Corbett Wins Again
Another court has come down in favor of Tampa businessman Dick Corbett and against Weekly Planet's attempt to force disclosure of a development agreement for the public land where the 1-year-old International Plaza shopping mall was built.The Second District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed a trial court ruling that the Planet wasn't entitled to see a document that might spell out the financial arrangements between a Corbett company and his partnership with two mall developers.
International Plaza sits on land owned by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which operates Tampa International Airport.
Critics of the lease believe airport officials created a windfall for Corbett by charging him bargain-rate rent while letting him cut a more lucrative and secret development deal with his mall partners. Corbett's mall deal will deprive the authority of millions of dollars in revenue that airport users and taxpayers must make up over the 80 years left on the lease, critics say.
Judge Chris W. Altenbernd, who wrote the Nov. 1 appellate opinion, was unsympathetic to the Planet's argument that documents concerning development of public land should be public records.
Altenbernd wrote that businesses using public property should only have to disclose records concerning that property when they have been delegated to perform a governmental function. Since operating a mall is not a job of government, Corbett's records should remain secret.
'there is no justification to open the records of private businesses to this type of inspection when they are competing with other similar private businesses and are not performing any delegated governmental function," wrote Altenbernd.
Judge James W. Whatley wrote that he had to 'reluctantly concur." While in agreement with Altenbernd and Judge Patricia J. Kelly on the law, Whatley criticized the aviation authority.
'through inattention or design," Whatley wrote in part, the aviation authority "has failed, in my view, to adequately protect the public." Airport officials never should have let Corbett structure a lease arrangement agreement for the mall so as to avoid public scrutiny, the judge said.
'the public view of the lease arrangement agreement would not have given shopping mall competitors an undue advantage," wrote Whatley. "It would have allowed the public the right to review and analyze the document that is part and parcel of a long-term lease of public land."—Francis X. GilpinPast TransgressionNostalgia-oriented events such as disco parties and tribute shows are somewhat pathetic. It takes irony, hedonism and a sense of humor to pull off a fun trip back in time. We can say without a doubt that giddiness won out over dignity at The State Theatre's Halloween "80s Tribute Show Oct. 31.
It does a heart good to see grownups partying down in duds from their teenage years in a setting that's decidedly poverty-tinged Gen X, not affluently annoying baby boomerish.
Performing that night were Sparky's Nightmare, Johnny Thunders Overdose, Big Kitty, Jesus Peter Paul and Mary Chain (members of The Spills, Arcade Inferno and Car Bomb Driver — and winner of best damn band name of the night!), Cocktail Honeys, Car Bomb Driver, Barely Pink and Bastard Squad.
Musical highlights were too numerous to mention in their entirety. Some include Big Kitty, with guest players Tom Cook of Rancid Polecats, Jim Pettigo formerly of Magadog, and Bob Anthony of Smoking Jackets, with Cook and BK frontwoman Daphne Brulee performing a duet of The Smiths" 'there Is A Light (That Never Goes Out)," made all the more feisty by Cook's Morrissey-style gesticulations. Crippled Masters played a rocking rendition of "Freedomofchoice" by Devo, in yellow jumpsuits that recalled the song's video. Cocktail Honeys, fronted by the Planet's own music guy Scott Harrell performed an oddly unsettling albeit well-done version of "Against All Odds." The Phil Collins tune was followed by the power medley to end all power medleys, which included riffs from Rush's 'tom Sawyer," The Scorpions" 'rock You Like a Hurricane" and A-Ha's 'take on Me."
Songs by Guns n" Roses, Let's Active, Duran Duran, The Replacements, Black Flag and Adam and the Ants got the crowd booty shaking in what appeared a reenactment of the new wave floor at Sky Feathers circa 1985.
A cross-section of unemployed IT professionals, musicians, groupies and underpaid yuppies came out in full force as 1980s rockers and assorted other weird, conceptual personae.
Taking honors for the best costume, one that evoked drunken singing of its attendant theme song, was The Gita's Tony Dolan as The Greatest American Hero. Coolest costume honors go to Heather Morales" uncanny Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders) getup. Funniest costume winner was — by a landslide — Bob Anthony's 'slashdance," which comprised an amalgamation of Slash from Gn'r and Jennifer Beals in Flashdance.
What a feeling, indeed!—Julie Garisto
Rapid RejectionFrom the culture that brought you the right to a speedy trial, pizza in 30 minutes or it's free, and microwave popcorn comes yet another triumph of expeditious convenience: a speed-dating service called HurryDate.Speed-dating events, in which numerous singles have brief one-on-one introductions over the course of a few hours, have cropped up in several cities over the last couple of years.
However, HurryDate, founded by entrepreneurs Adele Testani and Ken Deckinger, is the first to grab a trademark and take it nationwide. "We're adding cities everyday — we're up to 20 now," says Testani. "We started about a year and a half ago in New York, and it's been growing ever since."
At a HurryDate, participants meet up to 25 peers for three minutes, and use a scorecard to indicate surreptitiously the ones they"d like to take to a movie, go hiking with, or perhaps just view through a window from some comfortable adjacent shrubbery.
After the event — usually held at a popular bar — the company's "proprietary matching software" determines which of your picks picked you, and sends along their first names and e-mail addresses.
According to a press release, an average of 140 matches are made at each shindig. An Atlanta couple is engaged to constitute the first HurryDate-spawned marriage next June. But Testani explains that the parties are a stress-free atmosphere where one could find a new fifth for their bowling team as easily as they could a new love interest.
"We're certainly not trying to marry you off in three minutes," she says.
