But the convention is a big deal for the region – I’m even comfortable arguing that it’s bigger than the Super Bowl. And my argument here has not really as much to do with specific economic gain for the region as it does perception and display for the region, if we handle it well. Because of the 24 hour national and cable news cycle, the host city – and its region – are truly on display for an entire week. In recent history, the conventions kick off the race to the Presidential election’s finish line. It’s when the electorate really begins to tune in and pay attention. And arguably, this time around, all eyes will be on the Republicans since we‘ll have the challenger in the race. So, as America wakes up to pay attention to politics at the highest level in our land, what will they see as they switch on Tampa Bay in High Def?

I hope they see a truly high-tech corridor. I hope we show off higher education. I hope they see transportation infrastructure. I hope our airports are on their best behavior. I hope Ybor City shows off Tampa’s Hispanic heritage. I know St. Pete/Pinellas will show the world the charm of the Suncoast. I hope that Plant City, Eastern Hillsborough/Polk show off our agricultural roots and transforming economies. I hope the Florida Southern visitor’s center is packed with patrons. I hope the high tech students at USF Poly ensure our convention values state of the art innovation and technology. I hope the political science students at USF St. Pete and the main campus play a significant role, as Dr. Susan McManus makes a semester’s worth of impact. I hope the side trips to Disney, coincide with side trips to Legoland. And I trust that the entire I-4 corridor will claim this event as their own.

If I learned one thing from my experience in Minneapolis, distance isn’t a factor. I stayed as far away as you could from the convention center (not by choice), but that didn’t matter. The events surrounding the main event were held all over the twin cities and we found ourselves shuttling back and forth and throughout the region as we visited the different venues. All that to say that convention visitors in 2012 will literally inundate the entire Bay Area region. If our region treats them warmly and welcomes the intense international spotlight, it will make all the difference in the world. I truly hope that as we send the GOP nominee off to the races, we show the visitors and viewers around the globe why we truly are the world’s leading super-region. The Region’s Convention – what a chance to shine!

photo credit: ShootsNikon

American Idol Top 10 result show, in which we find our heroes forced to listen to an Usher and a Puffy….Unleash the Kracken!

Chuck: The worst opening for any episode, any season. Katie is in bottom 3 from the top row. Didi & Tim from the bottom row. Ruben Studdard performs. Ruben didn’t win…everyone knows it was fixed. Lorrie: Poor Ruben. They keep bringing him back to try to re-launch his career. On another note, he’s lost weight! Chuck: He had to encourage the fans to hold up their hands and clap? Lorrie: If he loses any more weight, he’ll look like Al Roker Chuck: Who? Lorrie: Google it. Chuck: Oh, him! I thought Willard Scott was changing to balance Michael Jackson.

9:07 PM Lorrie: That was one loooooong song by Ruben. Chuck: Who is the big guy with the Pretty Pink Ponytail? Lorrie: what the hell is up with Big Mike and that fake ponytail hanging out the back of his hat??? Chuck: Big Mike? What’s his job on AI? Lorrie: ahhhh, you beat me on the ponytail remark because I’m slow to hit send tonight. LOL. I think Big Mike is the custodian. No, wait- I think Andrew is the custodian.
 
Chuck: Our first commercial break. Having a guy rub the pizza crust all over his sweaty neck and the floor is not my idea of “a magical night.” Lorrie: Oh no? Well, how about getting $20 worth of stuff for $9 at Walgreen’s? (that’s my shameless plug to brag about my coupon skills during the commercial break) Chuck: $9 worth of stuff that cost them $2.50? Lorrie: Way to burst the bubble.

Lorrie: Holy cow! They’re singing Kung Fu Fighting. Didn’t you suggest someone sing this recently? Chuck: There! Finally, Someone plays Kung Fu Fighting on AI. Yes I did. And you thought no one read this column. Lorrie: Again I’m wrong.

Chuck: Another ad for Clash of the Titans? Does Simon have a piece of the net? Lorrie: Who knows. All of these movie plugs irritate me.

