Regarding Tampa

For our special Halloween episode, we met up with Jill Witecki, the marketing director for the Tampa Theatre. Operating nearly continuously since 1926, the Tampa Theatre is not only a beloved local landmark, but is also listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Amongst other things we talked to Jill about the Theatre's Nightmare on Franklin St. film series, local Tampa horror and the history of the Theatre and all of the work that goes into running it.

On this week's episode of Regarding Tampa we caught back up with Jesse Vance, the founder of St. Pete's own Venture Compound. In the ten months since we last interviewed him for the show the Compound has become a certified nonprofit, he has restarted his own Pangea Records label and he is currently organizing this year's St. Pete Noise Fest which takes place at the end of the month.

Our guests on this week's episode of Regarding Tampa are Phil Benito and Sean O'Brien, the founders of local concert promotion company Brokenmold Entertainment. Since starting Brokenmold in 2007, they have promoted hundreds of shows and events in the Bay Area including the Antiwarpt Festival, Lebowski Fest and the Plan B Block Party, which began last year and continues this Saturday at various venues in Ybor City. In our convesration at New World Brewery we talked to Phil and Sean about what all goes into promoting a show, how they got started, and about this year’s Plan B Block Party.

Our guests on this week's episode are the founders of History Bike Tampa, Eric and Katie Turner. History Bike Tampa, which started last year, offers free (with suggested donation) bike tours covering varying aspects of Tampa's history and culture the first Saturday of every month. We talked to Eric and Katie about how they came to start History Bike Tampa, the preparation and research that goes into each tour that they run and about their interest in Tampa's history.

Our guest on this week's episode of Regarding Tampa is Laura Burnes, who is the founder of The Burger Online, a St. Pete-based website that covers arts and music in the Bay Area. Since its founding last December the site has become known for its monthly Artist Spotlight feature, which profiles local musicians including Zulu Wave, Sonic Graffiti and Kristopher James and has recently launched We Built This City, new monthly column to highlight the people who contribute to and help build the Bay community. We talked to Laura about making it in independent media, how the internet has affected the journalism world and just about what's currently going on in the Tampa Bay area.

On this week's episode of Regarding Tampa our guest is local artist Brandon Geurts. Brandon's unique art has drawn attention in Tampa and Orlando's metal scenes over the past couple of years and he has done pieces for well known artists including Black Sabbath, High on Fire and Marissa Nadler. In our conversation with Brandon we talked about his art and inspirations, the DIY art culture in Tampa and Orlando and the ways the internet has affected artistic exposure.

On our first episode back after a short hiatus our guests are Ariel Cortes and Michael Barrow from local Tampa indie rock band Zulu Wave. The band, which has been around since 2011, has played several high profile shows both in and out of the Bay Area including this year's Gasparilla Music Festival, WMNF's Tropical Heatwave and New York's CBGB and CMJ Festivals. In our conversation with Michael and Ariel we talked about how they got together, touring and where they can go in Tampa's music scene. We also get an exclusive listen to the song 'Mesh Head' from their upcoming album Jagorilla, which is set to be released on September 30.

Our guests on this week's episode of Regarding Tampa are local independent wrestlers David Mercury and Eddie Taurus, who wrestle for local promotion American Championship Wrestling (ACW). We had a fun sit down with David and Eddie and talked about how they've been wrestling together for 14 years the wrestling scene in Tampa, working with legends in the ring, and how the Internet has changed the business.

Our guest on this week's episode of Regarding Tampa is Major Scott Macksam, a retired Army officer of 20 years who is an organizer for the American Soldier exhibit currently showing at the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Scott is also involved in programs helping veterans in the Tampa Bay area with health issues and finding employment and aims to start an art gallery that will showcase art created by veterans.

On this week's episode of Regarding Tampa our guest is Tampa-based artist Natalie Kuehn. Kuehn, who recently painted the artwork for the poster of this year's Gasparilla Music Festival, is a member of the Ybor Art Colony and has had her work shown at several exhibitions in the city over the past couple of years. We sat down with Natalie to talk about her history as an artist, the Ybor Art Colony and the art scene in Tampa and some of her recent projects.