A&E, Creative Loafing Tampa

Jon & Jen take a musical trip through the decades

Mark E. Leib — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:04:00 -0400

freeFall Theatre’s latest production is a lovely but superficial tour of American life from the ’50s to the ’90s. by Mark E. Leib John & Jen is a lovely but mostly superficial tour of American life from the ’50s to the ’90s. Nicely performed and sung by Katie Zaffrann and Chris Crawford, it offers intelligent lyrics, pleasant but forgettable music, and a storyline so hurried that there’s never much opportunity to think about the momentous years it references.…

Dennis Duggan: Of Mice and Men’s magic man

Mark E. Leib — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:07:00 -0400

The actor’s definitive portrayal of Lenny makes for a must-see production at Stageworks. by Mark E. Leib The best acting is nothing short of magical. How could it be scientifically possible that persons pretending to be characters they aren’t, speaking lines that aren’t their own, involved in actions distant in space and time from their real lives in 2013, can nonetheless convince us that they are Prince Hamlet and Blanche DuBois and Oedipus and Lady Macbeth?…

Vivian Maier: Hidden from view

Megan Voeller — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:05:00 -0400

The extraordinary photos of a woman whose talent wasn’t discovered till after her death. by Megan Voeller In 2009, a 27-year-old history buff named John Maloof who had purchased a collection of photographic negatives from a Chicago auction two years earlier on impulse was in the midst of selling off his find piece by piece on eBay when he got an email from Allan Sekula, the well-known photographer and critic. Sekula advised the younger man that the 30,000-40,000 negatives in his possession — a windfall of images shot by an unknown female street photographer who had died in obscurity — would be more valuable if kept together.…

What happens Behind the Gates?

Mark E. Leib — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:03:00 -0400

An American girl disappears in Jerusalem in Jobsite’s latest. by Mark E. Leib Haredi Jews, sometimes called the Ultra-Orthodox, are a growing minority in Israel, though their customs and behavior are far different from most religious and secular Jews in that nation. When you read about a car being stoned because the driver took it for a spin on the Sabbath, it’s usually the haredim (meaning “those who tremble before God”) who did the deed, and when you hear about Israeli Jews who aren’t Zionists, it’s often the haredim (who believe that only the Messiah has the right to re-make Israel as a state) who insist on this position.…

Bikinis: Style for the sun-obsessed

Leslie Joy Ickowitz — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:05:00 -0400

Hot swimwear from SRF | CTY and Urban Body Clothing. by Leslie Joy Ickowitz “This bikini made me a success.” —Ursula Andress Outside of the world-famous Bond girl, who can say this?…

Embrace the bulge

Shawn Alff — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:04:00 -0400

Don’t castrate. Accentuate. by Shawn Alff American men have been brainwashed into masking the monuments of our masculinity behind baggy board shorts that neuter our anatomy. Loose swim trunks are American burkas instituted to mute the lust that consumes women, and some men, upon gazing at the devious face of God shrouded behind provocative bikini briefs.…

Broadway and beyond

David Warner — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:57:00 -0400

The summer theater season has already begun. by David Warner On chilly Cape Cod where I grew up, the onset of spring brought not just the promise of warmer weather but the anticipation of summer theater: Broadway tours at the Cape Playhouse, musicals at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, plays for and by kids at the Harwich Junior Theater. And there was a bonus: In the summertime you could spend intermission outdoors, sipping cool drinks under the stars.…

Great books for a day at the beach

CL Staff — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:56:00 -0400

Perfect beach reads, even if you never get to the beach. by CL Staff The Interestings In the summer of 1974, six teenagers at a Massachusetts summer camp for the arts meet up for the first time, in what appears to be the beginning of a lifetime friendship. Meg Wolitzer’s novel then follows these characters throughout adulthood as their fortunes and expectations change.…

St.Pete artist Bask decorates for Iron Man 3's The Mandarin

Megan Voeller — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:05:00 -0400

How the work of a local artist wound up in the super sequel — and in the collection of Robert Downey, Jr. by Megan Voeller Last summer, St. Pete-based artist Bask — aka, Ales Hostomsky — started getting emails from a friend he hadn’t heard from in years, the former owner of a Detroit gallery gone bust who had moved to LA to work in films. When he read that she needed some street art as a scenic backdrop, his initial reaction was to get back to her later and maybe refer her to another artist.…

An affair to remember

Leslie Joy Ickowitz — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:01:00 -0400

One-of-a-kind fashions on display for CL’s birthday. by Leslie Joy Ickowitz It all started innocently enough. “I want you to create a fashion presentation for our 25th Birthday celebration on 4/20,” CL Publisher James Howard said.…

Tampa rep's Hamlet is mostly on target

Mark E. Leib — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

’Tis nobler in the mind … by Mark E. Leib Hamlet is a play of many mysteries, and one watches each new production to see how these puzzles are solved. Is the title character really insane or is he, as he insists, merely feigning madness?…

Swamp people

Megan Voeller — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:34:00 -0400

Carlton Ward Jr. and his team bring us endangered Florida, the subject of a PBS doc series. by Megan Voeller In 2006, Carlton Ward, Jr., an eighth-generation Floridian who has made a career of photographing wildlife and endangered ecosystems, found out something he didn’t know about the state’s cattle ranches: besides cowboys and livestock, the Florida black bear sometimes calls them home. Working with biologist Joe Guthrie, Ward helped track one such bear — a male dubbed “M13” — who ranged for a year around south central Florida through public preserves and private ranches until I-4 stymied his natural migration north.…