Chuck: They will make Katie & Siobhan stand together…and that might be bad for Siobhan Lorrie: how so? Chuck: they like to fake people. Everyone would expect Katie to be in the bottom 3…and then they call Siobhan’s name. See…they’re calling Aaron..everyone knows he’s safe
 
Lorrie: You are looking right with the Siobhan/Katie showdown. Thank you Simon for the Oprah comment toward Ryan’s silly questions. Ryan needs to do the following: Shut. Up. Already. It’s times like these that make me wonder what it might have been like had Brian Dunkelman continued on the show.
 
Chuck: Ryan is going to ask to pre-prep the judges next year. Lorrie: Something sure needs to happen. It gets downright uncomfortable listening to Ryan and Simon. I still say Katie is in the bottom 3. Chuck: BTW…you remember Brian Dunkleman…and his name? AI nerd. They both might end up in the bottom 3. Lorrie: I have AI Season 1 Round-up on DVD. And…I have From Justin to Kelly on DVD. And…I love that movie. Chuck: I don’t know you.
 
Chuck: No fake..They are all talking about Katie…and the director cuts to Siobhan….typical inability to understand what is happening on stage. Next week is songs from the Lennon/McCartney songbook. Great…they get to ruin Imagine next week. I want a vote on who can sing that. Lorrie: Who’s that child Ryan is talking to? I was sending a text message out of boredom and missed it. Chuck: I think it is usher’s son. Lorrie: Oh yeah, I think his name is Kicks Brooks, right? Chuck: That’s it.
 
Lorrie: Usher sounds shaky…and it sounds like more than just the special effect on his voice. Plus, he sucks. Chuck: I am so so so so glad Lennon & McCartney didn’t become stars during this decade. Imagine those poor guys being expected to dance like that? Lorrie: I don’t want to imagine that. It’s Will I Am on stage with Usher. Chuck: The guy in the dress? Lorrie: I feel so hip right now that I know who that is. Yes. He’s in the Black Eyed Peas. Usher is sooooo Michael jackson when he dances. Chuck: Ok…I play the old guy for the column….but I know who he is…and the group. He’s still wearing a skirt. Imagine McCartney in a skirt while Lennon break dances?

Lorrie: Ouch. That hurts my heads. BTW, Last night you were younger than 40 and tonight you “play the old guy.” You need to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. And how old “grown up” is for you. Chuck: The key is “play the old guy.”

Chuck: Death at a Funeral..is a remake of a British film….looks like all they did was make the cast black. I’m glowing older, but not up by the way. Lorrie: I think I’ll glow older, too. I like the sound of that. Chuck: It’s akin to candles, both ends. You know the song. Fringe? I used to have that jacket.

Chuck: Tim & Didi Lorrie: yep! Chuck: Shut her up. Sit her down. Lorrie: Didi needs to quit saying “you know.” Chuck: There she goes…and maybe home. Andrew just started smiling “I’m free!”
 
Lorrie: Hey…where’d that big black guy come from? Is he on this season? Chuck: He’s a star of Clash of the Titans. Lorrie: Is he who enters when they say “unleash the Kracken?”

Chuck: Who was telling Mike to throw Ryan? Crystal or Siobhan? Lorrie: I just wish he had tossed Ryan right off the stage. Chuck: So does Simon.

Chuck: Kara just called Tim stupid. Lorrie: LOL. YES! My Bottom 3 was spot on this week! Chuck: Yeah…wasn’t a stretch Lorrie: Now aren’t you sorry you decided to be different? Chuck: sending Tim safe. Yes I am. But it would be so boring to just agree all the time, no? Lorrie: Well, not if we’re always right. That would be damn cool. Chuck: If I was always right I’d be more insufferable than I am now. No one wants that. Lorrie: Well, if we can’t both always be right, at least let ME be always right. This week proves I’m off to a great start.
 
Chuck: They’re making a Southern remake of Clash of the Titans…just so someone can say “Release the Cracklin’s.” Didn’t you say Katie was going home?

Lorrie: I picked Tim to go home. Mike picked Didi. He doesn’t count though. Chuck: Tim…both of us…boring. Didi looks pissed. Lorrie: You could change your pick to Lilly…. Chuck: Tim is still high as a kite. Lilly will never go home.
 
