Category: Tampa Bay

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music Tampa Bay

Scenes from last night’s “Tropical Sons” gig at Bayou Bistro

Joey deVilla with his gray accordion in a cowboy hat, aloha shirt, and sunglasses. The photo is taken from a lower angle and shows a mostly clear blue sky and palm trees in the background.
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Bayou Bistro logo

Last night, I joined Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons at Bayou Bistro, a little bar and restaurant located right on the bayou just east of the Greek “village” in Tarpon Springs.

Joey deVilla and accordion in the foreground, with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons behind him, playing their instruments. In the background are a dock, fishing boats, and Tarpon Bayou.
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Wednesday is “open mic night” at Bayou Bistro, where anyone can hop onstage and play for the patrons. Since there’s no guarantee that anyone will bring an instrument, most open mic nights feature a “house band,” which in Bayou Bistro’s case is the Tropical Sons.

While Bayou Bistro is a short drive away for most of the other band members, it’s a fifty- to eighty-minute drive for Yours Truly, depending on the traffic. I can’t do it every Wednesday, but I try to play when I can.

Bayou Bistro. It’s an open-air covered wooden patio with a bar in the center. Just about every seat is filled.
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Bayou Bistro is a charming down-home bar. If you drive past it, you might not even realize that it’s a bar — it’s hidden away by the water, and you could easily mistake it for a fishing shack. But it is indeed a bar, with friendly staff, and sandwiches that don’t disappoint (I’m fond of their mahi mahi, shrimp, and banh mi sandwiches).

Bayou Bistro. It’s an open-air covered wooden patio with a bar in the center. Just about every seat is filled.
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As you might expect, a band called the “Tropical Sons” has a sort of uniform, and in our case, it’s aloha shirt and shorts with optional hat. For last night’s gig, I went with my “Disney Polynesian” shirt, which is one of my favorites. It’s a gift from my friends Natalie and Eldon, who somehow found it at a market in Ottawa:

Joey deVilla in a cowboy hat and aloha short. In the background is a fishing shed and the dock behind Bayou Bistro.
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We played from about 5:15 until 8:30, with a break to get a bite in the middle. Here’s what my view looked like at the start of the gig…

The band “Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons,” as seen from Joey’s vantage point upstage. Pictured from left to right are Richie playing bass, Jay on acoustic guitar, Tom Hood on ukulele, and Dave on electric guitar. In the background are a dock, fishing boats, and Tarpon Bayou.
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…and here’s what the audience saw:

The band “Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons,” as seen from the audience. In the background is Bayou Bistro’s parking lot, palm trees, and a little bit of Tarpon Bayou.
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This is the “accordion’s eye view:”

The band “Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons,” as seen from Joey’s vantage point upstage, with Joey’s accordion in the foreground. Pictured from left to right are Richie playing bass, Jay on acoustic guitar, Tom Hood on ukulele, and Dave on electric guitar. In the background are a dock, fishing boats, and Tarpon Bayou.
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When we took our break, Mary took the stage:

Mary plays her brand new ukulele solo. In the background is the fishing shed, a boat, and Tarpon Bayou.
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She attended the gig to catch our act and collect the ukulele she won at the raffle for Tampa Bay Ukulele Day, which took place last Sunday in Dunedin.

She played a number of amusing songs, including one called Pink Flamingos, the unofficial symbol of Cheektowaga and other towns in the Buffalo area. As a long-time resident of Toronto, I got the reference.

Joey deVilla and accordion in the foreground, with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons behind him, playing their instruments. In the background are a sunset, a dock, fishing boats, and Tarpon Bayou.
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A short while after, we started our second set, also known as the “Sunset Set.”

The band “Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons,” as seen from Joey’s vantage point upstage. Pictured from left to right are Richie playing bass, Jay on acoustic guitar, Tom Hood on ukulele, and Dave on electric guitar. In the background are a sunset, a dock, fishing boats, and Tarpon Bayou.
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And we played on into the night, wrapping up around 8:30 (Bayou Bistro closes at 9).

Once again, a fun gig! I’m going to be busy for the next couple of weeks, so it may be a little while before I get a chance to play at Bayou Bistro again.

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Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music Tampa Bay

Playing in Tarpon Springs tonight!

Joey deVilla smiles with his accordion as Tom Hood plays ukulele on a dock with fishing boats as the sun sets.

I’m playing more classic rock on accordion this evening with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs!

