Category: Tampa Bay

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

Scenes from last night’s gig

I arrived a little early for last night’s gig with Tom Hood and the Tropical Sons. We were the house band for open mic night at Bayou Bistro in Tarpon Springs, which gave me the chance to get some work (writing an article about developing apps for Android phones) in this setting:

It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, which made me the youngest person in the bar, not counting the staff. Florida can be youth-affirming in that way.

In just over a week, it’ll have been a year since I met Tom, who was one of the organizers at the 2021 Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway, which I attended as part of my birthday celebration that year as a “birthday stretch”. I had a great time, and while I did learn a little ukulele (despite being historically terrible with stringed instruments), I was a big hit with the accordion and ended up playing it most of my time there.

Since then, I’ve had regular invitations to play accordion at various ukulele events, including gigs with the Tropical Sons. It’s mostly classic rock and some blues, which nobody expects to hear coming from an accordion, but the band likes how I round out the sound.

When the rest of the band arrived, I pulled out my gear — the “street” accordion, the “dress” accordion, my amplifier (a 15″ Electro-Voice powered speaker), mic and stand and set up:

I managed to get some photos between numbers, but not many. Most of these were shot with the same one-hand technique for playing accordion while drinking beer: do everything with the left-hand chord buttons, leaving the right hand free.

Gigs at sunset are fun…

…but it really helps to bring sunglasses. It also works with the band’s “tropical” theme:

The place filled up during our first set…

…and then, break time! One of the customers bought a round of beers for the band, and I thanked him on behalf of the band and musicians everywhere.

I put in an order for a mahi-mahi sandwich, chatted with some folks at the bar, and listened to some of the local musicians who stepped up to the open mic.

A sandwich, a beer, some music, and open water. Can’t argue with that!

We played until just before nine and called it a night.

This happens every Wednesday, and Tom invited me to next week’s show as part of rehearsal for our gig on the Saturday night show at this year’s Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway. I think I’ll go!

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Florida Tampa Bay

The current weather in Tampa

Look at this weather being all springy and cute like it didn’t just try to kill us last week.

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It Happened to Me Tampa Bay

Spaddy’s is open!

Spaddy’s Coffee in Seminole Heights, as seen from the parking lot on Nebraska Avenue. Tap to view at full size.

Seminole Heights’ seal, which depicts a two-headed alligatorHooray! It looks like Spaddy’s, my regular coffee place, made it through the hurricane. The only damage seems to be a lack of bread for their fantastic Cuban toast with cheese, which should be coming back later this week.

Spaddy’s Coffee in Seminole Heights, as seen from the table at the back by the old rusted VW vanagon. Tap to view at full size.
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Florida It Happened to Me Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Hurricane Ian progress report: The aftermath

It’s the day after Hurricane Ian in Tampa.

The yard’s a big green mess, and I’ll need to drive a couple of nails into the fence, but upon preliminary inspection, there doesn’t seem to be any appreciable damage.

I normally don’t schooch my car that close to the fence and alcove, but I did so for the hurricane, and I’m glad I did! A branch from one of our live oaks came down on it, but its force was blunted by the fence. It didn’t even make a scratch.

Scott, a local developer is building two houses behind ours, and I just called him to let him know that one of the palm trees on the lot keeled over in the winds. Luckily for him, it fell away from the houses.

I should get some work done, and I’ve got a hot date with a rake and broom later on this afternoon.

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Florida It Happened to Me Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Hurricane Ian progress report: Hangin’ in there

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The wind continues to blow, and the rain keeps coming down, but we still have power and there’s no apparent damage to the house.

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Florida It Happened to Me Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Hurricane Ian progress report: The view from here

With Kevlar sheets covering our windows, our view outside is mediated through our video doorbells and side camera. It’s raining hard right now in Seminole Heights, and it’ll likely rain harder as the day goes on.

Here’s what weather radar looks like as I write this:

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Here’s the view from our front doorbell:

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Here’s the view from our porch doorbell:

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And here’s the view from our side camera:

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We’re on a slight incline leading down to the Hillsborough River, so the water in heavy storms tends to roll right past the house. Here’s hoping that it follows tradition this time.

Here’s a photo taken by someone in our neighborhood and posted to one of the (many) Seminole Heights Facebook groups:

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Florida funny Tampa Bay The Current Situation

Hurricane Ian follies, part 4: We’re still a long way from the “improvise your own toilet” stage

Here’s an amusing discussion on Facebook about makeshift toilets that you can improvise if Hurricane Ian disrupts the water system:

Screen capture of an amusing Facebook discussion about ideas for makeshift toilets.
Tap to view the makeshift toilet discussion at full size.

Here’s a close-up of that “pool noodle on a 5-gallon bucket” toilet. It’s impressive and a little disturbing at the same time:

Here’s another suggestion to use a paint bucket that paints a slightly darker picture:

I don’t know about you, but I’ve filled our giant wheeled trash and recycling bins with water (and a little bleach) that we can use to flush our toilets. If that fails, I’m going to make like the neighborhood cats and just poop in the yard.