Lorrie: Another “famous” performer hits the stage. Diddy Doodoo who?? Chuck: If he is ever announced as Sean Combs his mother will faint. Lorrie: Tonight’s show is too jiggy for my taste so far. Chuck: I hope my daughter isn’t watching. Lorrie: He’s not even a very good dancer. And, he’s wearing parachute pants. Chuck: I wondered where parachutes went when they retired. Lorrie: They went to the Sean John store, apparently.
 
Chuck: He’s the guy that sang “Informer” right? Lorrie: LOL. I used to love “Informer.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StlMdNcvCJo Chuck: He’s canadian you know Lorrie: I just learned that.
 
Chuck: Didi! Lorrie: Dang it. We were wrong. Chuck: I knew that the “Vote for the Worst” would work Lorrie: But I’m glad to see Didi go. Judges won’t save her.
 
Chuck: They might save her. Who else would they save in the next 3 weeks? The problem is that she isn’t singing well Lorrie: for real. Chuck: They might say that’s the reason they’re not. She’s still better than Tim or Andrew or Katie Lorrie: I don’t think she’s better than Andrew. This is painful to hear.
 
Chuck: You liked Informer. Lorrie: Please don’t hold that against me. I was, like, 19. Back to Didi, that high note was awful. Chuck: My tv just died! Lorrie: LOL. She knows there’s no saving her butt. Chuck: They didn’t save her.
  
(I was serious…the tv changed channels when she hit that note.)

Lorrie: Bye Didi! Don’t let the screen door hit ya on the butt on the way out! I think Little J was hiding behind your chair with the remote. Chuck: I had her as one of the top 4 female finalists Lorrie: Oh, the agony….the tears….it’s over until next week! Chuck: lol. Then I’ll have agony and tears as they ruin Lennon’s best. Aaron will probably sing “Working Class Hero.” Lorrie: lol. No joke! I’m trying to think of what Tim will choose to mutilate from the songbook.

Chuck: “Yesterday”

photo credit: claudiadaggett

Leading Florida economists tell us that with the weakened dollar and Florida’s increased profile as an international exporter, the climate seems ripe for more internationalism. So why not Tampa Bay? No doubt it sounds as if the approach used by authority members for opening the discussion may have missed the mark. But, disregarding that, it seems that the economic restructuring we’re experiencing might offer an appropriate time for the authority to re-open the books, have the discussion and redouble it’s efforts toward international travel.

On the local level, the whole discussion of the airport intrigues me. I have long thought that the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport is Lakeland’s most under-utilized asset. But the airport is a “tweener”. See, much of Lakeland’s economic development success is a credit to our location between the economic centers of Tampa and Orlando, who each boast first rate commercial airport facilities. Company exec’s tell us all the time how important it is that employees and management alike can benefit from the convenience offered by these two transportation hubs. So, where does that leave us?

I recently attended a seminar by economist Hank Fishkind here in Lakeland. Dr. Fishkind briefly mentioned the ability of a large, commercial airport to transform a community, as is happening right now in Panama City. Jim Studiale, Lakeland’s Community Development Directly correctly pointed out that Lakeland is simply very unlikely to rely on heavy commercial air traffic because of the two major airports east and west. I’ve long believed that a more intese focus on attracting commuter air traffic is the right answer for Lakeland and is the direction the new Airport administration should pursue.

But this whole discussion brings it home for me. If Polk isn’t going to be a player in commercial air traffic, It seems to me that we need to reach out and see how we can play ball with the communities east and west who have it and see how we can help move people throughout the region (and in and out of Polk?). The bottom line is this: if commercial air traffic isn’t in Polk’s future, what’s the next best thing? I’d say it’s a wide array of safe, efficient and reliable regional transportation to and from the hubs. And I think an expanded commuter air presence, a broader toll-road network, reliable commuter rail/mass transit and efficient high-speed rail connections are the answer. We should strongly pursue them all, whenever we can. Strategic infrastructure investments are the proper role of government and hopefully our community can realize that the region deserves a more diverse transportation portfolio.

Finally, while this is a topic of a future column, it’s worth mentioning here. It’s a shame that the current high speed rail proposal, which I ardently support, wouldn’t connect to the Tampa Airport as it does to Orlando’s airport–it should. But that shouldn’t preclude our support of the project – there are unique geographical challenges in Tampa that leaders are working to overcome. More info about Florida’s High Speed Rail Proposal at www.fasrailconnectus.com ..and expect more from me to come on this topic…

photo credit: vad_levin

He profoundly changed my life, and his death upended it forever. So I look at the world a little differently than I did a year ago. Because I’m reminded in every hour of every day of the impact Randy had on so many lives. (a little about him).

