Culture

At Chief’s Creole Café, Head Chef Lorenza Jackson is training the next generation of great cooks, something he learned by growing up near historic 22nd Street S. in Midtown, St. Petersburg. A neighborhood also known as “the Deuces.”

As part of our ongoing Art Populi series on live, local music in the Tampa Bay Area, we're taking a look at a new group that's trying to expand the way people think of classical music. Called Terroir New Music, the group pairs live performances with craft beer. Their first concert is Thursday, May 4 at the bar c. 1949 in Tampa.

This Saturday, New College is wrapping up a yearlong series of events around the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. 

New College professor Sonia Labrador-Rodriguez organized the Cubano-American Community Project, which looks at the deep roots Cuban-Americans have in this part of Florida.

California Artist John Raymond Mireles  is traveling the country photographing people for his “Neighbors” project. He recently stopped by Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood on his way to Miami. Mireles told WUSF’s Lisa Peakes that when he chooses subjects, he looks for people who represent the spirit of a community:

The 18th Annual Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival is Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2 at the Regal Hollywood in Sarasota. It features movies by and about women and benefits the U.S. National Committee for UN (United Nations) Women.

WUSF's Lisa Peakes talks with festival's Artistic Director Ann Fries about some of the films and the festival's impact:

https://www.throughwomenseyes.com/

Strolling through the halls of the University of South Florida School of Music you can hear students in various practice rooms. But inside Director of Jazz Studies Jack Wilkins' office, teachers are rehearsing too.

MLB spring training is well underway, and there's a lot of talk about multimillion dollar renovations at Tampa Bay area stadiums. They're supported in part by local tax dollars.

The Detroit Tigers have unveiled a revamped facility in Lakeland. The New York Yankees have done the same in Tampa, and Dunedin is planning upgrades for the Toronto Blue Jays. Sarasota County is opting to start from ground zero, potentially investing in a new $75 million facility for the Atlanta Braves.

The medieval era often comes alive through books or movies, but once a year, the time of the renaissance becomes tangible in Tampa.

Saint Patrick's Day is coming up Friday, March 17.  And the Irish band The Chieftains is getting the party started this Wednesday night at the Lakeland Center.

The Chieftains are celebrating 55 years together. Founding member Paddy Moloney says the music means everything to him.

"You know, it's just like eating food and having a good drink. You know,  I must play music as well to keep my whole senses going. You know, it's an essential part," he said.

The country's top three music festivals grossed about $130 million dollars last year. But several other well-known multi-day music events managed to lose money and some were outright canceled.

But the same can't be said for two relative newcomers to the festival scene, and both are in Tampa Bay.

It was early Friday morning when someone set fire to a mosque in New Tampa. An investigation is underway. People from the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, want the incident to be investigated as a hate crime. 

But, the faith community is looking beyond what has happened. 

He's an artist, a pigeon fancier and a tattoo artist. Brooklyn-based Duke Riley has found a muse in the lowly pigeon. It's a bird often derided as a sort of "rat with wings" or something dirty. But Riley says nothing could be further from the truth. 

There is a violin shop in Tel Aviv, whose owner has spent the past two decades repairing violins that belonged to Jewish musicians during the holocaust.

These "Violins of Hope," he says, give a voice to the voiceless.

After 10 years and 10 plays, an epic production in St. Petersburg will soon take its final bow.  

With its current production of “Joe Turner's Come and Gone" by August Wilson, American Stage is now one of just 12 theaters in the world to complete the late playwright's "American Century Cycle."