Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

She had earned a full scholarship to attend the University of Florida, and celebrated her 18th birthday on April 22.  Two nights later, the East Bay High School senior swung by the Bloomingdale Regional Library to drop off books at the night drop.  She was on her cell phone with a friend when someone brutally attacked her:

She told the friend there was a weird-looking man sitting on the bench near the depository. Then she screamed, there was a bell-like sound, and the phone went dead.

Friends and family rushed over, someone called 911, and the young lady was found unconscious and badly injured.  Detectives found blood everywhere - on the driveway, on a sidewalk, on a signpost, and on the west wall of the library.  She had been raped and beaten.  She suffered multiple strokes during the attack, and lost her sight.

She was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, and remained in critical condition for weeks.  By June, she had not had the ability to speak, and although doctors still did not know the extent of her injuries, social workers were attempting to push her out of the hospital, to a nursing home.

As of late July, the young girl was undergoing physical therapy at a rehab center, while friends and family prayed.  She cannot see, she cannot talk, and she cannot swallow, but her friends helped to celebrate her graduation from high school this week.

Meanwhile, her family is nearly bankrupt.  All of their insurance has been used up, went to Medicaid, and were told recently that Medicaid would no longer pay for her care, because she is not making sufficient progress.  The family is happy with the care at the rehab center, but just staying there costs about $30,000 a month.

Clark recently told you that SunTrust Bank has established a “Bloomingdale Library Assault Victim Fund” to help with expenses, and lots of people have given a bit of money to help out.  But it’s just not enough.

That’s why you will hear about various fundraisers around the community from your friends at the newspapers and television stations, including an effort by the guys in my band.  Yesterday, I spoke with Sarina Fazan from ABC Action News.  She has been covering the various fundraisers for the young girl, and on yesterday’s 6pm newscast, she talked about what the JGLB has planned.

This Saturday night, my band - JGLB - is playing a fundraiser at the L.A. Hangout.  For a small donation, we will take requests for all sorts of songs, and 100% all the tip money we collect will go to the Bloomingdale Library Assault Victim Fund.

If you don’t have the chance to make it to a SunTrust Bank to leave a donation, please come by the LA Hangout on Saturday night, listen to some great local music, and help a neighbor that truly needs it.

Thanks for your consideration.

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!!

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!!

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.

As many of you know, I’m the lead singer in a wonderful rock ‘n’ roll band. Check out our website at JGLB.net

A couple of these gigs were set up at the last minute, so in case you are wondering, here is where you can find the JGLB this weekend:

Friday
Blues Ship on Top
1910 E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City

Saturday
The Blue Shark
1502 E. Seventh Ave. in Ybor City

Sunday
FREE CONCERT!
Skipper’s Smokehouse
910 Skipper Rd. in N. Tampa

JUNE 29 SUNDAY
VINCE’S McGILVRA’S RETIREMENT PARTY
JOHNNY G. LYON BAND Johnny is a consummate showman and plays rollicking blues & rock.Johnny G. Lyon, founder and leader of the band, is one of Tampa’s most entertaining and polished musicians, providing his audiences with attention grabbing guitar licks, an incredible sense of wit and humor, crowd interaction, and synchronized stage choreography. 5PM

Read more about Vince’s retirement party from Tampabay.com and Creative Loafing. This is going to be a great party.

As someone who covers current internet technology trends, especially those that have to do with social media, it was exciting to discover that right here in Tampa there is an innovative social media project underway right now: Kidz Connect. This three-week program through ZoomLab is a summer camp whose goal is to promote cultural exchange through theatrical performance.

At the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center’s Patel Conservatory, Bay Area teens in Tampa are hooking up with teens in Amsterdam (at IVKO Montessori School) via video streaming in the virtual world Teen Second Life where they are learning about each others lives, culture, and more. Together, through online collaboration, the 30 teens involved in this workshop will create a live theater and online performance based on the theme, “What is Real?” which will be performed on Saturday, June 28th (tomorrow!).

As they work together, the teens will also be learning how to craft digital art within Teen Second Life as part of the project’s goal to provide the students with an introduction to video and sound production. The students will also be participating in live theater, music, and dance presentations performed on stage at TBPAC as well as streamed to the internet and in Second Life.

To see just how the project has gone thus far, I recommend you read the camp’s blog at http://kidzconnect.org .  But to see the end result, watch the performance live on the net Saturday:

Saturday, 28 June at 2 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. Amsterdam (GMT+2)

Saturday’s show will be presented live in Tampa, Florida, at the Patel Conservatory at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. See the Patel Conservatory site for tickets to attend the Saturday show in person.

To watch the video stream:

During those times, the video stream will be broadcasting live. It will also be archived for viewing at a later date.  You must have QuickTime Player installed in order to view the webcast. Click here to watch the live video stream

To watch in Teen Second Life:

If you are a teen, you can also watch it in Teen Second Life. Go to http://teen.secondlife.com/ and click “Free Basic Account” to create your username. Then download the Second Life application, install it and log in with the username you just created. To go to the show, search for the “Kidz Connect event” group and join it, then you can click on this SLURL (Second Life URL) which will give you the option to teleport directly to Kidz Connect Island.  Click here to watch in Teen Second Life

This article was written by Sarah Perez, who writes for Microsoft’s Channel 10, ReadWriteWeb, and maintains a personal blog at sarahintampa.com