Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

This is rich.

The St. Pete Times theater performing arts critic rips the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center for putting on popular shows instead of being edgy and taking some “artistic risks.”

[Forever Plaid] is being produced for the sixth time in 15 years at the Jaeb Theater. Why is it being brought back when there is so much great theater that hasn’t been done here?

He’s itching for some Stephen Sondheim, which is perfectly fine.  But then he suggests you are a bunch of brainless dweebs:

… Sondheim can be challenging, and it is not a sure-fire hit at the box office, … but instead, the Jaeb has played to the lowest common denominator… 

It’s as if TBPAC is trying to appeal to those who never go to the theater.

Yeah, that’s you - the “lowest common denominator.”

David Jenkins does a great job in responding to Fleming, and suggests that the local newspaper not only doesn’t help with encouraging edgy, artistic performances

And don’t even get me started on the irony that the newspapers generally bend over backwards to write story after story on Spamalot! or The Lion King, but we fight tooth and nail to get any mention at all for a show like the Beijing Modern Dance Company or the Turtle Island String Quartet or a South American adult-oriented puppet troupe coming in to do Romeo and Juliet in Spanish with marionettes.

, but that they should maybe take a look at their own journalism industry for a great example of pandering to build an audience:

… hard news old school shows just didn’t pull the numbers, but hide a camera in a house where a guy is going to go try to pick up an underage girl and they’re through the roof. People are voting with their remote, and the market follows…

David’s a classy guy.  I would have put an image of a TBT* cover in the piece, perhaps with an observation that “It’s as if The St. Pete Times is trying to appeal to those who never read a newspaper.”

Freakin’ hilarious.

Great Job, David!  Best of luck with your upcoming production of Tim Robbins’ Embedded, coming soon to the Tampa Bay Performing Art Center.

Disclosure:  Sticks of Fire is a proud sponsor of Jobsite Theater.

As part of the 2008 North American Tour, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will make a stop along with Steve Winwood at the St. Pete Times Forum tonight, July 16, 2008 at 7.30pm.

I think you can still get tickets for the show for only $29.50.

Or, leave a comment below telling my why I should give you a pair.  I’ll give them to the one who best convinces me by noon.

For such a simple contest, you wouldn’t think there need be rules, but some folks get excited and leave out details, or get too exuberant and ramble on.  So, there are rules:

1. ONLY ONE COMMENT PER IP ADDRESS.  Yes, I can track this, and if you leave more than one, you’ll be disqualified - no exceptions.
2. FILL OUT THE ENTIRE COMMENT FORM.  ACCURATELY.
3. USE A VALID, WORKING EMAIL.  I’ll need your email address to contact you, and you will have FIVE minutes to respond, or I’ll pick another winner.  Those of you using a lesser email service (I’m looking at you, verizon.net users), may want to use another provider - those email get lost sometimes.
4. DON’T WRITE A BOOK.  Keep your comment to 100 words or so.  I’d count them if I were you.
5. I AM THE DECIDER.  I don’t expect any confusion or trouble, but if there is, I’ll figure it out, and make an executive decision.

Again, I will email the winner around noon, and that person will have five minutes to respond.  Should they not respond in five minutes, I’ll pick another who will have five minutes to respond, and continue in this manner, until I find someone paying attention.

Please make sure you can go to the show tonight - I will meet the winner at the St. Pete Times Forum with the tickets.

If you are NOT the winner, you may want to look into those $29.50 tickets from ticketmaster - they are the ones who hooked us up.

Good luck!

Update 12.20pm: We have a winner! stop all the comments already!!

A caveat first. Mary Jordan, who co-stars in the New Tampa Players production of Same Time Next Year for the next couple of weekends at the Carrollwood Cultural Center is my niece. So I’m biased.

That said, the two-act play, which also stars Marc Sanders, is a hoot.

Sander and Jordan reprise the rolls played by Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda in the 1978 movie, based on the play by Bernard Slade.

The pair - Doris and George - meet in a country inn in northern California in 1951.

That initial extramarital tryst is repeated the same weekend year after year until 1975 with hilarious - and bittersweet - results.

Both Jordan and Sanders (whom I am not related to) give extremely strong performances.

Is the play - which runs July 18, 19, 20 and 25, 26, 27 - as good as I think it is?

I’m not a theater critic, so I don’t know what an educated “critic” would say. My standard of excellence about entertainment, whether on stage, television or movies, is: Does it make me laugh or touch me in some way? Same Time Next Year does both.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children and groups of 10 or more.

The play does include some racy language, so if you are easily offended or worried about tender ears, don’t go.

The Carrollwood Cultural Center is at 4537 Lowell Rd. Call (813) 386-6687 for reservations.

Based on the comments left on Friday’s post about Tom Petty tickets, we’re going to draw a winner for a pair at the Benefit for Danny Roberts on Sunday. One lucky winner will get a pair of tickets.

Remember, if you can’t get to the benefit at Skipper’s Smokehouse on Sunday, you can still buy tickets for the Tom Petty concert for only $29.50.

Plus, check in with Tampa’s best website on Wednesday morning - we may have another pair to give away!!

Mark your calendars! Deep Carnivale:A Celebration of Words is now scheduled for Saturday, September 27, 10 a.m. — 5 p.m.

Here’s a partial event description from the Deep Carnivale website:

This literary festival aspires to bring Florida authors, writers and poets and related vendors together to share in a celebration of literature and writing with the Tampa Bay community. Approximately 70 poets, fiction writers, and songwriters as well as visual artists presented work at the first event in 2007. There are events for all ages.

