A screenshot from Da Hood Gone Wild Vol. 2 

Remember that Clearwater street fighting DVD that made headlines in October?

Well, the crew behind the controversial Da Hood Gone Wild is releasing a sequel. In this week’s Urban Explorer, I go behind the scenes to watch some of the newest footage and also receive a tour of Clearwater’s North Greenwood neighborhood where most of the fights were filmed.

Check that story out here.

Meanwhile, the co-creator of Da Hood, Allan Burney, remains in the Pinellas County jail in connection to the murder of a Clearwater man. Police arrested Burney after the St. Pete Times published an article about the first DVD. While reporting this week’s story, I visited Burney in the slammer. He’s excited about the DVD (many of the scenes in the sequel were filmed by him before his arrest) and still proclaims his innocence, blaming the Clearwater Police Department for setting him up after city officials found out about Da Hood DVD.

On the other hand, Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard wasn’t too happy to hear about a sequel.

“Too late for Christmas, huh?” he quipped when I talked to him last week.

Hibbard took issue with the first DVD’s portrayal of the neighborhood and believes the presence of cameras actually encourages the fights to ensue. This is no documentary, he says.

“Let’s face it — they’re trying to make money,” he adds.

But the DVD has no doubt put a spotlight on the neighborhood. Besides meetings Hibbard had with various community leaders over the last few months, residents from all over Pinellas County organized a drug march through the neighborhood in November. Even the Scientologists had their own gathering.

Read the story, watch some clips from the first DVD and judge for yourself: Is this DVD too wild?

This article appears in Jan 23-29, 2008.