Friday Forecast: Atomic Studio Harvest

Photo of Carved into Wood ring from Nested Yellow on Etsy
[Charles] There are some benefits to not working every weekend during the Christmas season like we have for the last few years, and this weekend brings one of those to the forefront - holiday shows! Tonight we'll kick off the weekend at the West Tampa Center for the Arts over on Armenia with an open studio at Studio 313 and the Bay Area Art Collective Party. This will be your best opportunity to meet Anna from Nested Yellow and see the gorgeous jewelry she has created this season. Her jewelry is so unique and amazing that it eclipsed everything else we sold last year for Christmas. If you are looking for something special for a loved one, you really can't go wrong with her designs. I'm hoping to see in person some of her men's designs as well that I've only seen in photos so far.

Forecast: 95% chance that something will end up under our Christmas tree after this show.

To keep this weekend from turning into one long shop-a-thon, I'd like to put in a shout out here for the Seminole Heights Community Garden and their work on the first ever - Harvest for the Hungry in our neighborhood. At 9 am on Saturday, you can get down to the lot next to Sherry's Yesterdaze and join up with a roving band of fruit pickers that are going to well... pick fruit and deliver it to Metropolitan Ministries. If you have fruit that needs to be picked, we need your help too - let them know where it is and they'll come get it! Email robin@greenerpixels.com if you want to get involved. Let's make this one a success and a positive event for the neighborhood!

Forecast: 60% chance they'll be having fresh squeezed orange juice and grapefruit for breakfast at Metropolitan Ministries this week - IF we get it together! C'mon neighbors!!!

After that, we'll have to pop up tomorrow afternoon and head south to the Atomic Holiday Bazaar in Sarasota. Unfortunately interesting craft and art shows are few and far between in Florida. Sure there are plenty of country basket/manatee/dachshunds made from old metal shows, but not many fun, edgy, crochet/scrap/recycle/goth/alterna-shows. I work in Florida and don't go to the beach every weekend and sure as hell have no desire to decorate my house with shells and beachery so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited to see what unique screenprint art group Clothesline is up to this year in addition to being one of the sponsors. It'll probably have some "strange goth stuff" as my co-workers say, but it'll also definitely have some really cool and beautiful things. This is exactly where I'm happy to do my Christmas shopping and support great artists that are not just local but include people from all over the country.

Forecast: 65% chance that you'll be rubbing elbows with hipsters, youngsters, and goths alike and having a fantastic time!

Maker Monday: Reclaimed Wood Platform Bed - TSM Original Design

[Charles] I've wanted to document the construction of some of our furniture pieces for a while now and this platform bed has been a long time coming. I've been promising to build this one for way too long now and finally the confluence of time, the right sized wood, and inspiration came together a few weeks ago. Hopefully you'll get a kick out of the photos. It's a pretty simple piece but every piece teaches me something to look for the next time. I'm not kidding about the wood either - in Florida, reclaimed wood is hard to come by and often chewed up, bug ridden, too short, or just plain ugly. These wood pieces were cypress wood and they didn't look like much before sanding and oiling but after they were done - these were amazing.

This plan isn't much, but I can't say how important it is to have one. Especially if you are using reclaimed wood or even just need to plan with what you have to avoid making one more

trip to pick up materials. Take a few moments and sketch out something as well as you can.

This is the rough looking wood that I chose, basically based on the size of it and the fact that it was pretty solid. I also know how well this stuff cleans up after using it for a few things. You can also sort of see the large circular saw mill marks in these which can be country in the wrong setting but on this bed will contrast the modern simplicity nicely.

This photo shows the basic idea, as I mocked it up on its side. Basically I'll attach a plymood piece around the inside of the wood sides. This will support a plywood top for the bed. I decided to toss the box spring and just put the mattress on top. This will also have a center rib that spans across the bed which I'll make from leftover plywood pieces glued together.

If there's one thing I've learned with wood working - it's that you can't have too many clamps. It seems like I'm always using almost every stinking clamp in the place for even simple jobs. Wood glue does its job better under pressure so just suck it up and clamp away. This is when I glued the sides to the support pieces. After they were clamped, I countersunk some screws from the inside just for added strength.

Here's the beginning of the assembly in place. Because I think a good bed should be able to be broken down and moved, I made this with the idea of simple disassembly and assembly. I wanted to use hidden brackets, but I wasn't happy with what I had in the shop and just went for countersunk screws at the corners. I think it looks okay because they are really set in far, but I would like to improve this on future models. You can see the holes in the next few shots.

Since plywood comes in 4X8 sheets and beds are 5 feet wide, you get this. This is why the plan is important and I had decided to take advantage of this and actually set the wood to one side and add doors for hideaway storage. Try not to notice the stupid mess of wires behind the bed because this is an old house without a lot of plugs...

