Tampa Is…?

No one really knows how long chickens have been roaming Ybor City.  I’d guess they have been there since the late 1800s, but I know I have seen them strutting around Ybor for the last 25 years or so, which makes the “Chickens of Ybor City” an older franchise than many of the businesses currently found on 7th Avenue.

But now, someone wants to get rid of the chickens.  In fact, someone or something has killed at least one hen and her chicks.  So now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has shown up in Ybor to catch some of them chickens with a plan to move them to Pasco and Polk Counties, in the hopes that no more chickens get harmed (or so they say).

Tommy doesn’t want any part of that.  Tommy has lived in Ybor for over 20 years.  He helped found the Historic Ybor Neighborhood Association, and is one of the founders of Guavaween.  For the past ten years(well, most years), he also hosted the annual James E. Rooster Funeral Procession and Party.  And Tommy likes feeding the chickens.  Oh, and everyone calls him ‘Rooster Tommy.’

Lots of folks like the chickens.  Artists and tourists love to photograph the chickens of Ybor City.  When writing about the culture of Ybor, workers mention the chickens.  Hundreds have gathered at Tommy’s rooster funeral parties to celebrate the Chickens of Ybor City.  (Yes, Arroz con Pollo is on the menu.)

So, of course, now we have all the makings of a chicken protest party.  The party will be this Sunday, November 16 at around halftime of the Bucs game.  Or maybe just following the Bucs game.  At any rate, please make a note of it, because the Times article has the wrong day.  The chicken protest will be held on Sunday, November 16, exactly at 2:30, give or take 90 minutes either way.

Editor’s note:  Don’t sweat the time thing - time barely matters in Ybor City.  Otherwise we’d know when the damn chickens got there in the first place.  Also, if you have read this far, you may as well read the last bit.  Anyone got a better name for a “chicken protest party?”

Well, he is free on $250 bail, but Walsh Ian Nichols, who likes to dress up like Batman and hang around clubs in Ybor City was arrested last week.  He was charged with “wearing hood on street” and not having a valid motorcycle license.

Wearing a hood in public has been a law on the books in Tampa since 1951, initially designed to thwart members of the Ku Kl ux Klan from sporting their regalia in public.  Similar to Elliott Ness finally nailing Al Capone on tax evasion, Tampa’s untouchables defeated ra cism once and for all by legislating hats. It’s still in effect today and is usually used against criminals who wear masks while committing felonies like armed robbery.

As far as Batman goes, Nichols resembles Adam West more than Christian Bale. He just doesn’t look like the relentless, grim vigilante who’s committed his life to the eradication of evil. But he also doesn’t look like a threat to public safety either.

Why does Nichols feel the need to dress up like Batman and patrol the streets of Ybor?

Who cares?

The point is, do we want to live in a city… a world, where there can’t be a Batman? There are plenty of warped individuals out there who follow their dark, twisted obsessions intent on doing us harm. Can’t we have just one who follows his with the intent of serving the public good, even if that just means high-fiving and posing for photos with tourists?

(Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness)

Eastern Hillsborough County keeps getting more and more interesting. Finally got myself out the Sunday Market at the Wat Mongkolratanaram Thai Temple in Palm River (5306 Palm River Road, just off 50th Street). It’s like taking a day trip to Thailand. The people are friendly, the temple is stunning and exotic and the shady grounds on the banks of the Hillsborough River are lovely.

And the food is great, plentiful and cheap. For ten bucks, you can get a fantastic array of food that feeds two or three with some left over to take home. They cook it right there and serve it fresh, and you just point to what you want. Most fun is to go with a group so you can buy a lot of different stuff and share at one of the picnic tables by the river. Among my faves were the deep-fried sweet potatoes, tarot and bananas; fresh mango; pad Thai and Thai curry dishes.

There’s also a small part of the market where they sell plants and fresh produce and a busy stage with all sorts of stuff happening, from singing to Thai Jeopardy.

Market’s from 11am-1pm, but my advice is to go early.

(check our previous review of Wat Tampa - ed.)

***

On the way back to town, I hit my new favorite place to buy wine, West Palm Wines/Beaune’s Wine Bar (2009 N. 22nd St.) on the eastern edge of Ybor. It’s basically a warehouse with a cool industrial-looking lounge, a huge wine storage area, and some great deals on wine. No supermarket wines, actually no American wines, but you can get some really interesting wines for less than $10 a bottle. The owner knows his stuff but is not snobbish about it. He was just as nice to me as I rummaged through the low-price bins as he was to a millionaire who shall remain unnamed who was there at the same time spending what looked like thousands of dollars.

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.

Made up words beginning with the letter “i” are very popular these days: iPod, iMeem, IHOP. One of the most popular made-up i-words in the whole, wide world is poised to hit Tampa in 2009 but is already making a major impact: Ikea.

The Dutch home products retailer broke ground on their new store here in Tampa this past Wednesday with the intent of opening next summer. This news is apparently a very big deal as noted in the St. Pete Times:

“The field of dirt featured no sparkling showrooms, no cafeteria with Swedish meatballs, no stylish furniture to buy.
Yet Claire Pustarfi, Kelly Hickman and Charlene Beverly were giddy over the possibilities as they scurried across a dusty lot to attend Wednesday’s Ikea store groundbreaking ceremony.”