And I’m mindful, you see, that God has given me this platform of public service. I’m admittedly fairly good at this political gig, but I ask myself every day, “how many lives have I touched…and have I made a difference today.” If I die today, have I made as significant an impact as Randy would have me make?

My most favorite part of my public job is the opportunity I have to think about the future, at 50,000 feet. And to do it with some of the most advanced tools available. I hear from the leading econonmists regularly, the leading demographers, the leading agriculture professionals, the leading educators…you name it, we hear from the best. And, of late, I am focusing much of my attention on regionalism – and specifically on amplifying the initiatives of the Bay Area and Orlando Area toward together becoming the world’s leading super-region. I believe the blocks are in place, and that if we assemble them correctly, we’ll be there – quickly. I meet with the leading economic developers of our region, hear collective visions of university Presidents, and learn what it will take to efficiently move people from place to place throughout this super-region. I take my positions and cast my votes, with that knowledge in hand. Even then, I miss the boat from time to time. But it has dawned on me of late that my community suffers from a mypoic view of its region that I fear results from a lack of data and a dearth of knowledge about what’s really going on in the world that surrounds them.

So, in this new year, I’ve decided to right the wrong, and to bring enlightenment to the region. Well, that was a little haughty. Better, I’ve decided to do my part with the platform given to me, to offer a new perspective. My mission is to do my best to offer a viewpoint that reminds our community that we live in a connected world and thrive in connected economies. The world isn’t flat. When we wake up and realize that our success depends on our reaction and response to what emanates from the communities that surround us, I’ll believe we have arrived. Leaders are at their best when the tools available to them are sharp, and the knowledge upon which they rely is robust. Isn’t it fair that we give our citizens the benefit of a broader perspective with greater knowledge? I think so and I intend to provide it, beginning today and beginning here.

I’m appreciative of the opportunity to associate my views with MetroI4News. Chuck Welch and I could not see the political world more differently, but the real world more alike. We both believe strongly in regionalism. And we believe that folks simply deserve better – they deserve a choice, they deserve perspective, and they deserve a diversity of thought. I’m looking forward to contributing. I know you won’t always agree with me. I only hope that you’ll find depth in my perspective, appreciate the duty I feel to provide it and accept the sincerity with which it is offered. I plan to make a difference.

photo credit: aresauburn

What accounts for this discrepancy?

I’m willing to bet that it’s our news media, aka MSM, including newspapers, cable news, and broadcast news.

Continue reading  Re/Creating Tampa – The MSM makes us dumb.

In all honesty, yoga by itself is not too bad– stretching, reaching. Learning body movement to soft music after a hard day could be a very healthy way to build energy and relax one’s mind. The trouble I was initially having with yoga was the trouble most men have with athletic activities. With a roomful of flexible women, I wanted to show off! “If they can do that, I can do that!” What was supposed to be a personal journey of peace into compassion turned into a competition! I decided to reach too far, stretching too much. My mind was on the room and the level of the people around me rather than on my breath, body or spirit.

Once the first couple of classes broke me in, I realized that yoga was not a comparison of power or speed. Truthfully, my level of pain the next day made me admit that if yoga was a game, it was not a game I was going to win! Once I realized that most in the room did not even know I was there, I relaxed into the peace of the stretch, music and movement of the class.

I guess I share this funny little adventure because I see many of the same traps in the way people live out their religious life as the trap I fell into with yoga. When you look around your Synagogue, temple or church, how many people come to your mind that seem to be living their faith as a competition they are trying to win? The church ladies who know everyone’s business, the deacons who watch how much people put in the collection plate. People whose religious life seems to be more about keeping their level of Christianity on a score card. How many Sundays they attend, how many souls they have saved. People are not just keeping their own score but trying to tally your score as well!

It sounds silly when you first think about it. After all, how could people think that God would choose to love them more because of some kind of personal score? However, when I delve a little deeper into myself, I see the same sin that traps others also enters my own mind. How many flat tires have I fixed thinking to myself, “What did I do to deserve this?” I have to admit deep down there is a church voice which was ingrained in me long ago that says, “If you do what is right, God will watch over me extra close.”