These door pieces were made much more awesome by the fact that they were from a painting that Amy did before and wasn't happy with. It had a mixture of tree and stenciled numbers in a bright green which makes for a nice surprise when you open the door. Notice how the doors both sit halfway on the rib across the bed. The larger piece of plywood is screwed down to the sides for added strength. I used simple hinges left over from some furniture I'd salvaged before on the doors and I drilled finger holes to use for pulling them open.

Here's the bed done, but unfortunately not made yet. I didn't want to hide the sides for the photo. Ignore the mattress tag - I'm still afraid to remove it. I shortened the custom floating shelves on the side also. The headboard is now a rusted steel pan that we had planned to make a table with, but it looks amazing on the back and is a great reminder of Amy's amazing talent!

After making this, I would shorten the length a little and do something different to hide the assembly better, but I love the way it looks. Our dog Baci is a fan too. It is about the height of a low bench so she can just hop right up and head to dreamland. Thanks for checking it out, and send me questions in the comments if you'd like more info...

Friday Forecast: Jukebox, Superchunk, and Jobsite

[Charles] Lots to do this weekend folks, and not just Christmas shopping and movies at the mall... This time of year brings bands from the north that are happy to escape the cold weather and soak up the warmth of Florida crowds.

The problem this weekend is that all three of these shows are on the same Saturday night. The good news is that they are all within walking distance of each other in Ybor. How about we make it a little mini fest and get some comfortable shoes for a little rock hopping?

Superchunk came out of the late 90's from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and really trail blazed their own indie label Merge and toured like crazy for years. They don't tour much now even with a new album out but they've been tapped by Skate Park of Tampa to play their anniversary show this Saturday. This show is at Czar just down the street from The Bricks and the SPOT skate shop on 7th. Forecast: 90% chance at $10 this one will sell out and this crowd won't be giving away their tickets to any "Slack Motherf-er" without a fight.

Maybe first you should head over to New World Brewery and check out some of the bands playing in support of Jobsite Theater. This is the combo wrap season party and rock out that they use to raise money for the coolest theater group in Tampa. After working hard all year for a less than supportive *ahem* city as far as theater goes, it's time to let them know that we appreciate what they do. $8 gets you some Famous Monsters of Finland, Vodkanauts, Pale Orchestra, and they have raffles!!! So go ahead and check it out and get some good fuel for the evening. Forecast: 25% chance The Vodkanauts will mashup Neil Diamond and David Bowie.

After the first two shows, or if you are getting to Ybor late, you'll want to head to Crowbar to checkout Jukebox the Ghost. They get a lot of Ben Folds comparisons but after seeing Matt and Kim this year, I think the piano is getting a little more street cred than you might think. This should be a lot of fun and according to Soangelicate's review on Ninebullets, they put on an awesome show. Forecast: 60% chance of somebody getting a keyboard for Christmas after this show.

Have fun out there!

Also congrats to Cigar City Brewery for getting their wet-zoning approved this week! I'll have to remember to head over and pick up a growler and congratulate them in person. If you still haven't tried them... you're missing out!

Double Down Friday - WMNF's All Commercial / Non Commercial Show

Photo from tampabay.com
[Charles] Okay, so I was out this last week and missed a couple of posts, so to make it up to you fine folks, I'm dropping an extra post today. What would drive me to such extremes? Only my favorite show of the season on WMNF - Flee's "All Commercial/Non Commercial" Post Black Friday show on Monday.

I can't help that I find myself looking up music from commercials if a song catches my attention. This is what bands have to do now to get attention and I'm not judging. I knew Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes song "Janglin" before I knew who they were. I got The Heavy's "How You Like Me Now?" stuck in my head after the Super Bowl. I've seen some good bands get grabbed and ruined by overplay as well so I know it's a tricky game. You've got to find something that will help your music advance while not alienating new fans with associating your new jam with an annoying commercial about air fresheners or how friendly banks are. So anyway, Flee knows I love this show and I always send him a list of songs that I get into during the year. It's fun for me and if you've never listened to WMNF on the archives while you're working or cleaning the house, then head over and give it a try.

If you take the link, you can check out the playlist and play the show in your computer's music player. Don't wait though, it's already Friday and the shows only stay up for a week. After next Monday, they'll be on to the next show...

Maker Monday: Making Memories in the Kitchen

Photo from Foods For Long Life Blog which has some excellent info on the healthiness of pumpkins!

[Charles] This week with Thanksgiving coming up, my thoughts have turned to the tradition of making something from scratch in the kitchen with family. We lost my wife's Grandma yesterday and with her a lot of amazing homemade cooking knowledge. Some of those recipes were passed along but many of the best were never written down and apparently her Chocolate Pie recipe yielded a legendary dessert that tasted like a gigantic Hershey's bar had been melted down and poured into a pie crust.

