Regarding Tampa

We're back! On this new episode of Regarding Tampa, we catch up with friend of the show and previous guest, Gat$. We talk how the internet has affected music, his new project, and his upcoming hiatus. You can catch his last show at the Orpheum on February 9th, where he'll be opening for Isaiah Rashad.

Our guest on this episode of Regarding Tampa is the legendary Florida director and ‘godfather of grindhouse,’ William Grefé. Known for films such as Sting of Death, The Death Curse of Tartu, Stanley, and Mako, The Jaws of Death, Grefé has been writing and directing movies in and around the state for over 50 years. He’ll be in town this Saturday for a 40th anniversary screening of his film Impulse, which stars William Shatner and was shot entirely in Tampa. In our conversation with William, we talked about that film and how both filmmaking and Florida itself has changed since he made his first movie, 1963’s The Checkered Flag.

This episode is part two of our feature on the COSAC homeless shelter in Haines City, FL. In this episode we talked to Sean Canoni, the founder of the foundation and also a resident of the shelter who made the move from Hollywood to Polk County.

This episode of Regarding Tampa is a little bit different than our usual episodes. We had the chance to live at the COSAC Foundation's Stay Plus Inn, a motel and shelter for the homeless. After being an institution in Hollywood, FL for over ten years, the city paid them 10 million dollars... just to leave. So they packed up over 150 residents and moved to a motel in Haines City. These are the stories of the people who call this place home and the ones who keep it running.

We're back! For our first episode of this season, we sat down with Sean O'Brien, cofounder of Brokenmold Entertainment (who we previously interviewed last year) and Tom DeGeorge, the cofounder of Crowbar. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talked to them about Brokenmold and Crowbar's new Reel Deal Thursday movie series, this year's Plan B Block Party, and the shifting views and perceptions of Ybor City and the Tampa music scene.

For our first episode of 2015 we caught up with our guest from the very first episode of Regarding Tampa, local musician Jeremy Gloff. Jeremy, who turns 40 today, just released his 19th album, a greatest hits record of songs he's written since moving to Florida in 1998 called Hurricane Lullabies. We talked to Jeremy about why he decided to release a greatest hits album, the release/birthday show he's playing at New World Brewery and about what he's been up to since we last talked to him a year and a half ago.

On this episode of the show our guest is local up-and-coming rapper, Gatsby. He's been garnering attention online and in the press for his newest mixtape, Starship Jericho, which, as you might be able to tell from the title, is about life in Tampa, space and former WWE champion (and Tampa resident) Chris Jericho. We talked with Gatsby about the mixtape, the local hip hop scene and how he got his start.

Our guests on this week's episode are Chris, Susan and James from the local St. Pete punk rock band Permanent Makeup. The band, which released an album last year and a 7" this year, just got back from a tour of the midwest and are currently working on recording their new album, which should be out next year. We talked with them about touring, the local scene and about, well, music in general.

Our guest on this week's episode is Jonathan Berlin from the Jacksonville-based psych pop band Sunbears! Although they're not from Tampa, the city has almost become the band's second home as they've just released their second full-length album, Future Sounds, on the local New Granada label and play shows here multiple times every year. 

 

We met up with Jonathan before the band's album release show at New World Brewery and talked about Future Sounds, cutting their own records with a record lathe and how they came to become so connected to the Tampa scene.

On this episode of Regarding Tampa we talk to local horror movie director Andy Lalino about the obscure Tampa-based 70's exploitation horror movie Satan's Children. Shot in the Tampa/Lutz area in 1973 by a cast and crew of WTVT 13 employees and USF theatre majors, the film never received much of a widespread release but has amassed a cult following. In our conversation with Andy we talked about the upcoming 40th anniversary screening of the film at the Tampa Theatre, how he tracked down members of the film's cast and crew, and horror movies in general.