Playwright, composer, Tampa expatriate and noted bald guy Joe Popp blew into town last week to see some friends and celebrate his seventh consecutive 30th birthday. The New York City denizen also found time to put in a June 12 appearance at Southern Alliance main-man Joran Oppelt's bi-weekly In The Raw acoustic singer/ songwriter series at the State Theatre. In addition to backing/heckling Pagan Saint Will Quinlan, Popp smashed guitars, cracked wise and plowed through material by both of his former Tampa bands, seminal punk-scene legends Dogs on Ice and the eponymous trio Joe Popp. Former Joe Popp and current Misfortune 500 and Sparky's Nightmare bassist Martin Rice accompanied Joe Popp on the Joe Popp material. God, that's confusing.
—Scott Harrell
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2002.