He gets plenty of satisfaction with annual Tampa Bay calendar
By ERNEST HOOPER
Published January 1, 2004
Tampa doctor and photographer David Lubin has come out with his annual Tampa Bay calendar, and while the January picture of the Plant Museum's Victorian Christmas Stroll is nice, Rolling Stones fans will want to go immediately to August.
Lubin, who collects bobbleheads, decided to doll up a picture of the Tampa Theatre stage with miniature head-shakers of Keith, Mick, Ronnie and Charlie. It's a hoot.
"I've been wanting to shoot the theater for a while, but thought it needed something, not just the old organ, although there ain't nothing wrong with a good old organ," Lubin explained. "So I called John Bell and he gave me permission to shoot. Lighting was difficult but I popped two flashes and used a fisheye lens with a long exposure and voila, a masterpiece.
"Even looks like there's a spotlight on them."
Lubin also is proud of the May shot featuring a sailboat cruising by a sunset.
"It was the last picture on the roll and I was hoping the sailboat would get there in time before the sun went down," Lubin said. "Shoot before it reached the sun, as it did, or after? That was the question. I opted for before."
* * *
Holiday moviegoers are catching the trailer for The Punisher, which was filmed in Tampa last summer. Beyond the Laurel Street bridge, which appears in a car chase scene, not many Tampa scenes are recognizable. As for the movie itself, early indications are we may not be looking at an Academy Award winner, but it promises to be full of thrills.
Laura Harring, who plays John Travolta's wife, recently told the television show Extra she went on a special diet to get in shape for a revealing scene she has with Travolta. And while Travolta was spotted working out at the Harbour Island Athletic Club while he was in town, something tells me he wasn't in Saturday Night Fever shape.
* * *
So what would I list among my top holiday experiences? Christmas lights on the house (thanks to my neighbor Alex), midnight Mass (it's a trip to hear the priest say good morning when it's pitch black outside), buying gifts (although you never have enough money or time), having the kids wake me up at 3 a.m. ("Go back to bed"), two Hess toy trucks and a Christmas Day trip to Albertson's.
That's right, Albertson's. When you go to the only grocery store open between Brandon and Seffner, it's an amazing sight. The shelves looked like a hurricane evacuation was under way. All ground beef and steaks had been sold, leaving last-minute dinner planners to choose between pork chops, chicken breasts and ground turkey.
The lines were exceptional when my wife and I went at 3 p.m. to get Eggos (hell hath no fury like a 2-year-old who doesn't get her blueberry waffles), but the cashier said they were even longer at noon. Said one manager, "We're a little shell-shocked."
* * *
Is it just me, or does someone else need Hallmark to create January cards. You know, cards for people who meant to send out Christmas cards but never quite got around to it.
