During his last Bay area visit, in September 2006, Stanhope performed at the New World Brewery in Ybor and St. Pete's The Garage — and then almost got himself arrested while enjoying some beer-stimulated downtime on St. Pete Beach.
"Oh yeah, that was just ridiculous," he laughs. "We were just drunk on a night off, and I had a jock strap on under my bathing suit, and I was hiking it up over my belly, with my shorts sagging and my nuts pulled up to my chest, and someone was annoyed by it and said I was exposing myself on the beach. So the cops showed up."
Fortunately, a friend had been taking pictures of the drunken shenanigans, so Stanhope brought out the camera and showed the cop the pics to prove that no private parts had been in public view.
"But then we got a good stank-eye fatherly talking-to that you have to suck down, 'cause they'll just make shit up if you don't. That's the problem — even if you're a rational drunk, they'll still arrest you for being drunk and for being right."
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2007.