Forward Thinking

By COLETTE BANCROFT, Times Book Editor
Published January 21, 2008

It's time to put on your parade face

It's a big week for parades around Tampa Bay. The 23rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice Parade marches through downtown St. Petersburg starting at 1:15 p.m. today. Across the bay in Tampa, the Gasparilla Pirate Fest on Saturday features invasion by sea at 11:30 a.m. and a parade up Bayshore Boulevard into downtown, starting at 2 p.m. 

Hope that the chairs are bolted down

Here's what you sent your kids to college for: As part of the University Lecture Series, tabloid TV host Jerry Springer speaks at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Sun Dome Corral at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Can't get enough Jerry? Jerry Springer: The Opera, a hit in London, makes its American debut next week, starring Harvey Keitel as Springer, Jan. 29 and 30 at Carnegie Hall.

We'd hate to miss those speeches

Some lucky folks in show business will get very early wakeup calls Tuesday, when the nominations for 2008 Academy Awards will be announced at 5:30 a.m. Hollywood time. Last week, the British Academy for Film and Television Arts announced its nominations, often seen as Oscar predictors, and Atonement led the pack with 14 BAFTA nods. Of special interest this year: whether there will actually be a televised Oscar ceremony on Feb. 24, and if so whether we'll see just how good all those actors are at improv.

Can you remember how cute they were?

Fans of the Stuck in the '80s blog can celebrate the birthdays of three icons of that decade this week. On Tuesday, Steve Perry, the voice of Journey, turns 59. Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton will be 40 on Thursday, and guitar slinger Eddie Van Halen turns 53 on Saturday.

Colette Bancroft can be reached at cbancroft@sptimes.com or 727 893-8435.

[Last modified January 18, 2008, 17:37:44]