Not in their back yard

Mark E. Leib — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:03:00 -0400

New problems evolve from old conflicts in Clybourne Park. by Mark E. Leib Why do I have these qualms about Clybourne Park? Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play has the right politics, is unpredictable and funny, and features often-memorable risk-taking dialogue.…

Stages of growth

Mark E. Leib — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0400

Our critic talks about how far local theater has come in the last 25 years — and has yet to go. by Mark E. Leib There aren’t many more theaters in the Bay area now than there were in 1988, but there was more daring 25 years ago — plays by local writers, avant-garde plays, risky, challenging, in-your-face fare. As Rosemary Orlando, longtime performer in the Bay area notes, “Everybody had original stuff in their season, and that’s where the good stuff comes from.”…

Decades 2.5

Leslie Joy Ickowitz — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 05:59:00 -0400

Trends to remember and a renaissance in the making. by Leslie Joy Ickowitz For last year’s CL Style issue we hit rewind and published “Decades” — a vintage fashion editorial spanning 1920-1980. For this 25th Birthday issue, we pick up where we left off, fast-forwarding beyond vintage time frames to check out what’s happened in fashion over the course of CL’s history.…

Transcending tragedy in The Amish Project

Mark E. Leib — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The play triumphs in the face of a tragic school massacre. by Mark E. Leib Jessica Dickey’s The Amish Project is, on the surface at least, about the 2006 shooting of 10 young Amish girls in Pennsylvania by a milk delivery man whose motives have never been definitively ascertained. It’s known that Charles Carl Roberts IV (not Amish himself) entered the West Nickel Mines School on Oct. 2, sent teachers and boys out of the school, tied up the remaining girls and shot them point blank before killing himself.…

Critical mass

Megan Voeller — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:59:00 -0400

Reflections on lessons learned and significant encounters while covering visual arts in Tampa Bay. by Megan Voeller On March 1, 2006, CL (then called the Weekly Planet) published the first art review I ever wrote. I remember the moment when I found out that something I had written was going to be printed — and that other people might read it — because I had to step into the backyard of Katherine Gibson’s South Tampa home during a folk art sale to take a call from David Warner, CL’s editor-in-chief.…

Stuffed and Unstrung's Patrick Bristow, the Michael Jackson of improv puppets

Stephanie Powers — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

He tells Stephanie Powers about the birth of the show, puppets vs. Muppets and a little cult classic about showgirls. by Stephanie Powers I have been a huge Jim Henson fan pretty much my entire life. I also am a big Improv geek having studied it myself for two years at Second City Los Angeles.…

The Venus effect

Mark E. Leib — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:02:00 -0400

The Historic Asolo Theater’s latest is a mind-altering experience. by Mark E. Leib David Ives’ Venus in Fur is about power, sado-masochism, gender and theater. It’s about The War Between Men and Women, and especially the roles that men continue to expect even politically advanced women to play for them.…

Great events, great outdoors

Julie Garisto — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Some of Tampa Bay's most scenic settings provide backdrops for fun and culture Fri.-Sun., April 19-21. by Julie Garisto Most of the cold weather and spring breakers may have cleared out, but three events draw crowds in some of Tampa Bay's most scenic settings without the need for either one. In addition to the block parties of the Creative Loafing Festival anniversary celebrations and the long list of Earth Day happenings, other high-profile events compete for our attention.…

From Palm Harbor to SNL: a chat with Jim Breuer

Stephanie Powers — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The former Palm Harbor-ian, SNL vet and "Cosby in a Metallica shirt" headlines the Straz on Fri., April 12. by Stephanie Powers Similar to most well-balanced adults Jim Breuer has grown up and away from his party-hard persona, like his role of higher-than-life Brian in the stoner classic Half Baked. He is now the father of three, all girls with one already a teenager, and is celebrating 20 years of marriage in August.…

Tracy Midulla Reller beautifies the neighborhood

Megan Voeller — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Tempus Projects is leading the way in the burgeoning Seminole Heights arts scene. by Megan Voeller Ask Tracy Midulla Reller how long her Florida Avenue art gallery, Tempus Projects, has been staging exhibitions in Seminole Heights, and she may stop to consider a moment before answering — three years. “We have three Best of the Bay awards now,” she says.…

Dave Foley: sexy socialist stand-up

Shae Krispinsky — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:58:00 -0400

The actor/comedian hits the stand-up circuit to talk about his favorite topics. by Shae Krispinsky When I excitedly announced to a couple of my friends that Dave Foley would be coming to Side Splitters in April to perform stand-up, I was met with blank stares. Who?…

Style: No Mood

Leslie Joy Ickowitz — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 03:57:00 -0400

Finding fashion fabric in Tampa Bay. by Leslie Joy Ickowitz I’ve always said that if I were a fashion designer I’d never get past sourcing fabric. Thrilling to the eye (especially in print), soft to the touch and transformable into wearable art, textiles reel fashion lovers in.…

Wall-to-Wall humanity

Megan Voeller — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:15:00 -0400

The artist formally known as Swoon populates a gallery in Bradenton. by Megan Voeller When I first heard of the street artist Swoon in the early 2000s, you could occasionally luck into walking by one of her wheat-pasted figures adhered to the side of a Brooklyn building before weather or vandals peeled it away. Strikingly unlike the graffiti tags (sometimes clumsy, sometimes brilliant themselves) that elsewhere covered facades, Swoon’s prints — big linocuts that look like confident drawings — vividly conjured people, the kind you might meet and be moved by in real life: a little boy with determination-filled eyes, a pair of bemused sisters, a mother whose beauty has a slightly world-weary air.…