OLD TAMPA BOOK STORE KEEPS ON KEEPING ON WITH NEW BLOOD AND OLD FASHIONED LITERARY PIZZAZ

Ye Olde  Book  Company

Msmorganpowellmsmorganpowell@aol.com

Ye New  Olde  Book  Company    

It  may  sound  silly, but just walking into the Old Tampa Book Store can  make  your heart beat faster, look around, at the 40,000 or so books lining every surface, and you can only say, whoa...so many  books...so little time.                                                                                                                 

This little store -once a tailor shop- was brought into being some twenty years ago when previous owner David Brown and his wife Ellen Brown relocated to Tampa from Rochester, New York bring all of their belongings, including David's 3,000 books about sports cars.                                                  

The couple parlayed that -by later standards- meager collection, and used personal collections and book fair purchases over the years  to establish this, we hate to say 'relic' so settle for gem of a store which  to this day stands as a sanctuary for book lovers of every genre one can imagine and that includes everything from comics to tomes on how to flyfish, and the great stories of the real Pirates of the Caribbean.                                                                                                                                             

A year ago, when David and Ellen decided to move back North, they left the store in the very capable hands of their long time assistant Carrie Carnes who has added some spice to the Olde store.                 

The Old Tampa Book  Company now has  a musical night, an open mike comedy night, artists renderings of different writing genres and a crowd of visitors and customers, who, according to Carrie's able assistant includes every age, demographic and social group both in Tampa and visitors to the city.                                                                                                                                                

And the new Book of the Month club which they just started reflects the same variety of readers and book lovers, according to Brian Winter, Carrie's assistant who shakes his head in wonder when he reveals to a visitor that, in addition to the 40,000 books on the shelves inside the store, at least 60,000 more are in storage in space at a nearby CVS store.                                                                                   

Whew.  That's a lot of page turning for even the most devout book lover.                                                

And that is a mighty challenge the Old Tampa Book Company -and every independant book store in the country faces, whether or not avid readers will sooner or later succumb to the siren call of the Amazon Kindle.                                                                                                                                              

You know, that battery operated thingy that you use to download a book so that you can turn it on and settle back for a few hours for a nice read.                                                                                                  

Nah.  We prefer, the real and tactile experience of turning the page...and the older the page the better...for a worthy evening, or lazy afternoon read, or just falling asleep to an open page.                   

Just try that with that battery operated Kindle thingy.                                                                                  

The Old Tampa Book Company is located at 507 N. Tampa Street, hours are Monday-Friday 10 to 6, Saturdays, 10 to 5, and Sundays 11 to 4.  Phone is 813 -209-2151, and they take orders on the phon and at their website, www.oldtampabookclub.com  for just about every collectible, rare, and  out of print book you can think of.                                                                                                                                          

Once a month, the store has a 50% off a secion of the store's inventory, and every day you can selecta hardcover book for one buck, or a paperback for fifty cents from the book cases just outside the front door.                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                

 The  book club will meet every first Wednesday of the month, and this month's selection will be "On Chesil Beach," by Ian McEwan and published by Jonathan Cape, a division of Random house.

Or just go on in there and browse through the treasures inside this wonderful store, and make your heart beat faster.                                                                                                                                           

THE SUPER BLOOD MOON. BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS. HOPEFULLY BEGINNINGS OF GOOD...ENDING OF BEARS LOSING STREAK

Shine on, Shine on, Shine on Harvest Moon, and bless the
Cubbies....your ardent Chicago  Ex Pat  Sports  Fan
Msmorganpowellmsmorganpowell@aol.com

TAMPA WILL EXPERIENCE UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH SPURT TO MATCH OUR GROWING REPUTATION AS A WORLD CLASS PLAYER

The August issue of Money Magazine Named Tampa as the best city to live in the Southeastern United States.

The criteria the magazine used in their search of 63 cities with populations in excess of 300,000 were international aspirations, future job growth, affordable home prices, availability of jobs, access to health care, culture, and open spaces.

Tampa, population of 352,000, and according to the magazine,  a median home price of $121,000, average property tax of $1,800, unemployment running at 5.6 percent, plus the presence of three major league sports teams, two recent international film festivals -ok one of them was Bollywood, but what the heck - hosting the  nearly flawless Republican National Convention in 2012, and open spaces and culture galore  plus we are on the water.

We don't have beaches, but we are on the water - Tampa Bay -And if the city doesn't fix the drainage problem around here pretty fast, we might be under water for the entire rainy season next year.

We really don't count the annual Gasparilla  Pirate Festival as a plus -at least not in this column - because it has not yet been determined in any meaningful way that the annual  three-day drunken brawl does anything significant for the city except to bring millions of dollars in beer and rum and net stocking revenue which is about what it costs to repair the damage.

And we have building projects in the works, boy do we have building projects in the works.