There will be four sound stages for readings and live music. Literacy and arts activities will be available for ages from 2 through middle school and workshops available to adults of all ages. The schedule is currently under construction and will be announced around September 1.

One goal is to excite all children and young adults about the pleasures of reading and using the written and spoken word creatively in its many wonderful and diverse forms. Another goal is to illuminate the numerous talented writers living in our community, and a third goal is to provide a new opportunity to emerging authors to develop their audience.

Visit www.deepcarnivale.com for more as the schedule develops or to read about the 2007 festival.

Anyone interested in participating (authors, performers, food/book vendors, etc.) or volunteering is encouraged to contact Deep Carnivale director David Audet at daudet(at)hccfl.edu.

You know the JGLB is performing at the Danny Roberts benefit (for the love of Dan-Bob!) this Sunday. You may also have heard that his former bandmate, Tom Petty (along with the Heartbreakers), will be playing at the St. Pete Times Forum just three days later.

So, this guy emails me, and says he’ll give me a pair of tickets to the Tom Petty concert as long as I mention that you can buy tickets for the show for as low as $29.50 at Ticketmaster.

Yeah, right. I told him to go ahead and send the tickets, and I would get back to him.

The tickets came yesterday.

So, I have a pair of tickets to the Tom Petty concert to give to a lucky reader of Sticks of Fire. Any ideas on how to pick a winner?

The show is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday, July 16, so leave your ideas in the comments - we’ll have to pick a winner fairly quickly.

And don’t forget, you can still find seats to the Tom Petty concert for only $29.50each!

Florida singer/songwriter/guitarist Danny Roberts has worked with Tom Petty, Derek Trucks, Billy Joe Royal, Robert Nix, Denny Cordell, Phil Seymour and many more fantastic musicians. He also played in JGLB, and in other bands with current and former JGLB guys like Ray Blade, Rob Stoney, “Count” Arthur Basie, Will Perish and Johnny G Lyon.

Danny is recovering from injuries sustained in a serious car accident. Please join us Sunday July 13 at 5 PM at Skipper’s Smokehouse for a great concert to help out our bro Dan-Bob:

Danny and Tom Petty worked together in “Mudcrutch” for 2 ½ years, from 1972-74. Danny wasn’t just a sideman, he wrote and sang lead on many of the band’s songs. Danny was with the band on their famous trip to L.A. An excellent bio can be found at http://www.thoseguys.com/bio_danny.html.

At the other end of his resume, Danny also played with JGLB, and in other bands with guys that were in our band. We’ve been fans of Danny since the 70’s, when he played in the hottest band (The Bad News Boys) in the hottest club in Lakeland (The Lakeland Lounge, which was actually in Hillsborough County, just across the county line).

Danny was in a bad car wreck recently. Although he was seriously injured, he’s recovering rapidly. A bunch of us are hooking up to help out a brother in need, if you will.

The performers are a mix of Danny’s old Lakeland buddies, guys he played with in Tampa, and guys who just wanna help out.

Take Five is Danny’s Lakeland buddies. They’re Allman Bros-esque, featuring two outstanding drummers. Guitarist Larry Berwald and drummer Johnny Rhodes played in “Fat Chance,” one of Florida’s top bands in the early to mid 70’s. Rhodes also played with Danny Roberts in a notable early 70’s Florida rock band, “Power.”

Tampa guys is us, Johnny G Lyon & JGLB (or Johnny G Lyon Band). We played with Danny in “The Purple Gang” in 1984, and Danny did a stint with JGLB in 1997.

Guys who just wanna help out: our buddy Damon Fowler. A few years ago, Damon was in a car wreck, and received a lot of support when he needed it from the musician community. As a result he’s happy to help out in situations like this. He’ll be jamming with both Take Five and JGLB.

Also playing: Charlie Souza of St Pete also played in Mudcrutch after Danny left. He’s with “The New Rascals” now, and he’s also been working with Danny on a project called “The Mudbreakers.”

“Count” Arthur Basie, now living in Tampa, is originally from Lakeland. He’s a versatile veteran of the bay area music scene, having played in JGLB among many other bands, including “Perfect Stranger” with Danny Roberts in 1976.

For more information about the show, head to downtownwestevents.com.  I encourage you to come help take are of your local musicians and have a good time while doing it.

Hank Ballard wrote “The Twist” in 1958 after seeing a bunch of Tampa kids doing the dance in one of the clubs on Central Av.

Chubby Checker covered the song, and made it a number one hit in 1960 and again in 1962.

Jack Harris wrote about the Twist in a recent column:

… the origin of the iconic tune was chronicled in the liner notes to Ballard’s album, “1960: Still Rockin.” which was given to me by a friend, Charles Knight. It said, “When Hank Ballard and the Midnighters released the single, ‘Teardrops on Your Letter’ in early 1959, they had no idea they were about to launch the biggest dance craze in pop history. The single’s flip side was ‘The Twist,’ which Ballard wrote after seeing kids doing the pelvis-swiveling maneuver in Tampa, Florida.” This was also reaffirmed by a radio interview with the artist, which was sent to me by a radio listener.

Ballard and the Midnighters were known to have made at least a couple of appearances at nightspots on the then vibrant Central Avenue, which was the heart of black social and cultural life until urban renewal and I-4 came along and destroyed it.

So unbeknownst to most, the Twist was the creation of some young African-Americans dancing in the street on Central Avenue. Apparently they shall forever remain anonymous, and the fame associated with creating arguably the most powerful dance tune of all time will forever belong entirely to Chubby and Hank.

You can also watch local musician Ronnie Elliott in a performance highlighting that the Twist was born in Tampa.