The HurryDate president also belies the notion that the average event is packed with pasty pervs, desperate losers and social incompetents. "[It's] young professionals, the kind of person that's fun, outgoing, kind of adventurous," says Testani. 'some people are surprised … the way we"ve tried to position ourselves, you have to be comfortable in a social situation already. It's not necessarily for people who are sick of the bar scene, and see this is a last resort."
HurryDate is intended for folks in the 25-35 age range, but will soon be branching out into more specialized niches. Gay HurryDate and events skewed toward African-Americans are in the works for a New York launch.
The company's maiden Tampa voyage is scheduled for Nov. 13 at downtown watering hole Jackson's Bistro, 601 S. Harbour Island Blvd. Anyone interested in the 7 p.m. party is encouraged to sign up at www.hurrydate.com beforehand. There's a $30 participation fee and space is limited.—Scott HarrellAnd a Kook
Shall Lead UsWhile Planet Publisher Ben Eason was hoping for a night of political debate and discussion about drawing more culture to Tampa, an Oct. 28 leadership forum at Palma Ceia's Cafe Italia turned into something else.The discussion was supposed to center on Richard Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, and the author's contention that great cities with booming economies are the ones that can attract the most culturally creative people.
These are picky little people who require things like museums, public transportation and restaurants they can walk to, "giving hipster commuters a happening night life." (That's an actual quote from Florida.) They also require technology, talent and tolerance, according to Florida. These talented folks are mostly artists, techies and homosexuals.
Maybe it's just the snide among us who think that it's a little premature for a county with no human rights ordinance protecting gays, but with a county seat that has a city ordinance protecting men from having naked women in their laps, to be engaged in a discussion about attracting free-thinkers. If that's true, then there were plenty of snide people sitting at the table of Tampa City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, a mayoral hopeful.
Miranda refused to even look at a questionnaire handed out with the intention of sparking discussion. "I don't look at the questions," he said. He said it with a smile but true to his word, Miranda did not look at or answer the questions.
When the subject of the need for more restaurants downtown came up, Fowler White attorney Richard Jacobson tried to bring up a real issue facing the city. "What happened to public housing?" Jacobson asked. Attorney Dave Mechanik suggested the Channelside District would be a great place to build low-income housing.
The subject of the contract for Raymond James Stadium surfaced and Miranda briefly gained interest in the debate. Miranda actually read the contract, he said of his solitary dissenting vote against the project in the 1990s. If a business was run the way that Tampa accepted that contract, he said, it wouldn't be a business for very long.
No one mentioned art or bike lanes, and artists were scarce at the $30-a-plate dinner.
After the meal and several glasses of wine from seemingly bottomless bottles, the forum began. Mayoral candidates fielded questions on talent, technology and tolerance.
City CouncilmanBob Buckhorn defended his stance on lap dancing. Miranda backed him up.
The other mayoral candidates, Frank Sanchez and Don Ardell tried, in varying degrees, to distance themselves from the council's intermittent morality crusades.
Ardell, a dark horse who comes off like a kook in his e-mail newsletter, was the only candidate who appeared to grasp what attracting the creative class to Tampa actually meant.
He emphasized health, fitness, the environment and those sacred ideals of artists: freedom of expression and personal choice. Ardell doesn't smoke or get lap dances, he said, but it's not up to him if anyone else does.
'thou I am not gay," Ardell said, "I want a human rights ordinance second to none."
Maybe it's the kooks who should lead us.—Rochelle Renford
Elvis SightingIn 1978, it would"ve been all but impossible to predict that a gangly, bespectacled, perpetually pissed-off Brit with a smug stage name would become one of the most formidable musical forces of the last three decades.Elvis Costello proved his importance at Ruth Eckerd Hall Nov. 3, which is not to say his show was self-important. Costello — beefier, hairline receding, horn-rimmed glasses tinted amber — was an amiable host over the course of two inspired hours.
You could not help but walk away impressed with the artist's impressive range as a songwriter, a performer, and, even more specifically, as a singer.
Even in theater shows such as this one, it's rare that a vocalist can evoke such potent emotion. Near show's end, an orange-ish light turned Costello's face into something of a jack-o-lantern as he portrayed the seething jealousy of "I Want You," his voice modulating from a whisper to an anguished yowl. This open-a-vein moment came right after a rollicking segment that included early rockers "(What's So Funny "Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," 'radio, Radio," and "Pump it Up."
This reflected Costello's tack throughout the show: Stick with him on a few obscurities and he rewarded the crowd with committed performances of familiar fare.
As if to keep himself interested, he recast two of the songs from this year's estimable When I Was Cruel album. "Your Spooky Girlfriend" was performed at a bouncy clip, in contrast to the creeping original; the title song was completely overhauled with a lilting new melody.
Dressed in black jeans, well-worn boots and suit jacket — sans one of the hats he seems to favor — Costello played on an unadorned stage, backed only by his three-piece Imposters band. They were terrific. Keyboardist Steve Nieve provided plenty of rhythmic oomph as well as sonic color. Drummer Pete Thomas imbued each song with just the right dose of energy or touch. Frankly, their rugged virtuosity came as a surprise. The two were part of Costello's original Attractions, not viewed at the time as extraordinary musicians. They were joined by Cracker bassist Davey Faragher.
Costello's few attempts at guitar improvisation were the show's only relative weak spots. Thankfully, he kept his solos mostly riffy and mercifully brief. They were used for pacing, not filler, and did not weaken the songs. With songs like these, that would"ve been hard to do. —Eric Snider
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2002.
