Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Besides the (very) loud music, here’s your introduction to Criss Angel > The Official Website:

Don’t miss the first LIVE episode in MINDFREAK history as Criss attempts to escape from an imploding building! Watch it LIVE on Wednesday, July 30 at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST on A&E, or watch it LIVE here on www.CrissAngel.com!

It’s always fun to watch a building implode!  The whole “escaping death” part is just a bonus.  We find out more in the news section:

… From within a 9-story former hotel outside of Clearwater, Florida, Criss will attempt to escape a building that is loaded with explosives and set to detonate.

Clearwater!?!?  Now famous for Scientology AND Death Defying Stunts!?!?

Anyway, Angel has 3 and a half minutes to get out of handcuffs attached to a balcony railing, through three or four locked doors, and up 3 flights to the roof, where a helicopter will whisk him off to safety.

Cool.

Even cooler is the building that will host the stunt, the old Spyglass Resort Motel.  You know this place - it’s 10-story building with 100 foot mural of the hot air balloon on it.  Clearwater artist Roger Bansemer painted that mural back in 1978 (Tampa Bay’s 10 has the story of the mural). 

This place became quite the dump over the past few years, but the rooms were cheap!  That, along with many of the balconies facing the beach, the Spyglass became the perfect place for partying spring breakers.

Not everyone is impressed with Angel’s plans to escape getting blowed up.  Steve Otto says the stunt is “pretty lame.”  Ernest Hooper agrees, challenging Criss Angel to attempt to find a parking spot at Clearwater Beach in 3½ minutes on a Saturday.  Eric Snider simply says Angel is repugnant, pretentious, and unimpressive.

Good grief, ya’ll.  The dude is giving Clearwater Beach some free marketing national coverage, and BLOWING UP A BUILDING!! 

Actually, Advanced Explosives Demolition is blowing up the building, and Applied Science International created a video simulation of the implosion.

Those of you interested can watch Mindfreak on A&E tonight at 10pm, or see the webcast beginning at 9pam on AETV.com, watch it live at CrissAngel.com, or watch it live from Clearwater Beach - they will have giant screens there, too.

You gonna watch/go to this?

I took off from work to spend a couple days with the soon-to-be 3rd grader.  Having exhausted my patience with crafts, games, Barbie, and SpongeBob on day one, I thought we should get out of the house for a second day of fun.

I didn’t have a spare hundred bucks laying around for a theme park, so I figured I’d try to keep the nearly-eight-year-old happy without spending a bunch of dough.

Not only did we have a good time, but I got out of it without spending much at all.  In fact, after breakfast, I didn’t spend a thing.

We started out at Dunkin’ Donuts.  Yep - the Rays won the night before, and When the Rays Win, You Win!  So we each enjoyed a free donut for breakfast with all the old folks!  With my coffee and her milk (and, ok, another donut for each of us), we got out of there for about $5. 

Next we went to the library.  There is a lake and a park adjacent, so we took our time walking around a bit.  We looked for frogs on the lily pads (none), butterflies near the flowers (a handful), and dragonflies everywhere else (a bunch).  We successfully avoided all fire ant mounds.

Once inside, she immediately found the library’s toys for smaller ones, and the little girl had fun with them for quite a while.  She then walked the entire juvenile section - over a dozen aisles! -  looking for a good book or three.  I convinced her to put Junie B. Jones (First Grader) back on the shelf and keep the Goosebumps story, The Girl Who Cried Monster.  She also grabbed a big Narnia book.

Then we went off to the mall!  Not to buy anything, but to play in the kids’ play area.  She towered over the other kids, and had fun getting chased around.  I found out later that there is a 42 inch limit to that play area. Luckily, no one kicked us out.  But I was getting hungry, and we left anyway.

We went home, where I taught her how to make a double-decker peanut butter sandwich.  She thought a triple-decker would be a good idea, but seeing as how I am the daddy, I had to put my foot down.

But just because we were home doesn’t mean that we were done for the day.  On to the pool!