I think this is the paradox that all religious people walk in; the paradox of faith is wrapped up in the first being last and the last being first. All major religions have this one truth in common; the poor, broken and innocent are always named as being closer to God. It is the paradox of the Beatitudes, it is the message Jesus shared with the disciples when he told them to enter the kingdom like a little child. The Buddha did not experience Zen until he became one with the broken community outside his father’s kingdom. Allah showed the light on his people only when they stood in the poorness of their spirit. I call this challenge of faith a paradox because study, academics, money, power are all gifts of love, objectives of man as they mature, stabilize and root themselves for the prosperity of their families.

I believe the answer to this puzzle is wrapped up in the same lesson I learned in my yoga class. The point is not to be in competition with the room around you. Peace and growth come from attempting to be one with your body, mind and spirit. Yoga, love, God and Christ observe no score card, their peace comes from opening yourself to where you are at the moment. You cannot be more of a Christian than your spirit is ready for any more than your arm can be more flexible then your body will allow. The arch in your neighbor’s “downward dog” will not cause you to lose balance any more than the amount your neighbor puts in a collection plate will cause you to sin.

I wish sometimes church would end the same way yoga class does with the word “Namaste”. This closing blessing at the end of every yoga class is accompanied with a bow that simply means “I greet the God in you”. Wouldn’t it be great if we ended our religious services by bowing to those around us with the word “Namaste” or “I greet the God I see working and living through you”?

For you singles out there reading this, what are the “deal breaker” statements that a date could make or has made, where inwardly you wanted to throw up a red flag and go home?

I decided for this week’s article to take my “deal breaker” question on the road.

Ginger, age 31, at Beacon Road Starbucks: “In the first hour of a date, the guy I was with asked if I would be his ‘girlfriend’!” Tom, age 36, at Tampa Church Street: “Either, so what kind of car do you drive or so how much do you make?” Tami, age 23, in Ybor City: “I had a guy on a first date once ask me where I bought my purse—just saying, red flag!” Sarah, age 24, in Ybor City: “I once had a guy after three hours of our first date ask if I had a sister or girlfriend I could bring on our next date!” Bill, age 42, from a bar in Channelside said, “My red flag is when a woman tells me in the first 15 minutes of dating, ‘by the way, I’m Christian’.” He said it is a red flag because usually at that point in the conversation the date begins to probe and judge him.

It is kind of funny that one of the most important questions and commentaries on someone’s life, their Christianity, can sometimes be wielded like a sword to become a major deal breaker.

Keeping with the theme of “deal breaker” I asked my Homeless Prayer Support group if they had, or have ever had, deal breaking decisions they had to make for their families. One woman said she knew it was finally time to leave her husband when he stopped hitting her and started threatening their child. No job, no place to live, and no family nearby, she simply said, “Even for better or worse, it was still a deal breaker…and we had to go!” One Hispanic man in the group said that his deal breaker was when he found out his employer was not sending checks to his family as he promised he would.

It is true that Christ says we must forgive our neighbor seventy times seven. And yes, Jesus asks his disciples to turn the other cheek when they are struck. But Jesus also asked Satan to get behind him and turned the temple change tables when he saw his father’s home being desecrated as a market. I believe that there are deal breakers that Christ instills in our souls. I believe they are words, ideas and actions that lead us away from love. Love of ourselves, love of others and anything that would lead our gaze from the love of our creator.

So what are your deal breakers?

An associate at the store recently explained that the space will be gutted and basically rebuilt from the inside. That means new floors and cabinetry!

In the mean time, Apple fans can visit the Apple Store in Brandon at the Brandon Town Center Mall. All full-time employees from the Tampa location will be temporarily transferred to the Brandon store.

Now my first response was to turn around and laugh with them, but to my surprise, they were not kidding. Bringing me into their conversation, one of the guys started naming celebrity after celebrity who had recently passed away: Farah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Steve McNair and now, Gidget, the Taco Bell dog! He went on to tell his friend and I that since the string of deaths, his great aunt is now sick; and he had just found out a friend of his might have cancer.