It makes me think of how important it is to really enjoy those times when we can all be together and cooking in the kitchen at Thanksgiving is probably the single best time of the year for that. I'd like to encourage everybody to spend some time in the kitchen this week and take a few moments and maybe an index card so that you can record your mom's thoughts on how to get the turkey perfect or what exactly your grandma sneaks into the cornbread stuffing. Also, this is a great time to drag the kids into the kitchen and get them stirring, or pouring, or whatever they can handle. The memories of being in the kitchen, the smell of pumpkin pie cooling on the counter, the arguing over which casserole should go where in the oven, and the table that sags with the weight of all the well-loved platters and dishes all get recorded by young eyes and will be the memories that comfort after the other people at the table are gone.

I set out to write about making things and the one thing I'd like to try this year is to make a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. There was a fun story on this in Creative Loafing this year that was shy on details but at least inspired me to start looking for where to buy a Sugar Pie Pumpkin in my area. Apparently they are the best for making pies with and they are smaller and denser than the ole Jack O Lanterns I'm usually in search of. I'm guessing our daughter could at least help with scooping out the pumpkin this year. I'd like to start a tradition of cooking something like this with her and maybe someday when she smells pumpkin pie she'll remember the year we made one from a real pumpkin!

Friday Forecast: Pulleys, Bricks, and Toots

Inside Cafe Hey Photo from Brett F on Flickr
[Charles] Looks like this weekend isn't gonna slouch and stay inside watching Ghost Whisperer, so you've really got no excuse.

First off, let me say thanks to Cafe Hey for the shout out on FB professing their love for this blog. I've been really working to keep my regular posts coming and worth reading and I'm glad they've noticed. I've had a thing for Cafe Hey since I first hesitantly parked my car on the part of Franklin street that most Tampa residents can't locate even with Google maps. Cafe Hey is everything that you want in an indie coffee shop/cafe/art space/hangout spot.

Somewhat hidden location so that you can brag to your friends when they say they have no idea where it is? - Check.

Amazing coffee and food (preferably healthy and veg options) - Check.

Tiny tables to encourage cozy mingling, chatting and noshing - Check.

Engaging staff that is equal parts hilarious, smarmy, and confident - Check.

Rotating art shows of affordable and cutting edge work - Check.

Did I mention that their Cafe Con Leche kicks your BigBucks cappucino's a$$? - Nuff said.

Okay, on to the forecast!

Tonight at Jannus Live will be legendary Toots and the Maytals rockin the reggae vibe. Toots Hibbert is a legendary performer who some people credit with coining the word reggae back in the day. I don't know about that, but I do know that he has been a consistent hitmaker and performer that has outlasted many of his contemporaries with songs like "Pressure Drop" and "54-46 was my Number". I really got re-hooked into Toots when he did an album called True Love in 2004 and won a Grammy for it with a lot of other singers like Bonnie Raitt and Ryan Adams pitching in on his hit songs. Everybody I've heard from says he puts on a great show and really exudes the joy and love of great reggae music. I just visited the new Jannus this week and it has really cleaned up nicely. If you've only heard the Clash do "Pressure Drop", you should really check out the godfather of reggae's version in person.

Forecast: 35% chance you'll fail your next zero tolerance test at work if you get too close to the stage at this show.

Tonight also is the opening of the new art show from the Bricks of Ybor and Kickstart My Art called "Not Playing with a Full Deck". This one has brought out local and non-local artists to contribute art created from and on broken skateboard decks. I've enjoyed the other shows at the Bricks like the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" show recently so this should also be a lot of fun. I'm glad to see them getting some good shows together. The food and drinks at the Bricks are definitely worth checking out when you get some time too. I'm adding them to my list of pre-New World Brewery spots for dinner. I've been there a few times since they opened and really enjoy the chilled out vibe and punk rock jukebox. I'm glad to see another spot that folks who want to hang in Ybor but not hit the clubs can find a home.

Forecast: 25% chance somebody is going home with a skateboard painted like the Abominable Snowman

On Sunday, you'll have a hard time finding a better spot to chill out and nurse a hangover than Ella's with local singer/songwriter Rebekah Pulley on the stage in the afternoon. I won't work too hard to convince you that she is awesome because we all know I've been following her from gig to gig for years anytime she's on this side of the bridge. She says that she's working on some material for a new album coming out soon, so I'd get by there for a preview. It won't hurt that you'll be munching on some of the best barbecue in the city from Mr. Ernie Locke. Finally last weekend I tried the Chicken and Waffles and it's definitely one of those flavor combos that gets under your skin and builds to the kind of craving that you'd sell the gold in your fillings for.

