Political Party
Kelly Benjamin may be a neophyte in the big, ugly world of politics, but he throws a party like a pro.On Nov. 23, Benjamin hosted an event to raise funds and collect signatures for his quest to relieve incumbent Rose Ferlita of her District 2 seat on the Tampa City Council.
The event at Viva La Frida Cafe y Galeria in Seminole Heights drew about 150 people who signed Benjamin's ballot petition and donated $1,500 to his campaign.
Benjamin has received the endorsement of the local Green Party and his stump speech at the event appealed to the ecologically and artistically correct crowd that gathered to hear it. The attendees also got an earful of two bands that wouldn't play an establishment political gig, Tampa's Dumbwaiters and Gainesville's Molotonic.
"I don't think that the true needs of the diverse citizens of this city are being met," he told the cheering crowd.
Among Benjamin's complaints was the city's drive to build a cultural arts district downtown for the wealthy when there could have been a perfectly good cultural arts district in Ybor City, if the city hadn't paved it over to build a yuppie entertainment district.
The trolley project also made Benjamin's hit list. "It goes from one tourist trap in Channelside to another failing tourist trap, that crown jewel of gentrification called Centro Ybor," he said.
Some of Benjamin's assertions gave the impression that he was either running for a position that's a lot more powerful than City Council or that he knows of some hidden stash of money that the rest of city government is unaware of.
It's laudable to want to create economic growth in blighted areas in ways that don't push poor people out of their neighborhoods. But it's a tricky and expensive endeavor city governments all over the country are grappling with.
Still, having someone speak out for just plain folks is always a refreshing change.
Mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez was on the scene and was duly impressed. "I admire his courage to run," said Sanchez, "especially as somebody who's willing to talk about issues that are not normally discussed."
Joe Redner, who is expected to run for the District 5 City Council seat, was also pleased with Benjamin's spunk and his ability to pull in a crowd of constituents who are tired of being ignored. "Hell, if everybody here votes, he's probably a winner," Redner said.—Rochelle Renford
Opera in Tampa
Bravo to Opera Tampa for its performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci Nov. 23 and 24.The burgeoning series proved that it's worth supporting, putting on an excellent production of the two favorite Italian operas. There was major operatic talent in the principal roles, gorgeous costumes and sets, wonderful orchestration and a superb showing by the Opera Tampa Chorus.
Opening night at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Carol Morsani Hall was nearly full, with furs and coats draped over the backs of the few empty seats.
Once the orchestra was warm, Anton Coppola took the conductor's stand and began the overture of Cav. The acoustics of the place are excellent for opera, which was obvious in the first song, sung from offstage, as Turriddu, a peasant, professes his love for Lola, the wife of a cart driver.
Tenor Paul Hartfield performed this richly, setting the tone for the evening. Hartfield, who also played Canio (who plays the clown Pagliacci) in Pag, was just one of several singers who flew in for the short run.
Catherine Bassett, who's sung for years with the New York City Opera, was mamma Lucia in Cav. She also played Giovanna in The Center's 2002 production of Rigoletto.
Christine Sale, a mezzo-soprano whose career is still on the rise, showed off a very pretty voice (to match her looks) as Lola in Cav. And baritone Theodore Lambrinos lent his big sound to the roles of Alfio and Tonio in Pag. He's renowned for his portrayal of the title role in Rigoletto, which he's performed at the Metropolitan Opera and throughout the world.
Hartfield, although technically excellent, has a somewhat small voice, and was not a great match in his duets with Allison Charney (Santuzza in Cav and Nedda in Pag), a strong soprano with a bright, full sound.
For the famous "Ridi Pagliacci" near the end of Pag, Coppola had the orchestra play a bit softer than the usual volume of this climactic number. It's the song in which Canio, head of a troupe of traveling actors, tells himself to suppress his heartbreak at learning of his wife's unfaithfulness in order to put on that evening's play.
Hartfield's lush, passionate effort still won much applause.
Praise is due to Judith Lisi, president of The Center, who's spearheaded its mission of producing high-quality opera. The heart of this effort is the Opera Tampa Chorus — a stellar ensemble made up of classically trained singers from the Bay area — and the Opera Tampa Orchestra, a pickup orchestra (as The Florida Orchestra is too expensive for Opera Tampa's current budget). Together they brought out the nuances of the music, both loud and soft, cleanly and beautifully.
The outstanding quality of this show bodes well for the performances ahead in the series.
But now in its seventh season, with lagging ticket sales in a market that's proven itself slow to embrace opera, Lisi and Opera Tampa face some tough choices as to how to continue.
Producing opera is an expensive task, flying in top talent, renting sets and costumes, paying an orchestra, cast and crew. But let's hope they continue. There need to be no empty seats. Folks can handle sitting with their coats on their laps.—Cooper Cruz
PR Power
Well, the times won't be a-changin' anytime soon at WMNF-88.5 FM, Tampa's listener-sponsored community radio station.After weeks of angry e-mails and debate, the tentative new schedule unveiled at a public meeting Nov. 19 showed minor tweaking rather than the radical change that WMNF Program Director Randy Wynne had pushed.
The credo among indie radioactivists may be no commercials and no corporate underwriters, but they still know how to run public relations campaigns that would put Nike to shame.
At an earlier meeting this fall, Wynne had announced his intention to institute changes that he hoped would attract more black and young listeners. Then, the station's largely anti-establishment-yet-mainstream-media-savvy volunteers sprang into action.
Supporters of the Latino show, Oye Latino, contacted the St. Petersburg Times with their complaint that the show was about to be canceled, and Wynne was mincing no words in stating that Latinos weren't part of the station's target audience.
The result was a front-page, above-the-fold story about WMNF giving the finger to the Latin community.
Wynne contends the show's relatively poor performance during pledge drives proved that many other Latinos weren't listening either.
"Even with all the press I still only got about 30 calls and e-mails [complaining]," said Wynne. "And most of those were from non-Latinos."
Still, Latino activists were at the meeting in force. There was such a display of dissatisfaction that the show will likely be able to continue its ninth year on the air.
Standing with the Latino contingent were the station's black volunteers. Community activist Connie Burton, who had objected to the possibility of having her Straight Talk show moved from its Sunday morning time slot to one later in the day, declared that she would not accept the cancellation of Latino shows to make more room for black-oriented shows. In the tentative new schedule, Burton's show retains its 9 a.m. time slot on Sundays.
The Jewish show, Sunday Simcha, had also faced a time change. But publicity in the local Jewish media along with an estimated 500 angry e-mails and phone calls put the kibosh on that, said Wynne.
In the end, fewer than eight hours of programming was canceled to make room for a little more jazz and one additional black talk show — hardly enough to attract more black listeners.
"The status quo is so powerful here that people feel like once a show is on the air, it's an insult to take it off," said Wynne.
Cue the Grateful Dead.—Rochelle Renford
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2002.