Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Each year since 2003, the City of Tampa has chosen a photographer to chronicle the city for The Big Picture Photographer Laureate Program.

The purpose of the project was to commission an artist to photograph and respond to life in the City of Tampa. The Photographer Laureate Program is inspired by historic photographic projects including the Farm Workers Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, and regional Photographic Archives. The program’s long-range vision is to build a public collection comprised of images that are representative of the life and times in Tampa, by regional, national and international photographers.

Over the course of the multi-year project, an artist will be commissioned to “add a volume” for one year. The volume must be built upon a theme/topic selected by the artist/photographer and approved by the committee. Over the course of time, the city hopes to accumulate and display a full and varied representation of the multiple and diverse perspectives of artists on Tampa.

The artist chosen for 2007 was Marion Belanger (www.marionbelanger.com) from Connecticut, and the Big Picture Photographer Laureate, Volume V is now finished, and Marion’s work is open to the public.

Check out Real Estate/Spaces in Transition on view at the American Institute of Architects Gallery in downtown Tampa at 200 N. Tampa Street, Suite 100.  Find it on the west side of Tampa St. just south of Jackson.

You may want to check out the online work of previous Tampa Photographer Laureates, including 2003 Photographer Laureate Beth Reynolds, 2004’s Suzanne Camp Crosby, pinhole photographer Rebecca Sexton Larson in 2005, and 2006’s Steven S. Gregory.

The 2008 photographer, Jeremy Chandler, is busy taking photos now.  Look for his exhibit in about a year.

Let’s quit pretending. Tampa isn’t a city. St Petersburg isn’t a city. Clearwater and all the other municipalities in the Tampa bay region are not cities in the traditional sense. Lacking a coherent functioning core and distinct boundaries (other than saltwater), they are, or have become, no more than jurisdictional regions.

The small urban cores of the now arbitrary sections that make up our metro area were ripped out in the 60’s and 70’s,and the foresight and political will to restore whatever value they once had is not evident at this time. I once had the privilege to watch a city rise up from decay and sprawl and become a great creative and tech center. It wasn’t easy, and it took guts and visionary leadership and the united will of its citizens through neighborhood associations.

With lots of exceptions, people in the US live in a place because they like the place. People live in the Tampa Bay area because they like sunshine and warm temperatures, proximity to the Gulf. Low taxes. People choose exurban areas because they like racial and cultural homogeneity. Lawns. And shopping malls. Freeway closeness. And all the kinds of land use that are impossible without cheap oil.

This is not to say that exurbanites dislike art or innovation. They simply value it too little to pay for it, with dollars or with the psychic cost of urban life. (I would argue that the psychic cost of exurban isolation is higher, but I’ll do that another time). They aren’t offended by the squalor of a US 19 or [your favorite corridor of glaring hell here].

These preferences aren’t arguable. They are simply preferences. It may be useless for urbanists to attempt dialogue with those whose highest values are the lowest taxes. Cities with good transit, great art and technical and educational achievement, cities that attract and keep knowledge and cultural workers don’t come cheap. The leaders in tech innovation, art, and the urban amenities– and high-paying job growth– are not low-tax cities.

So what about those of us who stay behind in the diaspora? The cities that never were are not coming back. Should we just suck it up and establish a brave new exurban aesthetic? Or is it better to nurture little outposts of creative community dotting the metropolitan area, coming together occasionally for regional celebration? Can that essential creative critical mass be sparked without diversity and the constant inflow and outflow of new creative blood? Are online dialogues with the like-minded a satisfying substitute for coffee house and tavern exchanges?

“We don’t have a mandate to share editorial. We’re so local in our orientation, it’s never made any sense to do it that way. I think we’ve got six or seven film critics around the company now. If you put your efficiency hat on, could one film reviewer do the same job for everybody? Perhaps, but that connection to film and the local community is something I’m proud of. I’m (more interested in trying) something that really takes this talent and creates a national Web site out of it.” — Ben Eason, Creative Loafing CEO, in an interview with St. Petersburg Times’ TV/media critic Eric Deggans discussing Creative Loafing’s purchase of The Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper; published August 19, 2007.

After those assurances made almost exactly one year ago, Creative Loafing has let film critic Lance Goldenberg go.

Local writer Philip Booth broke the story Thursday with an eloquently angry post on his blog Scribe Life. That same day, St. Pete Times’ TV/media critic Eric Deggans blogged about his disappointment at hearing the news in a post on his blog The Feed. Deggans’ post included quotes from both Goldenberg and CL editor David Warner, as well as the full statement issued by Warner.

Acknowledging both of those blog posts and the overwhelming support Goldenberg received in comments on both blogs, CL writer Wayne Garcia posted briefly – almost begrudgingly – about Goldenberg’s departure on the CL blog Political Whore. Garcia’s blog post included a statement from CL editor David Warner, who said that the concern about this news is understandable because “Lance has been a reliably expert voice on film in Tampa Bay for many years.”

