BEST PLACE TO WITNESS POLICE INTERVENTION
A Gumbi Ortiz Show
It happens everywhere we play. It´s the drums. Absolutely. We closed down the original Hampton House — we were that band. I felt sorry for Marcus Hampton, you know what I mean? He´s trying to be under the radar, doing this jazz club at his house, and then he hires us. I tried to tell him. That´s my claim to fame in the area. It´s ridiculous.
BEST FIRST MEAL BACK FROM THE ROAD
Café Cibo
Man, that place rocks. When I got married, I went there right after the ceremony to have the spaghetti. It´s the only place in town that tastes like real Italian food. I grew up in Brooklyn, with Italian restaurants all over the place. I recommend it to everybody.
Café Cibo, 8697 Fourth Street N., St. Petersburg, 727-579-1570
BEST PLACE TO PLAY
Rare Olive, St. Petersburg
Because co-owner Bela Pusks pays in cash, let´s be real. He´s from Hungary. He keeps telling me he´s from Norway, but he´s from Hungary, I know, I go to Hungary all the time; I´ll be there next week, doing Carmen. No, he´s real respectful; he takes care of the musicians, sets up the PA. He´s real conscious of my paranoia — performing´s weird for me. I like showing off in front of my friends, but when you´re talking about a crowd, a stage, a bar tab, it gets weird. He really takes his time to make me feel good, and he doesn´t charge me for water, so that´s a good thing. Free water? This is the best place to play in town.
Rare Olive, 300 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-822-7273.
BEST UNSUNG LOCAL MUSICIANS
Patrick Bettieson and Kenny Walker
Patrick Bettieson. He´s a bass player, but he´s not just a bass player. He´s probably the best musician in town, period. His music transcends the bass. He´s just musical. He should be somewhere, I don´t know, if he wasn´t so good, I´d recommend him to Al DiMeola, but he´s too good, you know? He just plays around town. He´ll play in a big wedding band, and he´ll play with little bands around town. You should do a big article about him; he´s a single father who´s raising his kid here. He´s amazing. And he´s white! He´s from England, but he´s got good teeth and everything. He´s a great human being. Ask anybody, they´ll agree with me, unless they´re deaf. He was in the original Gumbi band. Let´s mention two. This kid Kenny Walker, my bass player — everybody knows him, but they don´t know that he´s not only a great musician, but a quiet motivator. If you need a friend, he´s the kid. It´s funny that my two favorite guys are bass players. Next time you come see me play, stare at him. Don´t look at me.
BEST PLACE TO FEEL THE ROOTS
La Teresita
When I want to get a dose of the real home thing, it would have to be La Teresita in West Tampa. Nobody knows me there. It´s the one with all the ambiance, heh, heh. The food is great. It´s different — at home, we add more garlic, more everything. We´re Caribbean — we´re African American people in my house — we use more of everything. We want to die of a disease. We´ll go there for sandwiches. I don´t go there for rice and beans anymore, because I eat it every day at home. But to go and hear the old guys complain about Castro, it´s like — wow, look at that.
La Teresita, 3248 W. Columbus Drive, Tampa, 813-879-4909.
BEST NIGHTSPOT
Anywhere Original Music is Played
Anyplace that has live music, people should go to. If you hear it, stop, go in and have a beer, no matter what it is. I´m talking about original stuff — don´t go see no fucking band playing ¨What´s Goin´ On,¨ please. I´m talking about the alternatives to that. There´re a lot of guys, young and old, who play creative music in town, and the majority of it happens in downtown St. Petersburg, in little cafés and bars nobody knows about. Downtown St. Pete is my favorite part of the area. We don´t have a famous football team, but Jesus Christ, there´s more going on down there on any given night than anywhere else.
BEST HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Germany
Aside from here and my home in the Bronx? Germany. I´ll tell you why — because everything works. Italy´s beautiful and the food is great, but it´s kind of Third World-ish sometimes. Spain is beautiful, but the food sucks. I love France, but it´s overrated. Everything about it is overrated. But in Germany, there´s a big ethnic thing happening there, and everything works. Your computer, cars, everything works. If I had to pick, I´m American all the way, I´m not going anywhere, but it would be Germany. Plus, they´ve been though a lot. They´ve come up from the ashes, to create a society that´s trying to do the right thing after their history. It´s admirable. Everything there works. It´s quite amazing. Also, I enjoy driving as fast as I can. Every time I go there, we rent powerful vehicles. Plus that fuckin´ schnitzel´s the best, it´s like a super-empanada.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.