Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Friend of mine invited a co-worker to happy hour. Big mistake.

“No thank you. It’s deplorable that teachers attend happy hour right down the street from their school,” she said in her non-acceptance speech. “I don’t even order a glass of wine with dinner unless I’m in Pasco County or something. Far enough away where I won’t run into any of my students.”

I know. Pasco County restaurants serve wine?

This particular teacher’s list of no-no’s doesn’t just include an occasional adult beverage. She believes most modern educators are immoral and longs for the days when teachers were kept under virtual house arrest each evening after their tea and mandatory Bible reading.

I happen to believe she is horribly misguided.

Teachers shouldn’t have to hide themselves away as if everyday experiences are shameful events. We are human beings and entitled to full and complete lives. Obviously - drug buys on campus shouldn’t be tolerated. Yet teachers who live in self-imposed exile take their jobs way too seriously. And, as a result, aren’t nearly as effective.

That’s right. We aren’t doing our jobs if we’re not out there mucking it up. The more non-traditional, the more broad our world view and then everyone wins.

Fellow teachers - drink alcohol, write steamy novels, protest nuclear power plants, frequent nu dist resorts, attend passion parties, perform in rock bands, and bring an arsenal of experiences from which to draw when dealing with a diverse and ever complicated student population.

Good teachers do this already. And our students are all the better for it.

***cross-posted at Out in Left Field***

crossposted from ninebullets.net

I wasn’t gonna say anything at all about this show. I figured since I already admitted SHB was one of my 3 favorite artists then it would be obvious that I thought the show was awesome. I did. This show was so much better than the last time he came to town. A bigger crowd made him even better and the crowd actually knew the songs. Instead of me going on and on about how good the show was I figured I would let someone else tell you. I have this friend who really digs live music who came out for the show even though he is no real fan of Biram’s recorded material. So, before the show I asked him if he would do a show review afterwards. Well, he agreed and here you go:

Scott H. Biram Show Review by Jason Richardson

You know I am not the biggest Biram fan but I like live music in general regardless of genre. In my opinion that is how music is meant to be enjoyed, technology allows recording only recently and the expense of the equipment it once required is why we are now embroiled in the argument over copyrights and illegal downloading. Long after the reason for paying for a record is gone we still do so, which I find curious. Anyway, I checked out the opening acts on their respective myspace pages earlier in the day and was excited to see the first group. A large band from Lakeland called Semisoul was a great surprise. Female lead vocals, a rapper, and a horn section round out the standard power trio very well. That and I think the female singer was checking me out a little bit. Well…maybe she was just worried because I almost bumped into her but I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

myspace.com/semisoul

My friend Diana was excited to see the Dead Popes and I realized that I am friends with the drummer only when I saw them setting up. Fun rockabilly guys with a very tight sound and a fun attitude and I was pretty happy with the show by this point.

myspace.com/thedeadpopes

Finally it was time for Scott Biram. I had heard him earlier when he was doing his sound check and the amount of music he can generate all by himself is really staggering. He is really a great performer and musician. He was able to banter with the audience, tune his guitar, work a bass pedal to keep the beat, blow on the harmonica, and growl into his mic/bullhorn. You don’t really know what to expect when the little guy in the green trucker cap sits down on the stage. Biram looks like a guy you’d pass coming out of the bathroom at a Flying J truckstop on I-10. However he attacks honkytonk and blues with a vicious growl and doesn’t let you go until you are stomping you feet and screaming “Whiskey!” along with the 40 or so others that stayed all night on a Sunday evening.

Anyway you wanted to see what I thought about the show and this is it, if you are a lover of music I think you should make time to go see all kinds of music, sometimes you find something live that you would never even consider on your Ipod or cd player.

And there you go. Biram was awesome. Go see him when he comes to your town.

OH YEAH! I also managed to take some pictures this time. If you want, CHECK THEM OUT.

Scott H. Biram - Blood, Sweat and Murder

Scott H. Biram - Been Down too Long
Scott H. Biram - Raisin’ Hell Again
Scott H. Biram - Long Fingernail

Scott H. Biram’s Official Site, Scott H. Biram on Bloodshot Records, Scott H. Biram’s myspace site

We were hoping that the full slate of candidates would show up for SoHoTampa.com’s district 4 candidate forum this morning. Unfortunately, John Dingfelder will not be able to make it:

Confirming our conversation, I will be unable to attend Tuesday morning’s forum as I have a City Council conflict. Specifically, Council had scheduled a public workshop several weeks ago to address proposed changes to the ARC ordinance, an important issue to my district and especially to Historic Hyde Park residents. The workshop is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM on Tuesday.

I commend your efforts on this innovative approach to informing voters and wish you well. I trust that you will read this statement to your viewers so that they fully understand why I was unable to attend.

Thanks and regards,

John Dingfelder
Tampa City Councilman - District 4

The forum will go on without Mr. Dingfelder. Watch the Showdown in Soho live at 10am thanks to Tampa Digital Studios.

