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By JULIE GARISTO
Published April 13, 2005
For 10 years, New World Brewery has spun its own orbit just beyond the hoo-ha of Ybor's Seventh Avenue.
Next to a park commemorating Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti, the bar stages its own low-key revolt with loyal regulars, bands that buck the mainstream and servers who don't need a bikini to be appealing.
To commemorate its entrance into double digits, New World will present a five-day celebration featuring bands that have helped put New World on the map as a premier live music venue -- Dumbwaiters, Handshake Squad and Crash Mitchell Quartet -- plus new bands, such as Red Room Cinema.
The lineup even includes Will Quinlan's band Diviners on the night of the anniversary, Friday (4/15). Quinlan's former band, Pagan Saints, was the first to headline a show at New World in 1995.
Seldom predictable during the past decade, New World has presented musical acts with puppets and wrestling masks; and bands, like Crooked Fingers, who wowed fans by playing an acoustic set on the bar and tabletops when cold weather drove them indoors.
The bar's owners and patrons also endured a tragic event when close friend and regular Dave "Rat" Anderson was killed in a wildly uncharacteristic fight during a punk show last October. (Read the details surrounding that incident here)
New World Brewery began as a microbrewery when owner Steve Bird and former partner Greg Karalis, capitalizing on the homebrew craze that swept the '90s, scoped out a spot that would feature a beer garden. They built a bar of recycled Ybor Brewing Co. materials, planted queen palms and flowers in the patio and decorated with global themed bric-a-brac, umbrella-covered patio furniture and a fountain.
"We brewed our own beer for a couple of years, and I gave that up," Bird says. The bar now serves 29 imports and domestics on draught and somewhere around 80 in bottles, plus gourmet stone-seared pizzas that come with Bird's garden basil and chicken he smokes out front.
An ever-revolving scene helped make New World into what it is today. Promoter Jack Spatafora has brought in emerging underground acts like national up-and-comers My Morning Jacket and Chris Lee, along with local bands. The live music shows and faithful regulars have grown in number, like the free jukebox tunes and ever-increasing oddball knickknacks that inhabit New World's interior.
The Simpsons also became a New World institution, with more funny and original tributes to the animated TV show than any bar in Tampa Bay.
The key to New World's success? Many say it's owner Bird, who handles his business much like he cares for its patio garden.
He carefully maintains it every day but does not try to control it. He lets nature take its course and welcomes addition and change, like the lime tree that grew from a Corona wedge castoff. Similarly, castoffs of other sorts can find a sense of acceptance at the casual and laid-back New World.
"None of it was planned," Bird says. "It just organically grew."
New World Brewery 10th Anniversary Celebration New World Brewery, 1313 E. Eighth Ave., Ybor City, Tampa; (813) 248-4969. Cover each night is $5.
Thursday (4/14): Dumbwaiters, Dead Horse Detective Agency, Vera Violets, Red Room Cinema. Friday (4/15): Crash Mitchell Quartet, Handshake Squad, Diviners, Mike O'Neill.
Saturday (4/16): The Boats, Hankshaw, Auto! Automatic!!
Sunday (4/17): Tim Version, Dukes of Hillsborough, Flat Stanley.
[Last modified April 13, 2005, 16:48:35]
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