Here’s another i-word for you: iDon’tgetit.

I’m not being critical. Seriously. I don’t know enough anything about the Ikea phenomenon to criticize it so that wouldn’t be fair. But when the rubber meets the road, it is just a store…right? And a store that isn’t even going to open for more than a year shouldn’t inspire rational people to scurry giddily around construction sites and lovingly create blogs about the subject, should it?

Yet when I ask questions like these (strictly in an attempt to become informed, not to create mockery…honest) to those who do know, I sort of feel like I’m facing down Donald Sutherland at the end of “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers“:

“So what’s the big deal?”

“It’s Ikea! It’s amazing! The Ikea experience is coming to Tampa!”

“‘The Ikea experience’?!? Now I’m getting scared.”

“You shouldn’t be. You’re not afraid of Target, right?”

“I guess not. Target is a fine store.”

“Okay, Ikea is like Target on steroids!”

“Well, why didn’t you say so? You know there’s no endorsement that carries more weight with me than association with a substance that has done so much for so many people!”

“Why do you hate Ikea, Clark?”

“I don’t hate Ikea! I just don’t understand. I mean, it’s a furniture store, right?”

“No, it’s not just ‘a furniture store’. It’s a complete marketplace environment that is going to feature 10,000 exclusively designed items, three model home interiors, 50 room settings, a 300 seat restaurant and a supervised play area for children.”

“Wow. You sure know a lot about Ikea.”

“And it’s going to employ 400 people, Clark. And I’m going to be one of them! I’m going to work for Ikea. For free. That’s right! They don’t have to pay me. It will be reward enough to just be there, letting Ikea wash over me like golden rays of light.”

“I’m…going to leave now.”

“Have a meatball, Clark. You’ll feel better. Ikeabots, seize him!”

Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness

Tedd Webb and the Famunda All Stars are throwing a party to help out the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

The Famunda All Stars are staging Koncert For Kiddz II Saturday night, May 17th at The Ritz-Ybor at the corner of 7th Ave and 15th Street in Ybor City. The Famundas will welcome local celebs such as Belinda Womack, Michael Clayton of the Tampa Bay Bucs, as well as TV giants like Brendan McGloughlin, Mike Deeson, pro wrestler Lanny Poffo, and newspaper elite Ernest Hooper, Steve Persall, and Bob Ross to sing for the benefit of The Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Bay News 9’s Jen Holloway, and Fox 13’s Charley Belcher will MC.

Tickets are on sale now, contact Tanya Loira at 813-839-9393. Corporate tables are $500 for 6 seats, while General Admission is $30.

This will be a great time, and I plan on hanging out there at the Ritz Theater in Ybor for a while, and partying with all the local celebrities: Michael Clayton of the Bucs, Sharon Taylor, Jeff Fisher, Belinda Womack, Lanny Poffo, Mike Deeson, Jerry Petuck, Brian Blair & The Oreos, Steve Persall, Ernest Hooper, Bob Ross, Jen Holloway, Charley Belcher, and more.

That’s this Saturday evening. The silent auction begins at 6pm, and the musical acts start around 8pm. As you can see be the list of guests above, there’s no telling what is going to happen.

Once they are finished, the Johnny G. Lyon Band starring Tommy Duncan is playing across the street at the Blue Shark, and you can be sure that we are going to party the rest of the night away there.

If you haven’t been to Ybor in a while, Saturday night is an excellent opportunity to reaquaint yourself. See you there!

A couple of local bloggers are heading over to the Rock ‘n’ Sports cafe in Centro Ybor around 4pm, if anyone wants to chit chat about, well, anything at all…

On Thursday evening, wifey and I were part of a sold out crowd at Tampa Theater that watched the World Premiere of Seminole Heights:  An Intimate Look at the Early Years, a documentary with a self-explanatory name.  The movie was preceded by another Cigar City Pictures film, Ybor City:  A Passage in Time

On Saturday evening, fantastic local filmmakers Pete and Paul Guzzo are debuted a part of The Ghosts of Ybor.  The documentary about Tampa mobster Charlie Wall will be shown at HCC Performing Arts Building as part of the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.  That show sold out, too.

This coming weekend, Hillsborough Community College will put on performances of  Anna in the Tropics (not to be confused with a recent production at a different HCC).  The Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in a 1920’s Ybor City cigar factory, where it’s owners, the factory workers, and the lector (reader) are involved with each other on multiple levels.  Great play, and great local angle, too.

Meanwhile, the St. Pete Times ran two stories related to local history last week.  Lane DeGregory reminds us that Panfilo de Narvaez landed in St. Pete 480 years ago (April 15, 1528), and Jared Leone decided to figure out just who that Dale Mabry fella was.

For those of you who are looking for a DVD version of the Seminole Heights documentary, you can find one at Sherry’s YesterDaze, 5207 N. Florida Af., or at Tampa Antiquarian Books, 6116 N Central Av., both in Tampa.  Cigar City’s Ybor City documentary can be purchased at the Ybor City Museum.

The Ghosts of Ybor will be playing in various venues and film festivals over the next year or so, and we’ll let you know when a DVD becomes available.