As the conversation went on, I asked the guys if they ever considered the “bird on their shoulder?” I expained that according to Buddhism tradition, young students are to imagine each day that there is a small bird on each of their shoulders. The bird is said to remind them that death is coming. This image is to remind the students that death is inevitable, and unpredictable. The lesson teaches them that any day could be the last day of their lives. The metaphor of the bird reminds them to live their life as if it could be their last day. Begging the question, if death came today, would your life be in order?

Which led all of our conversation away from the permanency of death to how precious each day of our lives really is. One of the guys said that if it was his last day alive, he would jump out of a plane or sleep with as many women has he could. The other guy, breaking through all our laughter, said he would call his dad who he has always fought with and tell him that he loved him.

As I left the conversation with those guys, two biblical phrases kept racing through my head throughout the week. First was from Matthew’s gospel depiction of Jesus speaking about destroying the temple in Jerusalem. The words that stuck in my mind were “See these stones? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matt 24:2) The depiction of the desolation of the temple always reminds me of how impermanent the things — buildings, possessions, money or jobs we create really are.

This is normally the point in any discussion or sermon on death that a minister would speak about the Genesis imagery of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”. They would explain that we all begin with ashes and end in ashes. We cannot take our possessions, family, friends, jobs or any of our creation with us into death.

However, just as I challenged those two guys at Infusion Café to consider that there is no more death today than any other time in history, asking them to consider how they would live their lives if they woke up each morning thinking this could be the last day of their lives.

I would like to consider for a moment new imagery of what death might mean to those of us who are still alive today. I would like to beg the question, what if what we do, who we are, and what we create does follow us into heaven? What if every loving relationship, every creation from our hands or life is a thread in the tapestry of God’s creation? With this twist on the reality of death, our actions matter, our creation lasts as another breath or glimmer of God’s love and hope for the world.

There is nothing more empowering to a person than to believe that their lives and actions matter in the world. Yes “not one stone will remain standing,” but loving actions, a smile, the feeling of a hug, a kind word or action can last. Yes, our bodies might begin with ashes and return to ashes, but God’s purpose and our legacy in the world has the possibility to continue and inspire long after our homes and our bodies have gone home to our Lord and Savior. Think about the music of the Messiah or a painting by Rembrandt. Consider the mission of William Booth or the words “liberty for all”. Most of us have grandparents, family or loved ones whose actions, words or legacies have had the power to shape or direct our lives.

When you are listening to NPR or E news about the rash of celebrity deaths; when find yourself mourning a friend or families members death; you are simply considering the permanence of your own humanity, I would like to first recommend to you to consider the image of a “bird on your shoulder” asking you if you’re ready to die. Just as the bird is asking if you are living as though today could be your last day, I would also like you to consider the prospect that your life and actions matter. That what you create, who you are, and what you love, might be just the creation that God needs to share His perfect love and hope with the world.

At New World Brewery (Ybor/Tampa)
Wed 08/12 Jacuzzi Boys, Davila and Others

At Ford Amph (Tampa)
Sat 08/08 Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum

Sun 08/09 Coldplay, Elbow and Kitty Daisy & Lewis

Tue 08/11 Rockstar Energy Meyham Festival – Featuring: Slayer and Manson
With: Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Behemoth, Whitechapel, God Forbid,
All That Remains, Mushroom Head, The Black Dahlia Murder, Cannibal Corpse & Job For a Cowboy

Wed 08/12 Dave Matthews Band

Fri 08/14 Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick

My intention in asking the Holy Spirit to intercede is also an invitation for God to use my life to speak words of hope, even when the words do not seem to be in me. There is so much hurt in the world, I sometimes need help to know what things I am capable of handling and which things are too big for me and the truth of my humanity to handle. As a counselor I have to constantly decide which lives would most benefit from the time I could spend with them. As a friend I am often trying to decide which relationships are going to bear fruit and which ones are simply toxic. Life sometimes feels as though it is moving faster by the day — the older I get. I wonder how and if I can make a positive difference in someone’s life.

With the challenge of discerning God’s will in mind, the American protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer has always had a close place to my heart.

“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference. ”

The prayer has become such an inspiration to me that I recently added it as a part of a sleeve tattoo on my right arm. (One day I will do a whole article regarding tattoos as religious icons and historical memory holders.) But for now you will just have to take my word. I have the Serenity Prayer on my arm and I love it.

