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.

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.

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.”

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.

Breathtakingly beautiful, and breaking all the rules, the phenomenal Ghost Orchid of Corkscrew Swamp is in bloom right now within a couple hours’ drive of Tampa. The flowers are only expected to last until Tuesday, so if you want to catch this extraordinary sight you’d better hurry.

The endangered Ghost Orchid is exceedingly rare, but the blooms are even rarer as most plants go years without flowering at all. When they do bloom, it is typically with only one, or at most two flowers in midsummer. Amazingly, this Corkscrew specimen bloomed 3 times last year, first with 12, then 10 and finally 3 flowers. Last weekend, when my husband & I saw it on the 4th of July, it had 5 magnificent hand-sized blooms and 3 plump buds.

I took the photo at right through the park’s spotting scope on the boardwalk. The orchid is growing on a 400- to 500-year-old Bald Cypress tree, much higher than any other Ghost Orchid is known to grow. It’s also growing much farther north than this plant was previously thought to venture

Most people never get a chance to see a Ghost Orchid because they only live in a small area of south Florida and Cuba, and in Florida they’re buried deep in a few hard-to-reach swamps of the Everglades.

Although this incredibly robust specimen is 30-35 years old, and visible from the park’s well-traveled boardwalk, it was only just discovered last summer when it bloomed like crazy. When not in bloom, Ghost Orchids are difficult to spot as they have no leaves at all — just some greenish-grey roots, hugging flat against a tree’s bark. The plant is almost invisible until once in a blue moon, it extends a thin, nearly imperceptible stem, at the end of which a flower unfolds its fantastic white shape, floating in mid-air …like a ghost.

After viewing this orchid last week, my husband & I travelled south to the Fakahatchee Strand in the Everglades, where we waded into a thick sea of vicious mosquitos who suck DEET for breakfast. (They bit my eyelids!) We found a couple more Ghosts, including this one, but none in bloom.

The wildness of the Everglades (bugs and all) is an integral part of its magic. Last time we were there, searching for the Ghost Orchid, we had an astonishingly close encounter with a bear that will always be a treasured memory.

Still, there’s much to be said for strolling along the Corkscrew Swamp’s boardwalk in your flip-flops (as opposed to slogging through the Everglades’ swamps in your boots) and coming upon a spotting scope all set up for you under the trees through which to view an endangered species. We needed no DEET on the boardwalk, but Corkscrew Swamp is no Disneyland — there’s plenty of wildlife and it’s an authentic experience of the splendor of a south Florida Swamp.

Call the sanctuary before you go (239/348-9151) if you want to make sure the Ghost Orchid is still in bloom. For location, hours & fees check the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary web site. Several hotels in Naples are offering special Ghost Orchid rates. Enjoy the beach and bring a good book: The Orchid Thief, a fabulous true story about the Ghost Orchid and south Florida’s essential outlandishness.

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.