Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Meanwhile, (and I don’t remember seeing this locally, but I could certainly be wrong) along with organizations and local governments nationwide, the City of Tampa has sued the FCC for siding with media outlets regarding cable franchise negotiations saying the FCC forces local governments to “speed the approval process for new competitors, cap fees paid by new entrants to local governments and ease requirements…”

This after Trey Traviesa is found pushing a bill (surrounded by puppets) to do away with franchise fees altogether. A move that the St. Pete Times says “would erase virtually all consumer protections“:

The bill has so much weasel language that customer service requirements are either unclear or reduced to the federal minimum, which itself is inadequate. Lawmakers seem to forget competition is already taking place. Federal law forbids exclusive franchises; local governments cannot even unreasonably restrict competition…

If local governments lose franchise fees, you will likely lose your community cable stations (PEG). These attacks are happening all over the country.

The FCC is coming to Tampa to get your opinion on media ownership rules this coming Monday, April 30. Here are the rules they want to discuss. FCC Commissioner Michael J Copps encourages you to go to the workshops - he submitted an editorial to the St. Pete Times, saying that limits are necessary to protect minorities’ voices, among other things.

Most bloggers want big media to own fewer outlets in any given market, although local blogger Jim Johnson will be on a panel at the forum, and says ownership rules won’t stand in the way of bloggers. Maybe.

Stop Big Media wants to, uh, stop big media. They give their opinions and reasons for the stance online, and have organized workshops to help prepare you for your testimony.

Wayne Garcia grabbed the agenda and wrote CL’s cover story this week. If you’re interested in the subject, you should definitely read “Will Big Media Bury Us?” Garcia covers all the angles, and includes more stuff on the blog that didn’t fit in the print edition.

In the real world, I have a friend that was released from his paid job via a bulletin and short conference.

In the myspace world, I (TommyDuncn) have a friend named Friday Extra. I didn’t check for any myspace bulletins today, but Friday Extra’s other friend, Mr. B did check on ‘em. Seems that Friday Extra had some news to share:

Date: Apr 26, 2007 1:13 PM
Subject See Movies For Free!
Body: Ever wanted to be a movie critic? Friday Extra and TBO.com are putting together a team of people to attend screenings of movies before they hit the box office, answer a few short questions about their impressions of the film and have those thoughts published online and in The Tampa Tribune. Are you a Bay area movie buff who’s up to the task?

If so, please fill out this form (also linked below) to introduce yourself. If you are selected, you will be contacted in the coming weeks for further details. Remember, the screenings are in Tampa, so don’t apply if you’re from out of the area or unwilling to make the trip.

http://www.tbo.com/entertainment/movies/youreview.htm

Of course, you can still find reviews by Bob Ross. He’s writing movie reviews and more on Sticks of Fire!

If sound is essentially a movement, ultimately the fate of the movement lies within me - Tony Combs

Did you know the Black Eyed Peas before Fergie?

Sellout is a term I try to avoid. Instead, I point to the moment bands start to suck. Fergie was B.E.P.’s fonzie moment. If you long for the B.E.P. before Fergie I wanna show you something even tighter, and better: Sol.illaquists of Sound.

I have a friend who writes for Reax Magazine and when they named Solilla best hip-hop act in Florida I gave her a rash of sh*t. It was obvious. They are signed to a big label and, well, let’s be honest, Florida hasn’t been known for hip-hop since Luke Skywalker. My major contention with their award was I thought it unfair. At the time I had heard about 4 Solilla songs.

Now, after owning the cd and seeing them live, I wouldn’t give Reax or anyone sh*t for naming them best band in Florida… and it is unfair, cause they’re just that freaking good. It’s like watching the little league tapes of an NFL star in retrospect…there just isn’t any competition. The real muthaf*cker of it is that as good as they are…you ain’t gonna hear ‘em. Why? I’ll quote myself from my Cunninlynguists article:

muthaf*ckers ain’t hearin’ ‘em. Whole god damned world talks about bullshit like Fitty, and Lloyd Banks, and f*cking Mike Jones, and whatever other f*cking pop-rapper is spelling a tennis shoe brand on Clear Channel instead of looking past the spoon in their face…..

That’s why. They’re too good for mainstream success. BEP hired Fergie and chased the paper. On one hand I can not blame them on the other….FEH. Back to S.O.S.

First and foremost. S.O.S. does not sound or look like a typical hip-hop band. There ain’t no turntables on stage and the girls in the band ain’t showing you half their titties and all their ass. DiViNCi is the man behind the music. He plays MPCs. You have to see that shit live to even get it, so I ain’t even gonna put it in words. I will say this: He plays those machines like politicians lie. With such a grace and efficiency that you can’t believe what you see. It’s real though. And all those MPC’s (drum machines for the confused) make S.O.S.’s sound sometimes techno, occasionally industrial, sometimes hip-hop, but always fresh. Then….shit. Then you got Swamburger and Alexandrah manning the mics. Swam raps and Alexandra sings their way through “a message of self-love, respect, and knowledge within the confines of a culture which seems designed to mute personal expression and freedom.” These people are probably better than anything on your iPod. Don’t believe me? Listen to the samples below. More importantly. Go see these guys live. If you can see this band live and not be a fan, then you’re not a fan of… not just hip-hop… you’re not a fan of music. Here is a real world example of how good these guys are live: My friends rescheduled their Key West trip to be in town for their June 9 show here in Tampa.