The St. Pete Times has a new blog: TroxBlog: Howard Troxler’s take and reader reaction. I have enjoyed Howard Troxler’s columns since before he was with the St. Pete Times. I hope he uses the blog format as well as Wayne Garcia does over at Blurbex.

This post was written by guest writer Joey McChesney - I only took the photos for the evening. Thanks Joey!

Oscar night at the historic Tampa Theater was a spectacle straight out of Hollywood. The event integrated many Hollywood traditions and elements into one glamorous, fun-filled evening. Tampa was one of 49 cities to host an official Oscar viewing party, and all proceeds go directly to charity. The host of the evening was Roan Jivers, AKA Pat Fenda, who greeted the guests who arrived by limousine. Pat Fenda is a local icon. Not only is she a woman who can juggle knives, she is a hilarious impersonator. Ms. Fenda has performed around the world and began her company, Strictly Entertainment, in 1984 in South Tampa.

The veteran performer by far was the star of the evening. Jack and Jill, the penguins from the Florida Aquarium, were definitely the happiest feet to make the strut down the red carpet. When the pair left their autographs behind, the humble Ms. Jivers even offered her assistance scooping the remnants off the carpet.

The night was a bit windy, but the temperature was favorable for such swanky attire. The guest/celebrities were decked to the nines in high-end gowns and tuxedos. Tampa Bay broadcasting personality Jack Harris was on hand to serenade the crowd as well. He was gracious as always, making the guests feel adorned at the pseudo-Hollywood event. The cosmetics team from Neiman Marcus provided touch-ups and wind therapy to all the dames as they entered the enchanting 80-year-old theater.

The theater was even more elegant than usual, filled with gourmet hor devours and bubbly of plenty. The caterer of the evening, Rita Carlino, was a shining star herself. Her delicious spread left the taste of Hollywood gold in the guests’ palettes. Rita is one of Tampa Bay’s culinary masters. Her radiant energy shines through with her creative masterpieces. Rita Carlino also left the guests with the taste of Hollywood glitz with her scrumptious Hollywood goodie bags.

The evening brought the magic and excitement of the Governor’s Ball right here to Tampa. From the silent auction, to the actual Oscar viewing ceremony, Tampa’s elite were given the star treatment. The gala was a hit and the illuminating Tampa Theater marquee shined brighter than ever. This was an event that left the guests’ hearts glowing from an evening of glam and giving.

Don’t forget!

You can watch the forum for the district 4 city council candidates live at 10am Tuesday on the Showdown in SoHo page of TampaGold.com

The archived version will be available in the same place after 3pm.

Because this a Tampa blog I will pay lip service to USF even though they have about as much of a future as Britney Spears’ career. Instead all the chatter on the ebays is focused on the Gators and their slide down the rankings. Also, I give some much deserved love to the Florida A&M band.

USF: lost to Seton Hall

Tommy has threatened to destroy my entire bobblehead collection including my rare ‘99 Jose Canseco where the oversized head is in perfect proportion to the rest of his body unless I lead off with the Bulls. USF’s guard play is just dreadful, which is a shame because they have such good big men. If the Bulls could actually beat the full cout press without turning the ball over they might have picked up their first Big East road win.

Up Next: Providence (Wed, 7:00), at DePaul (Sat, 2:00)

UF: beat South Carolina, lost to LSU

From pointing out that Florida can be had to questioning if the Gators have lost their mojo, the sports blogosphere is a buzz about the defending champs uninspired loss to LSU. As a counterpoint I would like to mention that the Gators lost three straight games to close out February before going undefeated for the month of March.

Up Next: at Tenn (Tues, 9:00), Kentucky (Sun, noon)

FSU: lost to Maryland, beat NC State

The Noles most likely need to get to the ACC Championship game if they are going to make the NCAA Tournament. If the season had ended three weeks ago they would be in but since beating Duke the Noles have lost 5 straight until their win against NC State this weekend.

Up Next: at Miami (Sat, noon)

Miami: beat #25 UVA, lost to #21 VA Tech

Does anyone really care about Hurricanes basketball at this point (or at any point)? If I replaced Miami in this space with the FAMU band would anyone complain?

FAMU Marching 100: played Super Bowl with Prince

I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen the Florida A&M ‘Marching 100′ in person before but if they are half as good as they are at the ‘02-’03 basketball homecoming I would go out of my way to see them live. And this counts as a basketball related because technically the FAMU band is playing on a basketball court. And just because I can’t get enough Marching 100 now, some more youtube goodness.

Up Next: Hubba 100

Congratulations to Philip Watson. Because he knew where to find the statue in this photo, he won a pair of tickets to see Bruce in the USA this Saturday.

We have another pair of tickets to give away to this concert at Skippers. But you have to know a bit about this place we live in. And this week might be a bit harder than it has been.

The facility shown here was originally opened in 1933 - do you know what and where it is? If you believe you know, let us know from the contest entry page. The winner will be chosen from all correct entries received by Tuesday at noon, and notified shortly thereafter.