The fun starts at 5:30 and wraps up around 8:30. If you’re in the area and like seafood, beer, and great live music, come on over! It’s an open mic night, so if you feel like playing with us, bring your instrument!

Here are some scenes from the last time I played there, a few weeks ago:

Tom Hood plays ukulele in the foreground as Joey deVilla plays accordion in the background. Behind them is a gravel parking lot with cars, a boat, and palm trees.
Tom Hood is silhouetted as the sun sets in the background as he play ukulele on a dock with fishing boats.
Two audience members sit in Adirondack chairs on a dock as Tom Hood plays ukulele.
Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods Music Tampa Bay

I’m playing this Sunday at Tampa Bay Ukulele Day in Dunedin!

Tampa Bay Ukulele Day takes place this Sunday in downtown Dunedin! It’s a day of workshops where you can hone your uke skills, a “strum and stroll” event where you can see scenic Dunedin while playing, and see local talent, including Tom Hood and the Tropical Suns, which includes Yours Truly on accordion!

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The schedule

There’s a lot going on, and it’s happening all day. I’ll be with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons at Dunedin Brewery at the start, then moving to Pioneer Park later on in the day.

WhenWhatWhere
10:00 a.m.“Plays Well With Others” workshopScottish Cultural Center
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.Ladies of UkeNature’s Food Patch
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.Anne Milanese, SpermWhale and D’Uke’LelesDunedin History Museum
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons
(and me on accordion!)
play 3 sets:
11:30, 12:30, and 1:30		Dunedin Brewery
11:30 a.m.“Finding Your Inner Chord” workshopScottish Cultural Center
12:00 noonFree beginner ukulele lesson with Norine and friendsPioneer Park
1:00 p.m.Family concert with Julie Austin and Connie MasonPioneer Park
1:00 p.m.Percussion workshopScottish Cultural Center
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Big Tiki and The Mai TaisHonu Restuarant and Tiki Bar
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Jct 27Fenway Hotel
2:00 p.m.Dunedin Ukes lead a strum and stroll through DunedinStarts at Pioneer Park
2:00 p.m.Children’s Art Music ShakerPioneer Park
2:00 p.m.Emmitt Carlisle Uke the PlanetPioneer Park
2:30 p.m.Chris Tracy — funk to punkPioneer Park
3:00 p.m.Dunedin Ukes playalong jamPioneer Park
4:00 p.m.Renee and the RollersPioneer Park
4:30 p.m.Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons
(and me on accordion!)		Pioneer Park
5:00 p.m.Jay Nunes Jam BandPioneer Park
6:00 p.m.The Flea Bitten DawgsPioneer Park
7:00 p.m.Super Uke Dance BandPioneer Park

Workshops with The Flea Bitten Dawgs!

Improve your skills with these workshops hosted by The Flea Bitten Dawgs, a band who describe themselves as “ukulele jazz Americana!” The fee is $30 per workshop, or you can attend all three for $60:

  1. Plays Well with Others (10:00 a.m.): This workshop is created to help a group of players playing the same instruments to sound exciting to an audience. The challenge is to become a group with individuals playing separate parts of a song. We’ll break into different groups, with each group learning their section of the arrangement, and we’ll then put it all together to create the song.
  2. Finding Your Inner Chord (11:30 a.m.): This workshop is about think of chords as sounds instead of a form on the neck. You’ll learn how to make your songs interesting and how to get away from the habit of just strumming through a song. If you write songs, you’ll find a better voice for your chord progressions. While this is not a class about theory, we will touch on the basics of chord construction.
  3. Percussion Workshop (1:00 p.m.): Explore how different beats give a song its character. Learn how beats move the music and engage better with the audience. We’ll start with basic rhythms and work into more complex ones. Our goal is to move away from strumming four beats to a measure and dig into the structure of the song. While this is a percussion workshop, you can use this knowledge with any instrument you play. We recommend you bring a shaker, or small hand drum, but tapping on your ukulele will work. This workshop comes with take-home lesson sheets.

Register for any or all of the workshops here.

The Flea Bitten Dawgs are:

  • David Henry Spangler on ukulele and lead vocal,
  • Thom Pallozola on lead ukulele and vocals, and
  • Lee Kram on percussion and vocals.