And after all of that love you knew I was putting this album on the Essential Listening list! I’ll also say this. As If We Existed is the best hiphop cd I have heard since I heard Cunninlynguists - A Piece of Strange came out in Jan. of 2006.

Sol.illaquists of Sound - Mark It Place
Sol.illaquists of Sound - Ask Me If I Care
Sol.illaquists of Sound - Black Guy Peace

Sol.illaquists of Sound Official Site, Sol.illaquists of Sound on Myspace, Buy As If We Existed

BOLTS! BOLTS! BOLTS! This was written by a guy with a full bottle of Beam at the house waiting for face-off and cross-posted from ninebullets.net.

So, you saw my review of the Radio Moscow show and felt like you missed out (you did) and you don’t want it to happen again. I understand. It’s hard to get away from VH1… shit, I’ve lost many many hours to it… but it’s time to break the vicious cycle. This is the perfect week. We got a lot going on in the Tampa Bay area this week so stop picking your nose and get out on town. Here are the highlights, per me:

Thursday night @ New World Brewery: The Weary Boys w/local favs The Diviners opening

Here we go. The moment of truth. What will The Weary Boys sans Mario be like? I haven’t seen any bad reviews from other shows. I imagine it will be a tad awkward for the crowd at first seeing as how most of them probably don’t know Mario has left the band yet. I am maintaining a positive attitude towards the whole deal. Plus, the remaining Wearies added a banjo player and there is nothing like a banjo to amp up the energy of a good show. These guys pull a huge crowd that drinks their fill and then dances it off every time they come to town. I would advise each and every one of you to not miss The Weary Boys when they come to your neck of the woods.

You can see my review of The Weary Boy’s last cd, Jumpin’ Jolie, and check out mp3’s for The Weary Boys - Jambalaya and The Weary Boys - Baby Have No Fun. We also have music from The Diviners - Remember the Beatnicks.

Saturday night @ Tampa Theater: Kenny Wayne Shepherd w/Bryan Lee

Kenny Wayne Shepherd brings his Ten Days Out tour to the Tampa Theater. He is also bringing Bryan Lee (sings Tina Marie) with him. This show promises to be a shit ton of fun and I know the ticket price is enough to scare some people off but if you got the money to spend you should go to this show. As a taste of what this is gonna be like I am posting a few mp3’s from Bryan Lee’s cd “Live at the Absinthe Bar” where he is performing with Kenny Wayne. I defy you to listen to these and not think this show is gonna be one of the best of 2007.

You can see my review of Ten Days Out, and listen to Bryan Lee w/Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Going Down, Bryan Lee w/Kenny Wayne Shepherd - Look on Yonder Wall, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd w/Bryan Lee - Tina Marie (from Ten Days Out).

Saturday night @ New World Brewery: The Dark Romantics

Yes Yes Yes… I know, I am posting about 2 shows on one Saturday night. Basically, the plan for the wife and I is to bust ass to New World after the KWS show in time to see Lakeland art-rockers The Dark Romantics. The last time these guys played Tampa they basically played a show for me, my wife, ninebullets site master Trevor and his wife. To say it was embarrassing would be quite the understatement. So come on Tampa. Get out and support your local talent. You can see my review of The Dark Romantic’s debut cd, and as always listen, listen, listen: The Dark Romantics - Baby Boy Baby Girl, The Dark Romantics - So Confused (and we like it)

This weekend and all the events listed above are Autopsy IV approved and I hope to see some of y’all out!

Media General’s recently married and recently promoted Rusty Coats sometimes gets irritated at the vitriol spewed here negatively toward TBO.com. So when TBO earns positive acknowledgments, he makes sure to send those interesting notes along to us.

Last week, the Society of Professional Journalists named the finalists for the Green Eyeshade Awards. The regional journalism competition recognizes outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Rusty wants us to note that for this year in the “Online” category, TBO is nominated FIVE times, while the newspaper across the street is nominated only once. Here is the complete list of finalists in the “online” category:

ONLINE

BREAKING NEWS
• Polk County Deputy Shot – Billy Townsend, TBO.com staff, TBO.com, Tampa, Fla.

BEST USE OF MULTIMEDIA
• A Killer’s Grip – Clarisa Gerlach, Tim Price, Tampa Tribune Staff, WFLA Staff, TBO.com, Tampa, Fla.
• Carnival Center – Staff, The Miami Herald
• Sweet 15 – Jigsha Desai, Lauren Suhles, Kevin Cowan, Joe Howell, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel

NICHE JOURNALISM
Epic – Randy Johnson, Mark Caskie, Pace Communications
GoVolsXtra – Online and Sports Departments, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
Tampa’s Local Music Scene – Ryan Bauer, Tim Price, TBO.com, Tampa, Fla.