In his published statements (on Political Whore and The Feed) and his blog comments (on The Feed and Scribe Life), Warner explained that CL’s decision to release Goldenberg – who has been a freelance writer for CL, not a full-time CL employee, all these years – was based on “the fiscal realities that are facing everyone in the newspaper business.” Warner assured readers and advertisers (smart move on Warner’s part to be concerned with advertisers, because they ultimately control the fiscal realities in the newspaper industry) of CL’s commitment “to reviewing and reporting on the local film scene and the many film festivals Creative Loafing has always covered in depth.”

I have so many questions and comments that I don’t know where to begin.

I suppose I should start by acknowledging my discomfort in writing about this topic. I’m a blogger, remember, so technically I’m part of the newspaper industry’s problem in the first place. (I’ll save that discussion for another blog post.) However, I hate reading about the exodus of film/book/art/music critics over the past year or so. (33 film critics since January 2006, according to The Movie Cricket.)

I spent several hours today writing a long article about this, going through all my questions and reactions point by point. After re-reading my final draft, I realized that it didn’t work and deleted it. All of the thoughts that have been swirling in my head since I first read about Goldenberg’s departure relate to one central concern:

Will Creative Loafing continue to write about, support, critique and draw attention to local films, filmmakers, film festivals and theaters?

I certainly hope so, but Creative Loafing’s track record has me a little worried. The same week that Tampa’s CL let Lance Goldenberg go, Atlanta’s Creative Loafing laid off senior editor Scott Freeman and senior arts writer (and occasional film reviewer) David Lee Simmons. Jonathan Rosenbaum, head film critic for the Chicago Reader, retired in February after 21 years. Art/film critic Felicia Feaster left Creative Loafing in Atlanta in April. The Chicago Reader lost several talented, dedicated staff writers in December.

Hopefully, the national advertising agency Creative Loafing signed on with recently can bring in those crucial advertising dollars.

When long-time writers like Goldenberg depart, readers notice the difference. Readers also notice when a paper loses some of its local focus or replaces thoughtful critical analysis with brief infotainment sound bytes.

Local film fans will be watching.  I certainly will be, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

(cross-posted at www.tampafilmfan.com)

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.

Tampa Bay isn’t that different from any other post-WW II collection of sunbelt suburbs in search of a city. LA, Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Houston, Orlando, Jacksonville - the built landscape is pretty much the same. 

Designed to isolate us in autos and ranchettes, these sprawls give us lawns and shopping malls and de facto segregation by class and ideology as well as ethnicity.  (Thanks, Greatest Generation.)

This isn’t good for the creative class.  And a diverse creative class is a big part of what makes cities livable and attractive to the knowledge workers who generate the dollars in the post-industrial economy.

Oh, yeah, and that includes tourist-dependant economies — Pinellas, I am looking at you.

Mayor Iorio signed on to this concept. In 2003, anyway.

The man-made environment in the bay area — sprawling, low-density, built-for-cars– doesn’t throw people together in a stimulating creative stew the way it does in high-density environments. A friend of mine, visiting St Pete a while back, summed it up for me:

“The most important art contacts you’re gonna make– they’re at the laundromat, at the coffeehouse, on the bus, on the street with a really ugly terrier on a leash. You can’t help but run into them. I mean: Run. Into. Them.”

Tampa Bay is hemorrhaging its creative class, and that is worse than you think. They are leaving for places where they can find respect, employment, amenities, and like-minded people.

Can intentional design break us out of this creativity drain?

Where do you go every day to rub elbows with creative, stimulating people?

Caleb lives and works in St. Petersburg. He has been slinging paint and pixels for a number of years over on the peninsula, without great result, but he manages to feed his dog and cat and pay rent. When not creating images or difficulties for his neighbors, he preaches the gospel of Wordpress and social media to the slightly interested.

Below is the pretentious artist’s bio he is contractually obligated by his agency, Seven North, to include with each painting or print. It has the virtue of being almost true in some respects.

Caleb came to painting as a result of his inability to get cameras to record his unique emotional response to his surroundings. “Apparently, I see light and lines somewhat differently than film or CCD’s do. Go figure.” He has used just about every media known to western man, and although pastel is his first love, and oils his longest romance, he now employs acrylic paints, to take advantage of their ability to mimic pastel chalks.

Although Caleb cites the early-twentieth century Regionalists as his major formal influence, he says he is more governed by aesthetic preferences that are rooted in his childhood experience and perception. “In childhood, perception and preference are unfiltered, raw and honest. I notice that I am drawn to the scenes, colors and shapes that surrounded me before my fifth year. I did not consciously make choices then; I do better work when I do not make conscious choices now. But there is always choosing.”

Caleb says that he can describe his work his work as being closest to Fauvist in appearance. He says that the Florida climate is very influential. “During the winter, my paintings are relatively cool and sober. By August, I’m laying down wild colors that hatch in my poor heat-addled head. I guess I’ll never really get acclimatized…”

Caleb spent his youth in the Midwest, New York and finally the Los Angeles basin. As a young adult he moved to Oregon, where he spent a good chunk of his adult life. He has been on the Pinellas peninsula on Tampa Bay for nearly a dozen years.

Caleb lives and paints in St Petersburg, which he is sure is the best place on the Gulf Coast of Florida. He cohabits with Toulouse the dog and Bonnie the cat.

The extremely bored, or those to whom he still owes money, may access Caleb’s lifestream by Googling “Calebism”.

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!!