I have shared all this background and build up with you simply to tell you about what happened to me last Friday night in Ybor. After a long week of work in Lakeland, I sometimes try to escape to the freedom and anonymity of Ybor City. I do not know if I would prescribe this outlet to anyone else, but I find I am the most useful and attentive to others’ needs during the week when I allow myself time to relax and get away.

Somewhere in the midst of my evening in Ybor City, I was in the center of a crowded standing-room only Parrot bar. It was a night of flirting, laughing and letting go of stress with friends. All of a sudden a gentleman from seemingly nowhere walked over to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You are a message from God. I have to go home!”

After some discussion – right there in the center of the bar – it turns out that the man had been four years sober, and tonight he had slipped up and ended up drinking in Ybor. Apparently when he saw my Serenity Prayer tattoo, he interpreted it as the voice of God telling him to stop his drinking and go back home to his wife and children. The Serenity Prayer was a prayer he had resisted for years at his AA meetings. He said seeing the prayer on my arm allowed him to recite it, right when he needed to the most.

This moment was such a good reminder to me that we can all be tools and voices for God’s hope and peace, sometimes even despite the brokenness and best intentions of sin and humanity.

“And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

photo credit: Chris Craig for MetroI4News.com

It’s a great time to take the kids (or a significant other) and see this latest exhibit and to watch a movie in the IMAX dome theatre.

The Hold Steady, the self-described bar band from Minneapolis, (note the Twins sticker on lead singer and lyricist Craig Finn’s guitar) has long used Ybor City as a recurring motif in its songs. I read once that the band has no special tie to Tampa’s party district. Finn just thinks it sounds cool in songs. Which, if you think about it, makes as good a reason as any for a recurring motif. [Literary term question: Are motifs, by definition recurring? Is the phrase recurring motif redundant? Just curious.]

So when Finn, guitarist Tad Kubler (the guy without the glasses above), and the rest of the five-man band rolled into Ybor’s Ritz Thursday night, it made for a sort of post modernly-local-boys-made-good vibe. Finn talked about the “special” feeling the band has for Ybor. They played a ton of Ybor-referencing songs – more than I thought they had – and closed the regular show with “Slapped Actress” and the encore with “Killer Parties”, both anthemic highlights replete with Ybor City talk.

It was free show, sponsored by Jim Beam, rescheduled from the original show set for Jannus Landing. And that made for an exceedingly weird online ticketing scheme, in which the Ritz and promoters announced the concert as sold out when it clearly wasn’t. This is apropos of nothing, I suppose, but processes interest me, and I don’t quite understand the economic or organizational model behind all of this.

But I digress.

The night began ominously, demonstrating, I fear, just how old I am. (37, in case you care.) The opening act, a two-guy power duo called Greymarket, was playing when my friend John and I walked in. At least I think they were. I’m still trying to decide if it was music, or some government test of an experimental new sonic crowd control weapon.

Look, I like loud music. My wife is always yelling at me to turn it down, and I am slowly demolishing my hearing with maxed out head phones. But I have to tell you, I have stood next to afterburning F-15s quieter than Greymarket. I thought for a second Busch Gardens was filming a remake of the Death Jockey Howl-o-Scream ad campaign. The speakers exploded in my chest and blew my nose hair back and forth. Greymarket literally chased John and me out of the music pit and reduced us to the indignity of asking the men’s room attendant to score us some of the earplugs the Ritz was giving out to women. Best $2 I ever spent in a bathroom. Believe it.

It was a shame, really, because somewhere within the force field of murderous sound, you could hear the hint of something quite good in what Greymarket played. But trying to describe Greymarket’s music would be like trying to describe a caveman buried under a 100 feet of ice. When their set finally ended, I asked one of the young bartenders, “Was that really loud, or am I just really old?” She smiled at me diplomatically and said it didn’t seem much out of the ordinary, adding quickly that she was working in a little booth so she might not have felt the full brunt. I was unconvinced and set about lowering my expectations of the Hold Steady show and working on my excuses for standing out in the hallway.

