Lee's Tampa Bay Blog

As of the 1 p.m. update on Tuesday, Aug. 19, the National Hurricane Center places the center of Tropical Storm Fay near Moore Haven, Fla., in Glades County, on the southwest shoreline of Lake Okeechobee. Fay is moving toward the north-northeast at about 8 mph and should move off Florida’s east coast on Wednesday.

Fay continues to be a strong tropical system though it did not reach hurricane strength prior to landfall. According to the National Hurricane Center, surface observations and radar indicate that maximum sustained winds are now near 65 mph with higher gusts. Rainfall amounts over southern and east-central Florida are expected to range from 5 to 10 inches, with local total amounts of as much as 15 inches.

Only the outer bands of Tropical Storm Fay have been affecting the Tampa Bay area which is experiencing sporadic rains and winds from 15 to 20 mph.

Following are updates from individual counties in the Tampa Bay area:

Sarasota

Pinellas

Manatee

Hillsborough

Image courtesy of NOAA.

Although the tropical system is far from the Tampa Bay area right now, the National Hurricane Center is forecasting that Tropical Storm Fay may impact Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties sometime Tuesday or Wednesday.

Since there is a distinct possibility that the area may experience hurricane force winds if the storm continues on its forecast track, residents should:

• Confirm their evacuation zone
• Review their personal/family disaster plan
• Prepare a survival kit
• Secure important documents
• Prepare their home and yard for storm conditions

Each county in the Tampa Bay area hosts an emergency management website:

• Hillsborough
• Manatee (click on Emergency Management)
• Pinellas
• Sarasota

These websites provide information on hurricane preparedness, evacuation zones and shelters, evacuation services for those with special needs and pet shelters as well as helpful recovery information that residents will find valuable once a storm has passed.

Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tinsley Ellis will perform on Friday, Aug. 22, 8 p.m., at Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa.

Ellis was born in Atlanta in 1957 but grew up in southern Florida, where he first played guitar at age 8. His introduction to blues came through British Invasion bands such as The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream and The Rolling Stones; later he immersed himself in the music of Friddie King, B.B. King and Albert King.

In 2007, Alligator Records released Moment of Truth, a guitar-driven studio recording that showcases his signature electric blues-rock style. This album follows 2005’s Live! Highwayman. Ellis’ previous recordings include:

• 1988 - Georgia Blue, Alligator Records
• 1989 - Fanning the Flames, Alligator Records
• 1992 - Trouble Time, Alligator Records
• 1994 - Storm Warning, Alligator Records
• 1997 - Fire it Up, Alligator Records
• 2000 – Kingpin, Capricorn Records
• 2002 - Hell or High Water, Telarc Records
• 2004 - The Hard Way, Telarc Records

Averaging over 150 live shows a year, Ellis has shared the stage with The Allman Brothers, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor and Widespread Panic.

Also performing will be 3rd Stone from Gainesville, Fla., a band known for its soulful blend of rock, blues, funk and reggae.

Photo courtesy of ALLIGATOR RECORDS.

Readers of AmericanStyle Magazine recently ranked the country’s Top Arts Destinations, and several Tampa Bay area cities earned respectable positions on the final roll.

The magazine has been polling readers annually for 10 years to guide art-lovers to cultural meccas and municipalities which embrace emerging arts scenes. The Tampa Bay area's prominence comes as little surprise to residents and frequent visitors, since the region features several superlative art museums exhibiting masterpieces of the past as well as works by today’s foremost artists.

Sarasota, home of countless art galleries as well as the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, came in at No. 11 in the Small Cities and Towns (populations of fewer than 100,000) category of the Top 25 Arts Destinations.

According to a city press release, Mayor Lou Ann Palmer said the ranking reflects the community’s emphasis on the arts and the city’s sponsorship of an extensive public arts program. AmericanStyle readers recommended Sarasota as a top destination for travelers who love art galleries, museums and festivals.

In the Mid-Sized Cities category (populations of 100,000 to 499,999), both St. Petersburg and Tampa made the list.

St. Petersburg, home of The Salvador Dalí Museum and the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, was ranked at No. 11. Tampa, which boasts the Tampa Museum of Art and the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida, came in at No. 23.

Dairy Farmers Inc., Florida’s milk promotion organization, has brought its From The Farm To The Fridge exhibit to the Museum of Science and Industry, 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa.

Where does milk come from? The refrigerator? The freezer section of the grocery store? Even though most of us have a fundamental understanding of the process, the details probably aren’t that familiar. Now, through Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008, MOSI will host an exhibit that will give visitors a glimpse at the big picture.

Guests will have an opportunity to milk a life-sized mechanical cow while they learn everything they ever wanted to know about the true source of the calcium-enriched beverage. The various steps of the milking process are colorfully highlighted in this educational exhibit.

From The Farm To The Fridge is included with MOSI general admission. Guests also can enjoy Dinosaurs! The Exhibition through Sunday, Sept. 7.

An exhibition displaying the portfolio of Tampa’s fifth Photographer Laureate will open to the public on Monday, Aug. 25, at the American Institute of Architects Gallery, 200 North Tampa St., Suite 100.

The suite of images, shot by Connecticut photographer Marion Belanger, will be on exhibit through late fall at the gallery.

A recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a John Anson Kittredge Award, an American Scandinavian Fellowship, and two Connecticut Commission on the Arts Fellowships, Belanger’s biography describes her as an artist “interested in the concepts of persistence and change and the way that boundaries demarcate difference, particularly in regards to the land.” As Tampa’s Photographer Laureate, Belanger photographed real estate transformation within the city, focusing on the metamorphosis of the old, the building of the new and spaces that resist transition.

The purpose of Tampa’s Photographer Laureate Program is to contract an artist annually to photograph and respond to life in the city. Over time, the program hopes to build and maintain a public collection made up of images representative of the life and times of Tampa by local, national and international artists.

The gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Tampa Bay Watch and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, two organizations committed to protecting Tampa Bay, will join forces to sponsor the Great Bay Scallop Search, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 9 a.m.

As part of this resource monitoring program, volunteers will snorkel to search for scallops in select areas within Boca Ciega and Lower Tampa bays.

The Great Bay Scallop Search has been conducted annually since 1993 in order to monitor and document the health and status of the bay scallop population. Volunteers found only one live scallop in 2005 due to the severe red tide, 17.5 were found in 2006 and an all time event high of 555 scallops were found in 2007. Tampa Bay Watch hopes that volunteers will find even more scallops this year during the event.

About 45 boats with over 200 participants will search selected sites for the elusive bay scallops. Bay scallops, or the Argopecten irradians, disappeared from Tampa Bay in the 1960s when the bay water was highly polluted from dredging operations and industrial and municipal wastes. Tampa Bay’s water quality and seagrass beds have since improved to levels that will once again support the bay scallop population.

Registered scallop searchers will meet at 9 a.m. at the eastern side of the the boat ramp at Fort De Soto County Park to receive survey equipment and instructions for the monitoring event.

Dee Dee, a Bornean orangutan, gave birth on Sunday, Aug. 3, at Lowry Park Zoo. The newborn orangutan is Dee Dee's fourth baby, but it is her first to be born on exhibit at the zoo.

Primate keepers at the zoo have been closely monitoring both Dee Dee and the newborn, named RanDee in honor of her dad, Rango. Lowry Park Zoo staff reports Dee Dee has been moving between her den and the outdoors exhibit with the infant, resting and nursing. The zoo is home to five Bornean orangutans including dominant male Rango, the oldest living male Bornean orangutan in an AZA-accredited facility; adult female Josie with juvenile daughter Hadiah; and Dee Dee with new baby RanDee.

Native to Malaysia and Indonesia, the longhaired red orangutan can be found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The species is considered endangered in the wild due to habitat destruction and the pet trade.

According to the zoo, Bornean orangutans - like humans - have gestation periods of approximately nine months. Orangutan offspring are dependent on their mothers for about seven to 10 years, staying close by for comfort long after they are weaned. The new baby will ride on Dee Dee’s chest and back for the first few years and will nurse for three to five years, on average. She will grow to be approximately 70 to 80 pounds. As one of the world's largest primates, the orangutan is second only to the gorilla in size.

The Bornean orangutans at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo are one of more than 40 species that are part of the zoo's Species Survival Plans, cooperative breeding and conservation programs managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to carefully maintain a healthy, self-sustaining captive population.

Photo courtesy of TAMPA'S LOWRY PARK ZOO.

Mel Finkelstein: Playing a Hunch, an exhibition featuring the work of Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Mel Finkelstein, will run from Sunday, Aug. 17, through Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, 600 Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs.

Selected from the Finkelstein Family Collection, the photographs to be featured in the exhibition were organized by the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art through the support of the Finkelstein family. The exhibit will offer a retrospective of Finkelstein’s photojournalism ranging from the early 1930s through 1992.

Finkelstein worked with the New York Daily News for two decades and later served as photo editor for the New York Post. Known for his images of celebrities, politicians and other people of public interest, Finkelstein also freelanced for magazines such as Life and Time.

Throughout his career, he was honored with awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Society of Silurians, New York Press Photographers Association, the Deadline Club and New York Newspaper Guild. A photograph taken as China joined the United Nations earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors and free to children, members and students with proper identification. Admission is free on Sundays.

Florida residents will enjoy free admission during a special Diversity in Aviation art exhibit event on Sunday, Aug. 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the St. Petersburg Museum of History, 335 Second Ave. N.E., St. Petersburg.

Diversity in Aviation is a juried exhibit of aviation- and aeronautic-themed paintings by area middle school, high school and nonprofessional adult artists. Sponsored by the Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Department and the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau through the Cultural Tourism Grant, Art Education and Outreach Grant, the exhibit recounts the story of aviation pioneers and pilots and explores the joy of flight.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the artist who wins in each category. Amanda Cooper, education curator for The Arts Center, will judge the artwork.

The day’s events will include:

• 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. - Museum opening and guest sign-in
• 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. – Guided tour of the NOAA exhibit
• 11 to 11:45 a.m. – NOAA Aircraft Operations Center presentation by Jackie Almeida, aviator
• Noon to 12:45 p.m. – Keynote address by Louise Kleba, NASA engineer
• 1 to 1:30 p.m. – Principles of flight presentation by Bob Guckenberger, SPMOH board member
• 2 to 2:30 p.m. - Red Baron presentation by Dr. Warren Brown of the Florida Aviation Historical Society
• 3 to 3:30 p.m. – Prizes awarded by the Amanda Cooper, education curator of the Arts Center
• 4 p.m. Conclusion of the day’s events

The Diversity in Aviation art exhibit is one of many planned events slated to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1914 maiden flight of the St Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, the world's first commercial airline, from St. Petersburg to Tampa.