Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

100 years ago…

August 30, 1906 – A public hearing is held in Tampa to discuss the various plans for the city’s new port. W. L. Seddon, chief engineer for the Seaboard Air Line railroad, presented his company’s proposal for the dredging of a channel and establishment of port facilities on Grassy Island in Hillsborough Bay. The new facilities would be connected to the mainland by a large lift bridge. The plans were approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, and Seddon Island (and the modern Port of Tampa) was born. Seddon Island is now know as Harbour Island.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

The last time the USF Bulls played a football game, they laid a goose egg in their first ever bowl appearance.  But that is soooo 2005.

How does the offense look this year? The leading rusher Andre Hall graduated (after a brief stint as a Buccaneer, he’s now in Chicago); meanwhile the competition for quarterback is close between senior Pat Julmiste and freshman Matt Grothe after expected starter Carlton Hill misbehaved his way out of the job and the school.

It’s a good thing that defense still looks good.

That’s basically Terry Bowden’s assessment of the Bulls this year. Bowden says USF finishing 5th in the Big East; but his bosses at Yahoo! Sports still see the team’s old logo, over three years since the school changed it. That’s alright, guys - three years is only about thirty in internet time.

There is a good sign for the Bulls; they get to avoid the business end of one of those classic lopsided early NCAA games. In fact they’ll be the ones (hopefully) doling out the bullying - they open their season this Saturday at home against I-AA McNeese State.

As always, remember that USF games are the only chance most of us will have to see football at RayJay this year.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Stephen Nicholas, LB - He’s on the watch list for both the Butkus and Bronco Nagurski awards (for best linebacker and best defensive players, respectively) - why not watch him too?

GAME TO WATCH: Sept. 16 at UCF - Those last two games on the road against Top 25 teams are obviously big, though they could be painful. Instead set your sights on the not-really-a-rivalry-but-could-be matchup against our I-4 neighbors. There’s no guarantee that this game will be played every year, so make sure you enjoy every opportunity to stick it to Orlando.

PREDICTION: Yahoo! doesn’t change the logo this year despite my two e-mails of protest. Oh, and the team finishes 6-6.

So it looks like the first big storm of the season is Florida bound, taking a path almost eerily similar to 1999’s hurricane Irene, which is featured in my book, Lauderdale (I’ve begun editing!). Hurricanes are bad things generally, and this one will no doubt wreak its share of havoc across the southern part of the state.

I invite you to please consider, however, how much worse the damage would be were the Florida Straits dotted with oil derricks. Consider how fragile the coral reef south of the Keys, and the entire Keys/Florida Bay ecosystem, is, and how much damage a single accident at a rig in the Straits could do to that ecosystem. The oil companies, some energy lobbies, and at least half of Congress wants to put oil rigs there. Think about how much worse the next Ernesto or Irene could be if they succeed.

Then, please, consider what might happen were the Straits dotted not with American oil rigs, but with those operated by a Chinese-Cuban consortium. How good do you think the safety records at American-run oil platforms are? How good, in comparison, do you think a Cuban-Chinese one would likely be? Do you know what the Chinese have done to their environment? How much less care would they be likely to take with someone else’s environment?

American policy toward Cuba makes a Cuba-China connection in the Straits quite likely; they are already sinking test wells.

Floridians: is the Cuba policy you have supported for almost fifty years worth this? Is it?

Thanks to persistent praise from Sticks readers, we drove over to Brandon this past Friday to check out First Choice Southern BBQ for dinner. We thought we had arrived early enough to beat the dinner crowd, but instead found the line already out the door when we walked up.

The first thing we noticed while waiting in line, besides the great smells coming out of the kitchen, was that people were being friendly to each other. One guy turned around to the lady in front of us and said First Choice was “the best bbq he’s ever had.” She agreed. Maybe great food puts everyone in a good mood. Whatever the reason, it was nice to see strangers getting along.

Listening to the chopping of the meat and the buzz of the kitchen just made me hungrier as we waited in line. The line moved quickly and after getting to the counter I ordered a pork and beef combo plate with sides of spicy macaroni salad and coleslaw. Traci ordered smoked turkey with fries and macaroni.  Service is fast and next thing we knew we were paying for our orders and grabbing an open table.  From our table we watched as the line built even further out the door.

The pork and the beef were both excellent (juicy and moist) and I loved the spicy macaroni, which was indeed spicy, but not too much bite to ruin things. I was tempted to order some macaroni to go. The smoked turkey was some of the best I’ve ever had. The coleslaw was good- not too sweet, but not bitter either. My only complaint was that the two sides of bread that come with each meal were plain. I would have preferred garlic toasted bread, but the great barbecue and macaroni more than made up for it.

