News & Notes
Briefs and news of note.
By Times staff and wires
Published May 27, 2006
Seriously, it's not just about getting a tan
Spring break can be hard work. Sand. Sun. Seriously. A USF St. Petersburg grad student is writing her thesis on the history of the vernal rite. Meeghan Kane will examine the social, economic and racial aspects and the romantic portrayal of spring break in film, music and fiction. Her thesis includes a look at violence that has at times marred the tradition, and spring break's influence on municipal law and local economies. Kane will give a brown-bag lecture at noon June 21 in the Florida Studies Center, fourth floor of the library at USF in Tampa.
Mayor Nagin, we've got more bad news
Deja blue. New Orleans has the highest probability of any U.S. spot of getting whacked with hurricane-force winds during the season that begins Thursday, according to a University of Central Florida professor. Crunch 155 years of storms, add in global weather this year, and get this bad news: Of 28 cities along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans faces the highest probability - 29.3 percent - of hurricane-force winds in 2006. In Florida, Key West is tops at 20.61 percent, with Pensacola next at 20.29. Tampa didn't rank, but St. Petersburg came in No. 7 - 14.5 percent chance.
FSU represents in music competition
Two FSU sophomores compete against eight other aspiring musical actors on CBS' The Early Show next week in hopes of landing a walk-on role in a Broadway show. The students, both 19, are majoring in musical theater. They were chosen after auditions last month. The weeklong "My Broadway Debut" competition begins Monday. Justin Bowen of Virginia will sing a tune from Rent on Monday; Junior Menez of Weston will sing a piece from Avenue Q June 2. Viewers can vote for their favorite, and the winner gets a minor role.
A tabloid newspaper by any other name
This week only, the once and future Creative Loafing! The alternative newspaper Weekly Planet inadvertently renamed itself Creative Loafing on its front page this issue, just like old times. And as it turns out, as it will be called once again come this fall. It just wasn't supposed to have that new-old name yet. The Planet's blog tells the tale: a production error in Atlanta, where the Tampa, Charlotte and Atlanta editions (the others really are called Creative Loafing) are assembled. The Planet blamed a massive cerebral passing of gas, known on the street as a b---- f---.