Projects which will house all of those 12,000 millennial college grads  whom Mayor Bob Buckhorn wants to lure to the city -the downtown population, according to the Downtown Tampa Partnership, is already 32 percent ages 25-34, and 18 percent ages 55-64 - and Mayor Buckhorn wants them to all move straight to the core urban area  and live in all of those eight or nine new highrises and low rises listed as 'mixed-use' properties, i.e., apartments and businesses when they arent in their high powered jobs at one of the many 500 fortune companies the city is also trying to lure to Tampa so that all of those millennials will be able to make big bucks to pay for those apartments.

Well, as much as we hate to throw a widget into all of this positive thinking about Tampa being the new Belle of the Ball in the Southeastern United States, we need to ask a couple of questions, and to point out some tiny flaws, before we go all wild and start some goofy chant about' Hey, Hey, Tampa is here to stay!'

First question.  Where are the other 50 percent of people in the downtown Tampa partnership head count?  Or did they leave with the Gasparilla Pirates and the Ye Mystic Crewe who thunk them up?

Also what are all those people going to do in downtown Tampa when they get here?

That is if they have any money left over after paying more than half their salary for rent in those fabulous new buildings going up in the next few years, during which time, Harvard University's Center on Housing Studies says is exactly what is going to happen,  To the Millennials and everybody else.

Those new 'mixed use'  buildings are not going to be cheap.  For instance, one of the projects, which was recently ixnayed by the neighbors was planning to require a minimum $100,000 annual salary to even get in the door, and if you think that anybody could live in those new high and low rises on half of a salary even a that of a  very smart newly minted college grad who Mayor Buckhorn is so desperately trying to draw to downtown Tampa, re-do the math.

Then there's the downtown area itself.   There's nothing to do in the downtown area after, oh, say 8  p.m. The downtown  closes down after the last commuter has left on Kennedy Boulevard to go North or South or wherever hardworking people go, and then those few lucky affluent people who live in either the Element or the Sky Point have the entire area to themselves to walk their designer clothed dogs.

Mayor Buckhorn and his city planners need to re-tool some of their building plans to include downtown Tampa, before all of those thousands of people turn up here and realize they cannot afford an apartment and that in all of downtown Tampa after 8 p.m.  there is no place to buy socks or underwear, a tie a bandaid, or some fresh basil.

The only place in downtown Tampa doing business at night is the Hub, the famous saloon which has been there for decades, but you if you are living in a downtown building and holding a job in a 500 Fortune company nearby, you probably should avoid that place for happy hour until the weekends, The bartender who has been there for decades pours the stiffest drink in the city.

Not good for early morning 500 Fortune company career moves.









Msmorganpowellmsmorganpowell@aol.com

I hate Mondays.

TAMPA AND ST. PETE 'BRANDING CAMPAIGNS' REVEAL REGIONAL IDENTITY CRISIS

Msmorganpowellmsmorganpowell@aol.com


Two years ago the city of Tampa launched "Unlock Tampa,"  a project designed as an' economic development mission' by the tourism bureau here  (Visit Tampa Bay )to attract visitors to this city who were interested in a vacation, a getaway, preferably with the family in order to enjoy the best that Tampa has to offer to the stressed out, the snow-bound, the harsh weather fed-up who are looking for a little time to  un-stress, hang out in flip-flops and  t-shirts, have some fun in the sun and surf and probably a few margaritas after the kids are down for the night.

Now comes St. Pete, whose wise leaders have launched their own' economic development mission' to attract jobs and businesses to their city.  A mission which in essence is attempting to sell St. Pete as the place in this part of Florida to start up your new business, or move your corporate offices, or open branch offices which would employ many people in jobs other than hospitality gigs.

And the St. Pete  tourism mavens , or rather their adversising agency, Clear Labs, has given this mission a name: 'You Are My Sunshine'- You meaning St. Pete - and the hashtag #SunshineStPete, plus a contest to write the lyrics to  a song about your city.

Oh, For Pete's sake.

Clearly, there is an identity crisis in the understanding of these two cities of their real missions, and we need to clarify those respective missions for the sister cities perched on either side of Tampa Bay.

We're not going to include the city of Clearwater in this scolding, because they have their hands full with the Scientology crowd.

St. Pete, you over there, you have Beaches.  That's right, beaches.  Beautiful beaches, you have the Grand Prix, a really hot music scene, beach drive with all the fancy schmancy cafes, a rockin' downtown area with great bars and art galleries and the new six million dollar Hofbrauhaus, which is all the things that people who are snowbound, stressed out and fed up with harsh weather are looking for when they are in vacation or honeymoon mode.

In a clam shell...you have margaritaville.

  And attempting to bring business men and women here for a look-see at the possibilities of  relocating here and doing serious business in paradise...well, just imagine a northern, stressed out, snowbound, fed up with harsh weather business man  in your office, listening to you yap away about bushiness incentives, ratios, tax breaks, yadda yadda yadda, and all he can think about is the beaches laid out in the picture window that his gaze is fixated on right behind your head.

