The Sprawl: In the effort to create an American wet dream of spacious property and segregated neighborhoods out of the Tampa Bay area, developers deconstructed centralized arteries of urban life and supported massive sprawl. The end result, a limitless landscape of suburban paradise, stifles awareness of community and cultural events. When even the independent media outlets have been focusing on baby boomer sanctioned and approved activities, the mutants and youth have nowhere to turn. Regardless, cutting edge bands, musical acts, djs, etc. continue to perform to a handful of their friends.
OK, so USF St. Pete is a commuter college. No art school. Everybody drives everywhere. USF Tampa is out in the boondocks. Downtown Tampa remains bombed out and closes up at 3 p.m. Downtown St. Petersburg consists of two or maybe three worthwhile blocks. The majority of random people in this area seem to be completely closed-minded to sounds different than familiar mainstream and top-40 pop. Somehow, in the face of all these generalizations, underground, challenging, exciting music keeps festering into bars and venues across Hillsborough and Pinellas…
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2008.