And therein lies my segue. Expectations. The key element to enjoying any concert. As it turns out, the Hold Steady came out playing with great intelligibility. Loud, but not actively painful. About the third or fourth song, “Sequestered in Memphis,” I think it was, I yanked out my silly earplugs, reproached myself for my lameness, and started moving toward the stage with the white man’s overbite in full effect.

This was my first Hold Steady show. I’ve known about the group since last year when they started touring with my favorite band, the Drive-By Truckers. While they can’t yet match the Truckers’ sprawling canvass of musical style and visceral lyrical insight and emotion, they write catchy, vibrant songs that are easy to love quickly. And Finn’s intricate lyrics, which he half-sings, half-speaks, dance all over the place almost in their own language – call it Singlish – like a really talented rapper’s. The Hold Steady’s songs have more great one-liners than just about any band I know.

Here’s the refrain to one of their best, “Stuck Between Stations:”

She was a really cool kisser, but she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian
She was a damn good dancer, but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend
He likes the warm feeling, but he’s tired of all the dehydration
Most nights are crystal clear, but tonight it’s like stuck between stations – on the radio

I don’t have much of clue what the hell all that means, but it sounds great, and the music underneath is infectious. “Stuck Between Stations” absolutely rocked at Thursday night’s show. Probably the highlight for me, along with “Slapped Actress” and “Your Little Hoodrat Friend.”

The band has great charisma live. Finn, who’s bald with glasses, never stops engaging the crowd with a twitchy, dishy grin, that to me suggests a cross between a nerd and a gossip columnist. He actually mouths words off microphone between lines, as if to say, “Can you believe this shit I’m singing about?”

The rest of the guys sort of play straight men, but they play hard. And the piano/organ player Thursday night rocked a porn stache and a golfer’s fedora to great effect.

Many of songs center on the trials of a coterie of “hoodrat” teens from Minneapolis. In fact, like locations, characters with names like Charlemagne and Hallelujah (Holly for short) recur throughout different songs and albums. The character driven tales, often told non-linearly, teem with sex, drugs, and religion. In a less fun and talented band, this might get tiresome and pretentious. But Finn is a genuine poet, with a tremendous sense of irony and an empathetic loyalty to the characters he creates. He clearly loves them. Thus his word play never seems to get stale, while also generating real emotion. And it’s impossible not to nod along the spare, in many ways classic, guitar-driven rock.

I have two half-complaints about the show. The first is, unfortunately, common to most concerts. The music tended to drown out the vocals, which is a shame because Finn’s such a skilled writer and stylized singer. It’s really worth hearing the band’s full package, and if you didn’t know the songs, I don’t think you could get it from the show. But that’s hardly unique to the Hold Steady and the Ritz.

You can get it from these two great recorded concerts on the NPR website.

Speaking of knowing songs, any concertgoer’s experience lies at the mercy of the set list. And while The Hold Steady played every song with real conviction and intensity – no mailing it in here – the set list they chose Thursday wasn’t the one I would have chosen. Again, not really a complaint. They played about 25 songs, which makes for a a pretty dense show. But they played a number of songs I like, but don’t love, while leaving off quite a few I love, notably: “You Can Make Him Like You,” “How a Resurrection Really Feels,” “Banging Camp”, “Chips Ahoy”, “Chill Out Tent”, and “Lord, I’m Discouraged.” Maybe next time, because I would definitely go back.

And in keeping with the Ybor theme, they played a number of older songs with Ybor references that I didn’t know – four or five, I would say. Each one of them sounded good enough to make me want to buy it. And I probably will go back and scour their older recordings on iTunes for songs I’ve missed.

So if you think about it, from The Hold Steady’s point-of-view, based on what’s best for their career, they had an awfully successful concert if I’m any indication. I left wanting more after 25 songs. I will likely own a few more of their songs by the end of the day, and I’ve done what I can to share them with any of you intrepid enough to read. Maybe complete satisfaction is overrated.

This would be Tampa’s Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), the largest science center in the southeastern United States, including Florida’s only IMAX® Dome Theatre.

This video features the High Wire Bicycle at MOSI. It is the longest high wire bike in a U.S. museum. You should try it. Don’t worry the bike is counterweighted so you won’t fall off.

(On iphone? watch here)

[Note - I am part of the MOSI Virtual Ambassador Volunteer Program, see what we are doing while at MOSI on twitter #vapmosi.]