Forecast: 75% chance somebody's gonna settle in to a corner booth at Ella's and have to be pried out of it 4 hours later...

A little harmonica with your Avetts?

Just had to share a little from the G.Love collab coming up with the Avetts. I was skeptical but I like this - see what you think...

Maker Monday: Etsy Instruments

[Charles] Photo from Etsy InBloom Designs Shop

I was looking for a gift for my daughter last night and was thinking of musical instruments. I like the idea of something simple like a tambourine or xylophone that she can beat on and at our venerable Big Box retailer all of

the kids offerings are ridiculous

amalgamations of plastic junk. There are tons of cheaply made drums and kazoos and harmonicas and something called an ocarina? There wasn't a simple wood shaker to be found.

Today my lunchtime surfing took me into the world of acoustic guitar construction and I learned a lot, but then I thought what about Etsy?! And sure enough there are lots of makers out there making all sorts of cool instruments just for people like us. So, here you go... if you want to buy yourself or your little ones an instrument I suggest you check a few of these out and support a handmade DIY person just like yourself!

Try All Natural Acoustics Shop and find cool items like this beat box called the Knuckle Knocker

How about some Claves from Ile Tambour's Shop?

These just scratch the surface of what is out there - There's even kid-specific drums

Beat Creatures are what is really fun about Etsy - strange and imaginative!

Friday Forecast: Lucero Turner Distortion, 615 Souls, and Market Sunday

Photo from Elawgrrl shots of Frank Turner
[Charles] This weekend brings a lot of choices, but I believe you can fit them all in! Tonight brings a bada$$ group of bands together on the same bill at Jannus Live in St. Pete. Any one of these bands would be worth the price of admission which explains why the show has been sold out for weeks. First off, you can see Frank Turner who has wormed his post punk way in to the hearts of many of us that cut our teeth on hardcore but now can appreciate a nice rebellious sing-a-long mixed in to our rock soup. This is the kind of guy that you would follow out the door of his concert and across the street to a parking lot just to get to spend more time with him. Don't believe me? Read about his Fest show here from the excellent first person account of none other than Andy Stern whose Beard rating system should be applied universally to most of the shows I attend. "Frank Turner’s fest performance encompassed everything you expect from a Fest show. Sing-a-long songs, drunken celebration, crowd surfing, and surprises." After a bar-raising and bar-drinking opener like Frank Turner, you can expect a hell of a show from Lucero and Social Distortion. I hope they bring it because this opener is no slouch and is really developing a following in the area.

Forecast: 95% chance of some bearded dudes clutching beers and getting their faces melted off!

Saturday, after you've risen from the dead in the late morning hours, I would recommend a big greasy brunch at somewhere like Nicko's and then I'd send you on down to the Independent for an easy relaxing bit of beer sipping. Before you head out of the hood, definitely check out the art show over at Tempus Projects - Calling (615) with a group of artists from Nashville bringing a little show round that you won't want to miss. Tempus has really taken no shortcuts in bringing terrific new art to their space and I'd really like the neighborhood to turn out and take notice.

You'll want to be ready when you start making your way to New World Brewery for The London Souls a rock band from NYC that's been called "amazingly tight" and "swampy rock music". I suck at all those kind of cool music descriptors but I know good music when I hear it and trust me, this is really good. Check 'em out for yourself.

Forecast: 50% chance of needing a designated driver on Saturday - where'd those electric taxis go anyway? Oh yeah the City of Tampa killed those - make sure they don't kill Cigar City Brewery in the same way... take that link to read about it and be sure to send an email along to our wishy washy City Council.

Sunday is the Sunday Morning Market at Hillsborough High School. Dry out, buy some local honey, find some organic produce, and maybe even shake your hula hoop a little that day. It should be fun and the weather will be perfect. Winter in Florida means a rain jacket is your heavy coat...

Forecast: 40% chance some fancy coffee will be sipped while perusing the local wares and catching up with the neighbors - Enjoy!

Maker Monday: Finally a bookshelf that works...

Photo from Core77

[Charles] It seems like bookshelves have it pretty easy. They sit there against the wall and just wait for you to pull a book down. They might allow room for other stuff on the shelf but they consist of a lot of space that is sort of off limits to dual purposes. The bookshelf that Raw Edges' designers made for their own uses finally gets those books out and doing something while they lay around waiting for your interest. The simple wooden piece has grooves that the wooden slats drop into with books wrapped around them. The little slats can serve as bookmarks and the spines line up to make for an interesting table surface. Shelf gone - just like that! I like it, and I'd like to start building one of these for all the ridiculous magazines that we seem to amass.

You can see the original photos at Core77 in their post.