Regarding Tampa

Our guest on this week's episode of Regarding Tampa is local musician J.T. Brown. J.T. has long been involved in the Tampa music scene through his former band The Groves and is currently in the process of starting a solo career. Amongst other things, we talked with J.T. about the effect of the Internet on independant music, Tampa's changing musical landscape, and his forthcoming solo album "Phantom Heart".

This week's guest on Regarding Tampa is Brooklyn-born Tampa photographer and director Blake Cortes. Since moving to Tampa in the mid-2000's, Blake has directed music videos for local musicians including Geri X and Sons of Hippies and has also directed several short films in an around the area. In our conversation with Blake we talked about his past and current projects, working with local artists, and trying to make it as a director.

This week on Regarding Tampa our guest is Jeremy Gomez, who is the founder of Generation Food Truck and the owner of Not Your Ordinary Food Truck. In our conversation, we discuss Jeremy's roots in music and how he first got into the food truck business, his thoughts on the current state of food truck culture in Tampa, and where he thinks food trucks are going in the future.

Our guests this week on Regarding Tampa are local rappers and producers Mister Incog and FlyGuy Rufio. We talked to them about opening for French Montana and performing at venues around the city, their influences, and the current state of the Tampa hip hop scene.

This week's guest on Regarding Tampa is Channel 10 News anchor/reporter Charles Billi. We sat down with Charles for a discussion about his thoughts on the future of Tampa, his Florida roots and his many interesting stories from being a television reporter.

Our guest this week is Trevor Morris, a local drag queen who, as Isis Renatus, has been performing at various venues in and around the Tampa Bay area since 2011. In our conversation, we discussed how he first got into drag, the differences between 'traditional' and his more androgynous/alternative version of drag, and the changing and mainstreaming of drag culture in general and in Tampa.

Our guest this week is Travis Hearne, a veteran of the Tampa music scene who has been in multiple bands over the past decade and who has worked as an engineer in several recording studios in the area. We sat down with Travis to talk about recording with Japanese supergroup Muddy Ape, the evolution of the local music scene, and his previous band, Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander.

Our guest this week is Paul McColgan, who is a co-founder of Tampa-based Hat Trick Theatre Productions. Hat Trick has been putting on productions in Tampa and Hudson since 2004 and currently has a residency at the Shimberg Playhouse at the Straz Center. We talked with Paul about the developing theatre scene in Tampa, the history of Hat Trick and its current play, "William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead".

In this episode of Regarding Tampa we sit down with Max Petrosky, a local electronic musician and film buff, who, through his replicas of famous (and obscure) movie props has brought science fiction to reality. We also discuss his music and the growing influence and mainstreaming of "nerd culture" in the Tampa scene.

Hardcore punk. Hairdressing. The two don't exactly go hand-in-hand, but Sal Cashman is a Tampa-based drummer and hairdresser who grew up in both scenes. In this episode we sit down with him and discuss the social aspects of both and how they relate, the changing face of Ybor City and his business, the Bobbypin Hair Gallery.