BAAMO!

The Bay Area Arts & Music Organization, or BAAMO as the cool kids call it, is celebrating the very active (if not slightly secretive) Tampa Bay music scene with the release of its sixth compilation entitled Tales of Highways & Low Roads.




Yep, it's a concept album about traveling, with 20 original songs by local (but hardly amateur) bands and musicians. 

Cover photo by famed photographer Burk Uzzle (Car on a Pole)

Laura "BAAMO" Keene is one of the leading forces behind the organization. When asked about the future of BAAMO as CD's and radio stations are being phased out, Laura told me: "There's still plenty of college and community stations. If they're going to keep playing music, I'll do everything I can to get Tampa Bay music into the hands of their listeners."  


And indeed she has put it out there. After a very quick web search I found tracks from the new album on playlists in the Netherlands, Canada, the Virgin Islands, and all over the U.S. 


If you'd like to get in on the fun before too many people know about Tampa  - and it's overrun with hipsters and Republicans -  come out to the CD release party this Saturday at New World Brewery. The music starts at 6 p.m. 

Saturday, April 30, 2011

New World Brewery

1313 E 8th Ave in Ybor City

(813) 248-4969

Door @ 5:00 pm, Music starts promptly at 6:00 pm

$10.00 donation (includes copy of the CD or a download card)

21+

If you don't get out as often as you'd like, or don't know enough fine folks, this is the night to put your roots down.  


Genres range from Americana, Pop, and Indie to Rock 'n' Roll and Reggae and more, so there's some sound for everyone. 

The Hideaway Cafe

Across the bay in St. Pete, good music happens at lots of places, including the Hideaway Cafe, a production studio/listening room whose patrons will shush the heck out of loud mouths if they chat during a performance. For music appreciators only. 


Here's a couple of videos I took at the beginning of the month during the Grant Peeples/Ronny Elliott show April 1st.

WMNF Volunteer Banquet 2011

Dev. Dir/DJ Lounge Laura Taylor & Barry Shalinsky

Volunteers are to WMNF what the sun is to a day at the beach - essential, amazing and priceless. There would be no radio station without its community. 


Sunday afternoon WMNF staffers, volunteers and board members got together to celebrate the radio station and each other down by the river at the Heights. 

Ronny Elliott & the Rebel 

Michele & Bob Soptei

Lisa Harris (wife of BOD Jeff), Linda Lu, Lifetime Achievement Award winner Marcie Finkelstein

New Vol of the Year "J" Griffiths & Jay Alexander

2 of the nicest guy on the planet: Mean Gene Moore & Volunteer of the Year Scott Elliott

Mark & Barb Perfetti. First date: WMNF's Tropical Heatwave

Funny how the volunteers you bond the most with are the ones who precede or follow your time slot. In the last photo I'm posing with Psycho Realms' Rev. Patrick Jones, aka Eldersign and DJ Arth Mawr. 


Back in 2006 I used to host the Pre-Dawn Alternative Monday's at 4 a.m., right after Psycho Realms and before the Monday Morning show with Glen Hatchell. I got to know these swell guys pretty well and they're still some of my favorites. 

Take Back the Night 2011

The Sexual Violence Task Force of Tampa Bay presented Take Back the Night last night in Hyde Park Village.

I arrived as they were honoring Rita Peters, Chief of Sex Crimes for the District Attorney’s office. She gave an emotional speech about wearing her heart on her sleeve as she helps victims of abuse win their cases with a 96% success rate. 

I was very happy to get a few moments with Tampa PD Chief Jane Castor. 

As I reported previously, 1 in 6 women are victims of sexual violence, as are 1 in 33 men. 

Clotheslines of shirts hung around the park with messages from victims to their attackers, and in memoriam of women whose lives were lost. 

High Hopes in High Heels board member Laura Fontanills was one of many community volunteers who came out in support of the cause. 

Take Clark Home With You

With a little help from his friends, Clark surpassed his goal of raising $1,500 for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. And he got a muffin named after him. So if you like blueberries (cancer-fighting antioxidant) and white chocolate (white guy euphemism), then take a break at the Bunker in Ybor and treat yourself to a Clark of your very own to savor the sweetness of someone else's hard-won success.  

EMILY's List

Former Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena and Stephanie Schriock

“Early money is like yeast,” EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock told me Sunday, explaining the organization's acronym and their theory on fundraising, which is basically that it takes money to make even more money. 


EMILY's List began in 1985, a basement full of  women in Washington D.C., pooling their resources and address books to raise money for pro-choice Democratic candidates. 


According to their website they've raised over $82,705,257 for candidates since they started. Schriock was in town raising money for their training & recruitment programs, open to women in local, state and national politics or aspiring to be. 


Despite growing into one of the biggest political action committees, women make up only 17% of Congress. (While women make up 50.7% of this country, according to a 2009 Census estimate.) How can politicians represent the public if they don't resemble the public? 


I had such a great conversation with Stephanie about the work she does at EMILY's List that I produced an extended interview as well as a short radio version that aired Monday on 88.5 WMNF. 

Something to Talk About

"Yeah, I just want to ask how many people here has NOT had sex with my husband? "

My attempt to go shoeless for one day was almost a complete failure. Just getting out of bed that morning and having my feet hit the bare wood floor sans house slippers gave me the willies (and I had swept the entire house the day before to gear up). 


I intended to soldier on. I had an interview (reporting, not job prospect) that morning. I got dolled up in my prettiest suit thinking it would be a trade off for showing up with my feet bare. 


But that was the day it poured down barrels, and I could not bring myself to have dripping wet, muddy feet in the lobby of a local non-profit. So I comprised with flip flops. 


Now, having been a college kid within the last decade, I know that most young people consider flips to be acceptable from school to church to the White House. Personally I have never stopped thinking of them as more than shower shoes.


Luckily I got to explain myself and my choice of footwear to the executive director I was meeting with, so not only did I look like less of an idiot, but I got to initiate a conversation about the naked-footed plight of TOMS Shoes. I wore my disgustingly comfy sneakers for the rest of the day. 


That next evening on Q, a CBC radio program (via WUSF), I heard about a new challenge that would suit me better and not put me at risk of getting a parasite. Writer Lauren Frey Daisley spoke about her recent article in Salon about giving up snark for a month. 


With the current polarized climate led by jackass politicians, both sides are making it way too easy to get angry and talk trash. But as Lauren said on the radio show, that kind of talk tends to have a negative effect on the speaker. 


Stress levels raise as we rile ourselves up and piss off or hurt our friends on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum. By getting back to "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," we can focus our energy away from pointless complaining and spend our time being productive instead. Which always makes me feel better.