The City of Tampa has a dozen parks with pools, and they are all free to use. We went to the Spicola Family Pool at DeSoto Park (we love DeSoto Park!) and spent the afternoon there in the Palmetto Beach neighborhood.

Like the pool at Sulphur Springs, Spicola has lap lanes, two waterslides, and a giant waterspouting mushroom-looking thing that kids love. They even have a shade tent where a daddy can comfortably read his own library book!

On the way home, we stopped at the McKay Bay Nature Park, part of the Great Florida Birding Trail.  It was fun for about 20 minutes.  We saw unusual birds and big spiders on bigger spider webs.  In our one bad decision, we picked a random trail that wound through the brush.  Although we didn’t get bit, we were chased right back into the car by a cloud of mosquitos!

The kid will tell you she had a great day (although she was not much impressed by the mosquito attack)!  Daddy had a great day, too, watching his daughter be a kid.

It wasn’t difficult, either. Just go and use the amenities that are available to you!

For Free!

The Red Bull Flugtag was presented here on Saturday, for the first time in Tampa Bay, and I attended with a group of friends along with another 110,000 people or so. The arrow in the photo indicates roughly where I was. See me? I’m jumping up and down and waving! Hello!

In case you’re not familiar with it, Flugtag, a German term meaning “Flying Day”, consists of teams of people building homemade, human-powered flying machines and piloting them off a 30-foot high deck in hopes of achieving flight. They never do, though.

So it’s basically the Superbowl of putting on ridiculous costumes, building stuff and pushing it off a ledge into water. And yes, this is as funny and entertaining as it sounds. When it comes to free entertainment, it’s hard to beat people falling into water. Include costumes and flying machines that don’t - just adds bonus points.

Tampa is one of three cities to host the event this year, the others being Chicago and Portland, Oregon later this summer. Red Bull has sponsored about 40 of these so far and we (Tampa) set an attendance record, more than doubling the 50,000 that had been projected. I’m not surprised; literally everyone I spoke to for the last two weeks was planning on going. I think event planners were caught off guard:

• It was scheduled to begin at 1:00 and we got there at 11:00 when gates were supposed to open. But it was obvious that a lot of people had gotten in and set up camp much earlier than that, as evidenced by us ending up where we did.
• In spite of previously published warnings about things that wouldn’t be allowed in, there weren’t even cursory bag searches taking place, at least not at the gate where we entered (right outside the convention center).
• Food and beverage locations were few and far between, which was a matter of major concern because with that many people packed in that tightly, smack in the middle of the day, smack in the middle of July (why didn’t they schedule it for later, like around dusk?), remaining hydrated was of vital importance. Just because we were closer to the hospital than the launch pad doesn’t mean I wanted to go there. Eventually, even though we drank plenty of fluids, our group just couldn’t hang so we left around 2:00 and watched the rest of it from The Press Box. We had a good time but it was just too hot and too crowded to be enjoyable after a while.
• A group of people who were probably a little put out would be those presenting and attending METROCON which was taking place simultaneously at the Tampa Convention Center. Some of the more elaborately costumed anime fans might have had legitimate concerns about being mistakenly tossed into the drink by overly lubricated enthusiastic Flugtaggers.
• I don’t think there were nearly enough police officers on hand to handle traffic. We left well before the end and we still wound up stuck in pretty thick traffic on the way out. I can’t even imagine what it was like when the event was over.
• Lastly, I don’t understand why the city didn’t take advantage of the event to publicize the Riverwalk. After all, that’s really where it took place. For all the publicity the event got leading up to the big day, there was never a mention of Mayor Iorio’s legacy project and it’s proximity to the convention center as well as all the exciting cultural/dining/retail shopping opportunities offered in downtown Tampa…or will be some day…hopefully. I don’t know. It just seems like somebody in marketing would have thought of that, that’s all.

Overall, it was fun but there is a lot of room for improvement if/when it comes back.

(Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness)

Th Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offers free gator-hunting classes:

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is offering alligator hunters no-cost, three-hour classes to help them prepare for the Aug. 15 – Nov. 1 statewide alligator harvest. Reservations are not required to attend a class.

Attendance is not mandatory for licensed hunters, but the FWC recommends that participants attend, especially if they have not previously hunted for alligators. Class topics include preparing for the hunt, hunting techniques and safety, harvesting and processing, caring for your alligator hide and alligator hunting rules and regulations. Also, persons who do not have an alligator harvest permit can attend if they want to learn what hunting alligators is all about.

As it says, you don’t have to sign up. Just show up on Aug. 2, 1-4pm at the Florida State Fairgrounds, 4800 U.S. Hwy. 301 N. (use the Orient Road entrance). For directions, call 800-345-FAIR (3247) or visit www.floridastatefair.com.

All hunt permits have been sold for this year; however, alligator trapping “agent” permits are available for $52. Agent permits enable permit holders to assist a licensed trapper in taking alligators but only in the presence of that trapper.

For those of us not interested in playing with native critters who can eat us, you can learn all about the dinosaur descendants by downloading the FWC’s All About Gators Coloring Book from the kids & gators section of the website.

It’s time once again for Creative Loafing’s annual Best of the Bay voting for 2008!

In previous years, we have been honored to be recognized by Creative Loafing’s readers and editors as being one of the top local websites:

• 2007 - First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2007 - Best Local Blog, Readers’ Choice.
• 2006 - First place Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2006, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.
• 2005 - First place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Editor’s choice for Best Local Website.
• 2005 - Third place Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2005, Reader’s choice for Best Local Blog.

We certainly are proud of these honors from all of you, and are happy that you are keeping Sticks of Fire on your reading list.

Alas, the time has come once again to see if we can still hang.  There have been a bunch of new blogs and bloggers started up in the past year, and some of them are simply fantastic.  We enjoy reading several of them, and any number of them could knock Sticks of Fire out of the top spot.

Of course, there is so much more to Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay than just websites. You can vote for the best neighborhood, your favorite art gallery, the worst road, the best thrift store, and so much more.  In fact, you must vote in 25 of the categories (there are 100 categories this year, and we list them all after the jump below).

Make sure you vote for YOUR FAVORITES by Aug. 13, 2008, and CL promises to publish the results on Sept. 17.

So vote for the Best of the Bay right now, or cut & paste the list of categories below in order to give ‘em all some thought.

(more…)

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.

Bird watchers, plant lovers and tree huggers of all stripes will gather this Wednesday evening for the Annual Joint Meeting of Tampa Audubon, Tampa Bay Sierra Club and the Suncoast Native Plant Society. It’s really more of a party than a meeting, and it’s your chance to mingle with a bunch of nature-minded folks AND hear a terrific speaker: Jeff Klinkenberg.

From the meeting announcement:

Jeff is truly a voice of natural Florida and is one of Florida’s best known and most talented nature writers. … Jeff writes about all things Florida and integrates Florida’s history, environment, culture, and people into compelling and memorable stories about the real and vanishing Florida. Jeff is also well known as the “Real Florida” columnist for the St. Petersburg Times …

Please join us for an evening of great stories, fascinating essays, and memories and recollections of all things Florida as Jeff Klinkenberg shares with us his amazing array of tales and experiences gathered over years of exploring the backwoods, back roads, and backwaters of the Sunshine State.

The event will be held this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.,

at the Hillsborough Extension Office, 5339 CR 579, Seffner (Exit 10 off I-4, then south 1 mile on the left). The presentation will be preceded by a potluck dinner, so bring a dish to share.

This annual get-together is always fun. The Native Plant Society will conduct their regular (very economical) plant auction, and they usually round up special offerings for this occasion. All the groups bring plenty of information to share, and they welcome everyone — you don’t have to be a member of any of the host groups to attend.

If you’re at all curious about the environmentalists around here, this is a good opportunity to see what they’re all about. I’ll be there, so if you do come be sure to say “hi.”