with curse words in them and ongoing debates about certain CL critics have been stirring things up lately on our website, tampa.creativeloafing.com. Plus, we've got a new blog: Must-Do 2, in which Tampa Bay newbies Brian Reed and Ted Scheinman attempt to see if they really Must Do what CL recommended in last year's "Must-Do List" (May 31-June 6, 2006). Brian and Ted are looking for advice: Send them your tips, and read up on their latest adventures, in blogs.creativeloafing.com/must-do. The following is a sampling of recent online reactions to CL stories:
Giving Life
What a beautiful article ("Second Life," by Alex Pickett, July 11-17). This issue is so important, and the author did a great job getting the point across. These are people we are locking up — someone's family and friend. We must never give up hope. Thank you, John and George, for all you are doing to create change in our world.
Sharon North
I'll bet if he ever did get out, he'd never re-offend. I'd also bet that if life in prison was the normal penalty, we'd have a lot less drug smugglers in the country, so maybe the answer isn't to set Mr. Martorano free but to increase the penalty altogether for drug smugglers. It's hard to re-offend if you never make it back out on the streets.
Reggie
There's no such thing as a "former" or "recovered" alcoholic or drug addict. Alcoholism and drug addiction are progressive diseases that involve biological changes to the brain, and must always be managed, much like diabetes. The proper term when referring to someone who is clean and sober is "recovering."
Doobie
Stamp Acts
Your article ("The Real Food Stamp Challenge," by Brian Ries, July 18-24) is dead accurate. Anyone whose circumstances force them to this will confirm your reporting. Even with church and pantry assistance towards the end of the month, you are forced to resort to one or two days of "hot water only" to stave off hunger! Then because of a paperwork change you are dropped, qualified or not. This is a punishing, not providing program. Thank you, Brian, for revealing this reality.
Tom Bockrath
I have been a single mom for several years, and yes, I have had to apply for food stamp assistance, but I have always, always worked. The mother Jamie in this story chooses not to work so she can be a stay-at-home mom?! Then don't complain about how much you're getting in (free) food stamps!!!
Kim
Bad Words
Should is a word that I hate to see in a review as it tends to compare the performance that is being evaluated with a performance that exists within the memory of the critic. "Should" doesn't allow for new choices, doesn't encourage risk — here we get to read how the Doll's House that Mark Leib once saw ("Missing the Foundation," by Mark E. Leib, July 4-10) shames the Banyan's offering. While certainly Mr. Leib's scholarship is not to be criticized here, I think the seven uses of "should" indicate that the reviewer was not open to the performances and the sum of their parts but instead used the production as a checklist of Doll's House and the way it ought to be.
Ken
Why would you put this on a news website ("My Pussy Ass Is Staying Put," by Hollis Gillespie, July 11-17)? I didn't realize I had gone to an X-rated site.
Louise
I've been waiting a long time to say this: Fuck you Creative Loafing, you can take a shit and eat it. Where did you find this guy? Man, that makes me feel so much better
Keith Ulrey, New Granada Records/ New Granada Presents…/ Zillionaire
Editor's Note: The above is an excerpt from a letter Keith Ulrey wrote to CL (and circulated on the Internet) to complain about a recent error regarding his band Zillionaire (see Corrections below). Ulrey also criticized Wade Tatangelo's music writing in general. For Wade's response and everyone else's, go to Wade's music blog, tampacalling.com. Here's one reply:
Wade made a mistake. He not only admitted to this mistake, but he took the time to respond to Ulrey's entire juvenile e-mail — which was, to be perfectly frank, full of inaccuracies, a fact that certain folks fail to recognize. If you were to read his MySpace rant, you'd find the same e-mail he sent to Wade, almost verbatim, but with a little paragraph at the end giving a huge shout-out "to a certain unnamed writer at *tbt for her continuing support and weekly features on local bands, local shows and the general hype on what's happening right here in our own town." I don't want to add fuel to the fire, but when did the corporately-owned *tbt and its writers ever provide any meaningful critical analysis of the local music scene? It's not the job of a music writer to pile heaps of praise on and kiss the asses of bands who aren't necessarily worthy, no matter how much they are trying to create a scene. But of course, you like the paper that tells you you're great even if your music sucks stinky ass. It's stuff like this that encourages music writers to NOT write about local bands, and personally, I don't blame them.
Someone with Half a Brain, on tampacalling.com
Corrections
A Music Week entry in our July 18-24 issue incorrectly stated that the Rhode Island band Zillionaire would be opening for Richard Buckner Fri., July 20, at New World Brewery in Ybor City. Zillionaire, of Tampa, was the band scheduled to perform.
In the first paragraph of "Utopia Revisited," (Urban Explorer, July 18-24), article, the name of the late David Koresh's cult was misspelled. The correct spelling is Branch Davidians, not "Dividians."
The photo caption for the concert review of The Police (July 18-24) incorrectly referred to guitarist Andy Summers as Andy Summer.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2007.