Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 17, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Music City it isn't.
But St. Petersburg has floated a few pieces during its century or so of life. Ray Charles' St. Pete Blues may come to mind.
How about the Sunshine City March, My Coliseum Girl or Over the Sunshine City?
No?
Perhaps another is in the works that will blow them all off the charts.
This one will celebrate a neighborhood rather than an entire city, and the promoters are looking for singers, instrumentalists, rappers, dancers and anyone else who can contribute.
"It's a combination of styles so everyone is going to be involved," said Henry Ashwood Jr., who is helping to organize the music and lyrics.
South Side St. Pete is the song's working title. Plans call for it to be recorded, distributed on CDs, aired on the radio and performed.
Those who might like to be part of the project can attend a 6:30 p.m. meeting Friday at the Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave. S.
The song's geography embraces Central Avenue to Pinellas Point, Tampa Bay to 34th Street, said Yate Cutliff, the St. Petersburg lawyer who came up with the idea.
Cutliff said she got the idea while attending a Landmark Education Corporation leadership program. Course work requires a project to benefit the community.
"I just had an image: We Are the World," Cutliff said. "And the folks in southside St. Pete could have a giant singalong."
Some of the song will suggest a singalong. But there are bound to be some hot instrumental riffs.
Buster Cooper, who grew up in St. Petersburg and became a world famous jazz trombonist, has agreed to play a few lines, Ashwood said.
Ashwood, a saxophonist, is joined in the early production stages by Hiram Hazley, a trumpeter and bass guitarist who has played 18 years in the Busch Gardens band, and Keith Flournoy, who plays keyboards.
Cutliff said her highest hope is that the song will create a sense of community while benefiting the arts. The goal, she said, "is not to do anything outside south St. Pete" in the production process.
"It's getting people related to each other. For me, it's a lot about fun," Cutliff said.
If you're interested in the gig, call 898-3323.