COMMENTARY/BLOGS
• New Around Town – Leigh Dyer, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
• Suitcase Stories – Chris Chmura, TBO.com, Tampa, Fla.
• Video Games as Art – Josh Korr, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times

INVESTIGATIVE
• Following the Coldest Trail – Mike Wells, Tim Price, Vidisha Priyanka, TBO.com, Tampa, Fla.
• House of Lies – Staff, The Miami Herald

Now of course the press release simply lists the finalists. It was up to me to go find links to the actual work that earned all the accolades. And, because it’s TBO, I found only two of them. Click through those links above. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Are you shaking your head? Armed with even the TITLE of the stories, you are still unable to use TBO’s search feature to find even half the award-nominated stuff. As I have said before, some of the multi-media work TBO and other newspapers create is absolutely fantastic. You can’t beat the reporting and production. But it would be nice to be able to find it.

I try not to be so hard on them - but I get soooo frustrated just trying to DO anything there. If you end up on an older Tribune story, it seems it’s purely by chance. And please note - the St. Pete Times search was fruitless, too. Perhaps this goes for most newspaper sites, so it’s fair to compare them. But when so much more can be done online, it seems a bit like announcing an award for the boat with the smallest hole in the hull.

Anyway, here are the two stories of the fruitful searches (you will want to use IE - firefox makes some of these pages look screwy): Suitcase Stories, Following the Coldest Trail.

Oh, and Congratulations to TBO.com! It really IS great reporting and use of multi-media.

I dropped in at the Pegasus Saturday night for the second annual Derby Darlin’s Benefit to help the league out at the start of their second season. I knew I had come on the right night when I saw the girls rolling around the parking lot as I drove up.

If you dig tall women you really should have been there. Oddly though this was the most “normal” crowd I have seen at a show at this place. The heavily tattooed regulars had been drawn off by the lack of punk or metal bands and a house party at the Tampa Punk House. What was left were the girls in the rockabilly outfits with their outlandish bloodthirsty names stitched on the back (Mercenari Mari!) and the men that carry their purses.

I shouldn’t joke, I’ve been there guys.

The bands were tight and fun. Griz started the night with their tight rock/reggae sound. Johnny Cakes came on next and I am not sure how but they fit about twelve people on the smallish stage. Most bands that play the Pegasus don’t do so with a horn section and big steel drum. The bold sound and hilarious lyrics like “I don’t care if you are fat, homely, or smell bad - you look good to me” (or something like that) kept me smiling. Although by the end of it all, the girls were mostly gone and the crowd was thinning out. Most of the folks, including all but a couple of the girls and myself left after Johnny Cakes. Rumor says the Darlin’s considered the night a success, although not quite on the scale of last year.

Just a reminder, the season opener of the Darlin’s is April 29th at United Skates of America on Armenia. I will certainly be a blast; and if you haven’t yet been to a match, it is a unique experience. Also, like I said, tall girls. Fighting.

If you are fairly new to Tampa, you won’t have a clue about what I speak of. It no longer exists. But you can still purchase a token for it. Some apparently believe it survives. Perhaps these websites should consider checking some better sources.

The 30th Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society was held at Westin Tampa Harbour Island in February of 2007:

The Westin Tampa Harbour Island is situated on its own inviting island in Tampa Bay. It is just three blocks from the Florida Aquarium, minutes from the Tampa convention Center and a 90-second People Mover ride away from downtown.

They may have heard about the peoplemover from this old real estate gimmick entitled “The Florida Living Network.” Here are a couple of their nuggets:

To travel by water, try one of the Tampa Town Ferry’s two boats, the Spirit of Tampa or Miss Garrison. Stops include Harbour Island, Tampa General Hospital, Tampa Museum of Art, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the Florida Aquarium and the Tampa Convention Center.

No - the ferry boats no longer operate either. The site also mentions the Jai-Alai Fronton as well as some other dead items:

Five major malls, two large flea markets and several neighborhood shopping centers are among the shopping mix. West Shore Plaza comprises 100 stores and a food court; Eastlake Square Mall combines department and specialty stores with restaurants; and Old Hyde Park Village features 65 shops and eateries in an exciting offering of individual, often upscale shopping places along neighborhood streets. The area’s newest mall, Citrus Park Town Center, has 1.1 millin square feet and is anchored by Dillards, Burdine’s and Sears. Or if you’re downtown, take the elevated tram from the People Mover station and ride across the water to the Shops on Harbour Island.

So do you remember this thing? The peoplemover took folks from the Fort Brooke Parking Garage to the mall on Harbour Island in ninety seconds. This second photo looks south - Harbour Island is at the top, and the northernmost stop was just south of Whiting Street on Franklin, although three stories above in the parking garage. You can see the track going OVER the crosstown expressway (at the bottom of pic), and across the bridge to Harbour Island.

I found these photos at Railway System Consultants, Ltd. Kimmins has another from when they were building the Ice Palace. At the far left you can see the people mover tracks heading north to the garage.

Of course, the thing was a boondoggle, and never made any money. I think Beneficial paid to build it. But no one went to Harbour Island. The people mover stopped running, and the track was eventually knocked down. The City of Tampa took over the landing at the garage, which is now the executive offices for the Parking Department.