Their song list crosses ten decades of music. They mix originals in with the covers they love. One of Thom’s songs was recorded by Supe Granda of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and two of David’s songs were recorded by the group for the Narrow Boat Sessions, Great Britain’s premier folk music organization. PBS produced a segment of Thom’s involvement with the ukulele which featured The Flea Bitten Dawgs.

Raffles!

You can buy raffle tickets — $5 each or 5 for $20 — to win one of the following:

Accordions and beer!

And of course, I’ll be there, with a couple of accordions, playing first at Dunedin Brewery from 11:30 until about 2 or 2:30, then at Pioneer Park around 4:30. Join me!

Categories
It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

My new headshot (or: Vadim Davydov takes excellent headshots)

Joey deVilla’s new headshot, showing him in a blue suit jacket and blue shirt holding his blue accordion, as seen from a MacBook.

I volunteered to help out at Masterminds Tampa Bay’s booth at the Synapse Summit 2023 conference yesterday, where Masterminds team moderator Vadim Davydov worked his photographic magic creating professional headshots for a long line of VIPs. It was my job to help get them registered and lined up for their sessions.

The Tampa Bay Masterminds booth at Synapse Summit 2023.

Masterminds Tampa Bay is “The Other Bay Area’s” Mastermind group, a peer mentoring group aimed at entrepreneurs and techies looking for connections, support, advice, assistance, resources, and so on. Many metro areas have Mastermind groups, whose name comes from The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill, a book that’s nearly 100 years old, where he defined the Mastermind Principle as:

“The coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people who work towards a definite purpose in a spirit of harmony…

No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.”

If you’re interested in the rest of Napoleon Hill’s definition of the Mastermind Principle, it’s summarized pretty well in this article. If you want to hear it in Hill’s own voice, watch this video:

Vadim’s lighting setup is a key part of why his headshots look so good…

A Synapse Summit VIP attendee getting posed for their headshot by Vadim Davydov.

…but more important are the instructions he gives you as you pose:

  • “Follow my finger!”
  • “Close your mouth!”
  • “More sexy! Okay, too much sexy! Less sexy!”
  • “Stretch your neck! Think turtle! Turtle, turtle, turtle, turtle!”
  • “Squeeze your butt cheeks! Shake your booty!”
A Synapse Summit VIP attendee getting posed for their headshot by Vadim Davydov.

The instructions may sound nonsensical and hilarious, and he gets you into poses that you’d never do naturally, but they work. I kept telling people to just do what he says and to trust the process. And he kept cranking out gorgeous result after gorgeous result.

At 4:27 p.m. after nearly 8 hours of shooting, the last person in line had come and gone. That’s when I asked Vadim “Can you do one more — namely, me?”

He smiled and obliged. The official photo isn’t done yet, but every photo he took was displayed on a couple of screens in the booth. I took a couple of shots of these screens, and even these previews are great:

Joey deVilla’s new headshot, showing him in a blue suit jacket and blue shirt holding his blue accordion, as seen from a MacBook.
Joey deVilla’s new headshot, showing him in a blue suit jacket and blue shirt holding his blue accordion, as seen from a large display.
Joey deVilla’s new headshot, showing him in a blue suit jacket and blue shirt holding his blue accordion, as seen from a large display.

I can’t wait for the official shot! In the meantime, these are my new profile pics.

Thanks, Vadim, and thanks, Tampa Bay Masterminds for taking me on as a booth volunteer!

And once again: if you need to look great in a headshot, you want Vadim Davydov!

Categories
Florida Tampa Bay The Current Situation

An idea that we should try in Florida

Banner: “Let's turn an old school bus into a mobile library, fill it with banned books, drive to conservative areas and give them to the kids. We could call it "Banned on the Run" (their parents might get it).”

…and hey, it’s easy to buy buses here in Tampa!

Need some context? See this New Yorker article, Why Some Florida Schools are Removing Books from Their Libraries.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Earlier today…

Joey deVilla and Anitra Pavka in summery dress clothes at Curtis Hixon Park in Tampa.
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Categories
It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Dressing up as (and meeting) a triceratops

Anitra’s on the board of the Glazer Children’s Museum, and their big upcoming attraction is Big John, the world’s largest triceratops, who’s moving into his own exhibit in the museum at end of May.

Banner: “Big John the Triceratops - Glazer Children’s Museum”

Last night was the museum’s annual fundraising gala, and as people involved with the museum, we got a sneak peek at the 65 million year-old, RV-sized fella, and he was impressive.

More photos (including one with my ridiculous triceratops mask) later.