Tampa Is…?

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.

Oh boy!

In another one of those kooky quirks of scheduling, Tampa played host to both the Women of Faith Infinite Grace conference and the 2008 FetishCon this past weekend. One event featured appearances by Eden Wells, Kumi Monster and RubberDoll, the other featured Patsy Clairmont, Sandi Patty and Marilyn Meberg. I’ll let you Google those names and figure out who was where, but the real delight is in knowing that these people and their fans were both occupying the same relatively small space at the same time.

Event organizers and venue bookers will both say that Tampa is a large enough city now that having multiple events that draw large and disparate crowds at the same time really shouldn’t be an issue. And they’re probably right. But…

Women Of Faith was held at the St. Pete Times Forum, which can hold up to 20,000 people and FetishCon, which draws over 2,000 people, was held at the Hyatt Regency about a half mile away. There are four, maybe five, hotels and about a dozen or so restaurants that you could reasonably classify as within walking distance of those two sites. Factor in just how dissimilar these two groups are and you have a recipe for awkward social interaction comedy gold, baby!

I’m just picturing two groups of people, clutching either bibles or leashes with people attached to them, waiting for the streetcar to Channelside or for a table at First Watch: “Umm…that’s okay, you go ahead. No, really. Please.”

Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness

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?

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.

Matt Stout is a reporter for the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin. He was following the UConn basketball team for the Final Four, and gave his blog readers some Tampa Tidbits on his Matt’s UConn Men’s Basketball Blog:

downtown Tampa seems relatively clean and safe (My hotel is about a mile away from where myself and some of the other writers grabbed dinner last night, and my walk back alone was uneventful). There are a few restaurants and bars, too, and two blocks down from the St. Pete’s Times Forum, there is an outdoor mall-like area that has stores, a Bennigans, a Thai place, a Hooters, etc. Included in there, interestingly enough, is a place called Banana Joe’s, the infamous spot of the Carolina Panther cheerleader incident a few years back.

Glad he felt safe here, but it’s sorta a bummer to read that Banana Joe’s is a notable landmark.

Guitarist Johnny G. Lyon found this and passed it on to us here in the Sticks.

The Smoking Gun unearthed another round of “vintage” mug shots.  Along with mug shots of James Brown in 1988, Jimi Hendrix in 1969, David Bowie in 1976,  and Johnny Cash in 1965, is this nugget of Janis Joplin posing for Tampa Police in November of 1969.  She was arrested for using “vulgar and indecent language” onstage at the Curtis Hixon Hall.

We looked for some of this vulgar and indecent language they speak of.  From the book “Anti-rock: The Opposition to Rock ‘n’ Roll” By Linda Martin and Kerry Segrave, Janis Joplin

had been busted for onstage profanity at a 1969 concert in Tampa, Florida when police tried to get the audience, which was dancing in the aisles, to sit down. Infuriated by the police meddling, Janis screamed: ” If we don’t hurt nothin,’ they can’t say shit.” For using this word, she was indicted for “vulgar and indecent language.” Joplin had to pay a fine and the publicity hurt her bookings. The FBI also started a file on her.

The Janis Joplin biography page at IMDB says she

Was arrested for using “vulgar and indecent language” while performing at Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, November 16, 1969. Unlike Jim Morrison, who was arrested onstage in the middle of his Florida performance earlier in 1969, Joplin was allowed to finish her concert and then got handcuffed by police backstage. Was released on a $50 bond after spending approximately an hour behind bars. During the two days she remained in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area awaiting a preliminary hearing, she went fishing. At the hearing she was advised by a local lawyer she hired, Herbert Goldburg, that jail time was unlikely. A photographer for United Press International captured the two of them leaving police headquarters after the proceedings. The image shows Joplin, clad in a fur coat, grinning and flashing a “V” sign with her fingers. Goldburg looks displeased. Joplin made a point of telling the UPI that her sign stood for “victory, not peace.”  The following March she was fined $200 in absentia and the case was closed without her ever returning to Tampa.

The great folks at JanisJoplin.net have the newspaper clipping and the caption underneath:

(TP2) TAMPA, Fla. Nov. 20 — V FOR VICTORY_ Rock star Janis Joplin and her attorney, Herbert Goldburg, leave police headquarters after a preliminary hearing on obscenity charges lodged against the 26 - year - old singer when she allegedly cursed police who interrupted her performance Sunday. Miss Joplin said the V sign stood for victory, “not peace.” (ST. PTERS*BURG OUT) (AP Wirephoto) (ets 51506rf) 1969

Where’d she go fishing?

It’s gonna be a mess downtown.

If you plan to head downtown for the ObamaRally and haven’t left your house yet, get in the car now. Parking is going to be, uh, trying.

For those of you content to just read about it, The Tribune’s William March is liveblogging the event.

Showing up 20 minutes before Maya Angelou was scheduled to speak as part of the University Lecture Series was not enough. It was like getting tickets to see a football game all over again! There were about 200 people in line in front of me, Monday night, as a chill in the air threatened to make my cold unendurable.

It was worth it though. Hearing Maya Angelou’s lecture is one of highlights of my time here at USF, I can already say that with conviction. She was so personable and relaxed as she spoke in front of thousands, not afraid to share personal information about her childhood and proud to proclaim the “rainbows in her life” who have inspired her to be who she is. She shared her poetry and the poetry of such figures as William Dunbar and William Shakespeare.

What made an impression on me was her laugh. It was a sort of high pitched cackle, a characteristic laugh that was so original it seemed like it could only come from her. Angelou made facial expressions, the type that shy introverts would be embarrassed to attempt. I didn’t laugh at all her jokes (partly because the sound carries so poorly in the Sun Dome I couldn’t hear it from row 1200) but when I heard words that impressed me I wholeheartedly applauded and gave her a well-deserved ovation as she brought the sign language interpreters to the front of the stage and bowed with them. That’s class.

Maya Angelou was as real and unpretentious of a person as they come. I could have stayed and listened to her all night.