We left First Choice stuffed and only a little lighter in the wallet. While I haven’t tried Big John’s yet, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say First Choice is the best barbecue in Tampa Bay. This comes after trying Jimbo’s (still good in a pinch and I like the inside dining room), Hickory Hollow (good food overshadowed by poor service), Kojak’s (food was disappointing, but cool atmosphere), Fred Fleming’s, and yes even Sonny’s a few years ago.

I know I’ve reviewed a lot of barbecue places lately and that barbecue isn’t for everyone.  So drop me a line and let me know what restaurants around the area you’d like me to check out.

Bottom-line: When I first heard about First Choice, I thought the place was over-hyped. After eating there, I actually think this place isn’t talked about enough. Simply great barbecue!

Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection - August 2006 violations - Critical (0), Non-Critical (1).

Way before there was a tbt*, or Tampa Bay Scene, or Reax. Check out the cover of the Friday Extra from August 29, 1986:

From left to right, meet Max Van Laundromax, Penny Robinson, Johnny G. Lyon, and Ray Blade. If you believe Johnny’s version of the beginning, it seems none of them actually knew they were in the band.

Anyway, Max is currently in LA recording a CD with Jim “Kimo” West.  His son, Zax Van Laundromax is finishing school here in Tampa, and is likely a future member of JGLB.  Penny still lives and works in the area, and appears now and again during JGLB reunion shows.  Johnny G. Lyon and Ray Blade continue to rock all over the Tampa Bay area.

In fact, the current lineup of the JGLB will be playing at Blue Shark on September 16, 2006 for the Grand Opening.

You may recall that the Blue Shark moved a few months ago. Well, George Wilds was so caught up packing all the great vibes from the old Blue Shark, and carrying them on over to the New Blue Shark, that he didn’t have time for a party. Now everything is in place, and there is going to be one hell of a good time.  We will have more info posted here soon, but make sure to mark your calendars for September 16. NO COVER CHARGE!

30 years ago…

August 29, 1976 – The Tampa Times details the construction and planned opening of the new State Fairgrounds east of Tampa. The State Fair authority had previously decided that the old fair grounds, adjacent to the University of Tampa, were too small for the growing event.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

A local film fan and Sunrise Cinemas supporter has started a website called www.savethesunrise.com to get a grass roots advocacy campaign started in the local community to fight the Hyde Park Village redesign plan to replace Sunrise Cinemas and the Wine Exchange with condos.

This website has a call to action plan with suggestions of what we can do to show our support. We can contact the Architectural Review Commission, our City Council members, Sunrise Cinemas management, and Village owner Wasserman Vornado to let them know we don’t want condos. We want Sunrise Cinemas to stay! This site lists many email addresses and links, so you don’t have to do research yourself. You are also welcome to update www.savethesunrise.com with your suggestions and information.

Visit www.savethesunrise.com NOW. Then send those emails, and then send some more emails to let your friends and neighbors know about this community effort. It’s up to us.

(cross-posted at Tampa Film Fan)

There is a little more than one week left until the September 5 primary election. Your last assignment is one I neglected to mention before:

Don’t wait until September 5. Vote early!

When can you vote early? Most early voting locations should be open until September 2.

Where can you vote early? Here are your links for locations:

• Hillsborough
• Pinellas
• Pasco
• Hernando (couldn’t find it on their site)
• Citrus (link was molasses slow at post time)
• Polk
• Manatee
• Sarasota (PDF file)

Why should you vote early? There are several reasons, but here’s one that came to mind very recently:

Hurricane Ernesto.

Should Ernesto affect our area, it’ll probably do so on Thursday or Friday. The regular polls don’t open until the following Tuesday, but that’s not to say that the effects of a Category 2 or 3 won’t still be felt. Polling locations may be in use as shelters. The power that runs our paper-trail-lacking voting machines may still be down. You may be in another county or state after evacuating. You may be too ill from your thirtieth can of potted meat.

I’d like to think local counties have a contingency plan in place for such an event, but Florida doesn’t exactly have a proud history of coping with extraordinary electoral emergencies. Vote early and you can concentrate on the other tasks at hand.

Need one more reason to vote? Homeowners: go look at your insurance bill. Don’t like it? After Ernesto, it’s probably going to get worse. Do you have friends down south who still have blue tarps on their roof because their claim still hasn’t been processed? It could get worse for them, or it could happen to you. Your vote will not be early enough to help this round, but it will surely have a direct effect on whether the problem gets better or worse.

Have we scared you enough? Good. Now go vote.