Tampa, you have no beaches.  You have rocks  -hence Rocky Point - and rush hours, and  downtown during the week, masses of stressed out business men and women  running around in business suits and shoes and women in fancy dresses, suits and five-inch high heels in a  downtown clearly made for business people to go about  doing corporate business and which shuts down after six p.m. when the last commuter escapes to the outlands for a little rest and maybe a little fun at the local sports or Irish bar.

Tampa is a growing and spirited center of commerce, a real comer in the hot Southeast Corridor Business Sector and the mavens here are doing everything they can to attract people who have advanced degrees in business and technology and know how to use them,  and is  not equipped to entertain whole families - or newly wed -stressed out, snowed in Northerners looking to unwind and run around in flip-flops and t-shirts  and have a few margaritas after the kids are down for the night having enjoyed a perfect day at the beach.

  A beach with sand, not rocks.

And Tampa has three professional sports teams - yeah, that's right, it's the Tampa Bay Rays. And, well, depending upon if you like about 150,000 drunks scantily clad in pirate gear once a year during the Gasparilla festival running around the downtown area -  Just the kind of thing to attract the corporate set, not a family who could care less about sports  or drunken pirates scaring the children during what is supposed to be a honeymoon or  a laid back vacation.

And we have not seen too many tourist people clamoring to get into the Tampa Museum of Art, or begging a tour guide for please just one more look at the fabulous Plant Museum, or seeking some of those yum gourmet breakfasts and mingle with the city leaders and politicians and poo bahs over at the Oxford Exchange.

We hope these two cities have not so far spent a lot of  money on the two ad agencies ((Clear Labs in St. Pete and Sharp in Tampa) who are engineering these economic development missions, because , for instance, we really have not noticed a whole lot of people kayaking on the Hillsborough River -something the Tampa mission brochure offers up to vacationers  as 'water sports'-

Best thing for these two identity challenged cities to do really, is to assume/resume the role they have so artfully and successfully carved out for themselves.

St. Pete gets to be Margaritaville.  Tampa gets to be Washington D.C with palm trees.

Can the economic development mission stuff and trying to be who you are not, and embrace who you are.  It's a zen thing.

There, that's settled.

IN THE AIR TONIGHT

It's nine or so at night, you're walking your puppy, Noodles through Curtis Hixon - or just about any - park in downtown Tampa, and there it is.

In the air tonight, and every night in Tampa.

That sickening sweet and acrid aroma of the devil's brew, the concoction the' fashionable' druggie people sell and buy in increasing amounts in an effort to jazz up what can only be a demented mind especially if they've been using, i.e. snorting, smoking etc. for any length of time.

Which would not be too long as the average life expectancy of any spice or bath salt user is increasingly narrowing just as the ingestion grows and grows.

Call it the inverted math principle of abusing your mind and body so badly that eventually something's got to give, and it's usually sooner than later.

Ok, people use and abuse many other psychotropic substances, weed, cocaine, crack, meth, alcohol, hell even caffeine and nicotine if you want to get right down to it.

However, we are talking here about a drug which is cheaper than all of the above, probably easier to acquire, and in the short and long run, is most likely to wreak havoc in your body and mind.

It's easier to acquire because every 'jit' ( check Webster's under 'juvenile in training') are all over town selling the stuff.

The demand is bigger than ever, and growing.

The profits from the sale of spice are bigger than ever and growing.

You know that guy who is dishing out your food in the hospital cafeteria?  Well, just minutes ago on his break, he was out in the park having one of his many spice tokes of the day.

The bird-brain on the bike who just nearly nailed you to the sidewalk is smoking it as he rolls.

The cab driver who can't quite remember if he's taking you to the airport or the laundromat, well, his cab is reeking with the smell of the stuff and you probably just got a contact high just by clinbing into his vehicle.

That nut-case over in West Tampa who just tore apart the interior of a van with his bare hands, and who had to be restrained by five TPD uniforms and two passers-by, was smoking it all day and mixing it with alcohol.

Ohl and let us not forget the skate-boarders, the woman with the kid in the stroller, the banker who sneaks down to the park for his daily ration, or those three people on the park bench leaning back and looking like they've just been punched in the head.  . Like it or not, they are all part of the 'fashionable' spice using crowd.

Look around you, it's all over this city, and the merchants of death who sell the stuff are getting away with it.

They're getting away with it because people will not speak up.

Let's go back to you and walking your dog on a nice, balmy night, and enjoying the beautiful sights of outdoor downtown Tampa while Noodles is doing his business.

Take note of your surroundings, most likely the smoker and his dealer will be nearby.

They really can't get too far on foot for a little while after that first puff.

Here's some advice, if you value your family and yourself, and anybody you love who might get into the way of one of these people high on spice.....call the cops.

And keep calling them whenever and wherever you see this increasingly unholy business going on around in the air...whether or not it's day or night.

The life you could be saving could be your own, or your kid...or even Noodles.








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